Chapter 17

Ursula blazed into the sigil room before doubling over with a coughing fit. Hot soot seared her lungs, and her body burned with preternatural pain. I really need to remember to hold my damn breath. At least she’d escaped the club in one piece. Granted, she didn’t have Hugo’s signature on the pact, and she’d left Zee behind, but neither was she in handcuffs in the back of a police cruiser.

Footsteps sounded in the hall, and Kester appeared at the doorway. “What happened? How did you get here?” He paused, sniffing. “Did you douse yourself in cologne?”

She’d never thought the sight of his strange green eyes would be a relief. “Sigil spell. Forgot to hold my breath.” She wiped tears from her smoke-stung eyes. “And I had to use Giorgio Armani as the accelerant.”

“You look gorgeous.” Candlelight danced in his eyes, and his gaze trailed over her short dress. “But I still don’t understand how you got here. I never taught you that spell.”

“I remembered what you said.”

He stepped closer, narrowing his eyes. “Impressive as that is, I’m a little alarmed that you felt the need to use it. You collected Hugo’s signature, right?”

Ursula brushed ash off her dress. “Things got messy. Hugo made a scene.”

A muscle clenched in his jaw. “You didn’t get his signature? Then why are you here?”

“I had to escape.” How do I explain this? “Hugo ran away and started shrieking that I wanted to stab him.” The truth again, I guess.

Kester moved closer, irises burning. Had she really found his face a welcome sight? He looked—terrifying. “We’re supposed to work in the shadows. If your face becomes known, Emerazel will destroy you. If you fail to get a target’s signature, as you have, Emerazel will destroy you. She hates you, for reasons I don’t understand, and she seemed very eager to reap your soul. I told you the importance of getting this right.”

Oh, God. I can’t escape the lectures about my own failure, even among the hellhounds.“You told me the importance, but that doesn’t make me any more experienced. You and I both agreed it was insane that Emerazel wanted to send me off without training. I don’t know why you’re suddenly surprised that it didn’t turn out well. And you know what? I still don’t understand what she wants with everyone’s souls. What does she do with them?”

“It’s the stakes that mattered. You couldn’t afford to fail.” Ignoring her question, he rooted her in place with his gaze, and stepped closer. “I don’t know why you didn’t just sign the pact like I told you to in the first place. Then neither of us would have to worry about this mess.”

She crossed her arms, taking a step back, until she was backed up against the wall. “I don’t know—why didn’t I sign that pact?” She touched her finger to her lips. “Oh yeah, I guess I was a bit put off by the ‘burning in eternity’ thing. It sounded unpleasant—which, by the way, is why I’m not going to be a great salesman for this deal, because only a psychopath would want someone to burn forever. Hugo gets some cash in exchange for everlasting torture? And I’m supposed to convince him that’s a good deal? It’s insane. I’m not a monster, Kester.”

“Oh, but you are,” he snarled. “And so am I.” He pressed his palms to the wall on either side of her head, boxing her in.

Adrenaline surged. “I never wanted this.”

“You and I don’t get the luxury of morality and soul-searching. You asked to be just like me when you wanted a trial, and now you’re one of the demons. And I notice you quite happily accept the lodging and the payment for your work.”

White-hot anger burned her cheeks. “All I wanted from life was a normal job, enough for food and rent, and a couple of normal friends. I was happy in my hovel of an apartment. It was my home, before you told everyone I overdosed. I don’t need three bedrooms in a mansion, or a four-hundred-dollar haircut. And I don’t need gold ingots. For fuck’s sake.”

His eyes bored into her, and for a second, she thought he might tear into her neck like he’d slaughtered the ewe. “Has it occurred to you that there might be worse monsters out there than hellhounds like me?”

Her fingernails dug into her palms. “Worse than agents of perpetual agony? Is that so?”

“There are monsters who would torture you without your consent, who prey on the innocent—unlike hellhounds, who approach only those who’ve agreed to the bargain. Whether you remember it or not, you agreed to serve Emerazel, and so did Hugo. So did I. Now we all reap the consequences. That’s life.”

“And you’re fine with that?”

A low growl escaped him, and she caught a glimpse of lengthening fangs. He was going to murder her. “Don’t you get it? It doesn’t matter if I’m fine with it. You can’t fight it. Emerazel is as old, as powerful, and as immovable as the stars. If we don’t reap the souls, she’s more than capable of taking them herself. Hugo’s soul will be collected whether you do it or not. But if you defy the goddess, you will join him in the inferno. In fact, Emerazel will want your soul now for your mistake.”

A hollow opened in the pit of Ursula’s stomach. “For one cock-up?”

Kester’s face was stony. “Hugo is internationally famous. Your image will be plastered across the news. If I don’t tell Emerazel about your failure, she’ll slaughter me along with you.”

Ursula fought the urge to vomit. Of course. There had been CCTV cameras all over the club, recording her image. She could already imagine the headline: Insane Mystery Girl Fakes Death, Attacks Hugo Modes.

“Maybe no one remembers me,” she said, her voice breaking.

An eternity in the inferno.Kester was going to give her up to Emerazel. Her heart pounded. She needed to get out of here. Glancing around for an escape route, her eyes landed on the chandelier. She could leap up, kick Kester in the face, and bolt into the elevator. But it wouldn’t be on her floor, and she’d have to stand there waiting for it to arrive while Kester summoned the goddess of fire and brimstone. Bollocks, Ursula.

Could she make it out a window? Did windows in penthouses even open? Even if she did escape, the goddess had total control over her mind and body. There was no way to run from her.

Raw panic flooded her body, and she began pacing like a caged animal.

Kester’s phone buzzed, and he stepped away from her, yanking it from his pocket. After a moment, he exhaled, his shoulders visibly relaxing. “You are very lucky