Chapter 11

11

M ikhail and Sabre emerged from the portal onto a street paved with luminous gold. Buildings of gleaming crystal and ivory stretched endlessly in every direction. The air sparkled with motes of divine light, and the sweet strains of an angelic chorus echoed in the distance.

“Fuck me, this place is torturous,” Sabre grumbled. She stuck her fingers in her ears and twisted them aggressively. “What is that hellish noise? Are my ears bleeding?”

Mikhail yanked her hands down before she ruptured an eardrum. “Don’t be a crybaby.”

“I hate it here,” Sabre admitted, looking around uncomfortably.

“I know you do.” He gripped her hand, swinging it companionably between them. “You didn’t have to come.”

She shot him a filthy look. “I’m your guardian. Where you go, I go.”

She had a point. That’s how it worked. The demons of the royal line were gifted guardian angels for a reason: to protect and serve. But his and Sabre’s relationship had never been typical. Their new dynamic was going to take some getting used to.

“I wish we could hit up Maliq. I know he’d tell us everything we need to know. No more chasing our arses and playing guessing games,” Sabre muttered, glaring at a particularly pretty angel.

Mikhail would give anything to talk to his father again. But even though they were literally strolling through Heaven, they couldn’t speak with the dead. Every being they passed was either an angel, demigod, or god. “I wish we could, too.”

As they turned a corner, they caught sight of a group of beings gathered around a fountain, each one more radiant than the last. They were laughing and singing, their voices blending together in perfect harmony.

Sabre choked and gagged. “I think I’m going to puke.” She turned to him, eyes wide. “I need to kill something. Right now.”

Mikhail chuckled, gripping her hand tighter and leading the way through the streets of gold towards their destination—a grand palace made entirely of shining pearls. They stared at it in silence for a moment before looking at each other. “It’s a little ostentatious,” Mikhail allowed.

Now, it was Sabre’s turn to laugh.

“And there it is, a sound once as rare as a desert rainstorm, gracing my ears like music.”

Loki, the God of mischief and chaos, stood on the grand staircase, his long black hair slicked back and a charming smirk on his face. He wore a tailored suit, perfectly fitted to his lean frame, as if he had stepped out of a fashion magazine.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Sabre shouted at the god before looking at Mikhail. “I swear, Mikhail. If he keeps talking like that, I’m going to strangle him with his own tongue.”

Mikhail ignored the threat, mainly because he was worried it was more like a promise. “Loki,” he called out. “A word?”

“A word? It just so happens I have many,” the Norse god said with a grin, turning and heading back inside.

Mikhail took a deep breath before walking up the stairs with a murderous-looking Sabre. Loki lounged on a gilded throne when they entered, twirling a goblet of shimmering pink liquid between his fingers. “We’ve come to ask for help.”

“Ask who?” Loki questioned guilelessly.

“Who do you think, cunt-muffin?!” Sabre snarled, taking a menacing step forward.

Loki laughed, tossing his drink back and swallowing it in one gulp. “Oh, I do love your insults. Cunt-muffin,” he repeated. “I can’t wait to use that on the Greeks.”

“Loki, about that help?” Mikhail prompted politely.

“Help? Now, where did I leave that?” Loki muttered, tipping his goblet upside down. “Nope. Not here.”

“Now?” Sabre asked lowly, her eyes glinting with relish.

“Not yet,” Mikhail answered. “No strangulation yet.” He focused on Loki once more. “Are you saying the gods won't intervene?”

Loki's eyes sparkled mischievously. “The gods, dear King, are like cats watching mice. They observe, they ponder, but rarely do they pounce.”

“But my brother—” Mikhail began.

“Ah, yes,” Loki interrupted, “X, the prodigal son turned psycho reaper. What an allegory.”

Mikhail clenched his fists. “This is no fable, Loki. Zagan is butchering innocents. Why?”

Loki gasped theatrically. His hand going to his throat. “How should I know?”

Sabre turned to Mikhail. “Isn’t there another god we can talk to?”

“None as fun as me,” Loki answered with a grin.

“Loki …” Mikhail said, his voice tight with frustration.

“It’s a tale as old as time, is it not?" Loki said presently. “The jealous younger brother overshadowed by his older brother, the golden child.” He held up his hands, palms toward the ceiling. They began to shimmer, one glowed a brilliant gold whilst the other cast an ominous shadow. “One destined for greatness, and the other for chaos.”

“Zagan wasn’t destined for bad things,” Mikhail disputed, unwilling to accept it.

Loki clapped his hands together, extinguishing his light show. “Unfortunately, he was. History always repeats itself.”

Mikhail shared a look with Sabre, his heart beginning to pound. “Are you saying this has happened before?”

Loki shook his head. “ I’m not saying that. Are you saying that?”

Mikhail grabbed Sabre’s arm, stopping her from launching the giant pearl she’d just pulled out of the wall. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. He knew arguing with Loki was futile, but he couldn't help but persevere. He had been the only god willing to have a real conversation with him when he was Hound. “Loki, you’re pissing me off,” he said honestly.

When Loki only laughed, Mikhail snapped. “These are the lives of my people we're talking about.”

Loki fell silent, regarding him for a moment before walking forward slowly. “Not just your people.”

“What do you mean?” Sabre demanded, moving in front of Mikhail. She was still holding the pearl. “Not so close, Loki. I’ve never killed a god before, but I’d be thrilled to add it to my scorecard.”

Loki looked thoroughly entertained by Sabre, but he did heed her warning. He stopped more than an arms-length away, saying, “Purgatory isn’t the only realm in the universe. It’s not just your people that are dying or in danger.”

Mikhail ran a hand through his hair, no doubt making a mess. “I’ve heard that. Earth is somehow involved in the same mess. And that’s my point. Zagan is out there killing left and right, and the Heavens don’t seem to give a shit.”

Loki tapped his chin, looking thoughtful. “Why would they give a shit when they have you to give a shit, hmm?”

Mikhail couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “So, what? It’s my job to stop Z? When you’ve just admitted that this is a universe-level problem?”

Loki clucked his tongue. “Not just your job. We gave you an angel, didn’t we?”

“ Me? ” Sabre looked appalled by the notion.

“Yes, Isrephel. You .” Loki’s silver eyes swirled tumultuously. “The first resurrection angel to be a guardian since King Cerberus crawled out of Hell and created Purgatory. The first angel to deal in souls right when souls are going astray.” Loki shrugged, and he slouched against a pillar. “Or perhaps it’s simply a coincidence.”

“Zagan’s motive is the souls?” Mikhail asked, latching onto the new piece of information.

“On the contrary, his motives have nothing to do with souls,” Loki revealed, speaking plainly for once. “But souls are the consequence,” he added ambiguously, ruining it.

“Do you know what the consequence is for pissing me off?” Sabre inquired. She held up the shiny pearl menacingly; it was the size of a bowling ball. “This shoved up your arsehole.”

Loki waggled his eyebrows with a grin. “Don’t tease me with a good time.”

Mikhail ground his teeth. He was about to let Sabre loose when Loki spoke again.

“Did you know that the body doesn’t have a soul? The soul has a body.”

Mikhail pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. His brain would leak out of his ears if he had to listen to Loki for much longer. “What do you mean?”

“What would happen if there were no more bodies for the souls to go into?” Loki continued as if he didn’t hear Mikhail. “Or even better, what would happen if no more souls existed for the bodies?”

“You’re not making sense,” Mikhail snapped. His patience was just about gone.

“Oh, I am,” Loki vowed. He had the audacity to reach forward and bop Mikhail on the nose. “You just don’t understand.”

Before Mikhail could break the god’s finger, Loki disappeared in a shower of sparks, his laughter ringing obnoxiously throughout the vast space. “I think I hate him,” Mikhail grumbled.

“I know I do,” Sabre said with a scowl. “Do you have any idea what any of that means?”

“Not a clue,” he admitted. He felt more defeated than ever, to be honest, but he didn’t say so out loud. He reminded himself he was a king with an entire world to save by the sounds of it. “We should head straight to the library. See if anything Loki said lines up with something in the archives.”

“Fine.” Sabre started walking, rolling the pearl between her palms. “Plus, we should make sure Eric isn’t getting frisky with Jinx.”

Mikhail stiffened, his feet fusing to the ground. “What?”

Sabre shrugged indifferently, not missing a beat. “Libraries are sexy. And books are aphrodisiacs. Everyone knows that. You can’t blame them if they get overwhelmed by the ambience and jump each other’s bones.”

Mikhail’s hands fisted by his side. “You told me they were just friends,” he ground out.

“They are. But that’s only because Eric respects Jinx’s boundaries. He’s totally into her, and he’s been giving her time. Now that he knows you don’t want her, maybe he thinks it’s his chance.”

“His chance to die, maybe,” Mikhail griped.

Sabre pursed her lips, eyeing him warily. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous. You don’t want Jinx. She doesn’t want you. That makes her free game.”

“No, it doesn’t,” he snarled, opening a portal right then and there. He dragged Sabre with him, giant pearl and all. He stormed through the upper levels of the library, his eyes scanning the rows of bookshelves for any sign of Jinx and Eric. Sure enough, he spotted them in a secluded corner, heads bent close together as they perused a thick tome.

Anger and possessiveness surged through him. He had no right to feel this way. She was off limits. She had made it clear that she wasn’t interested in him, and he accepted that. But seeing her with Eric now, knowing that things could change between them, made him want to castrate the vampire.

“They look so cute together,” Sabre chirped from behind him. “Don’t you think?”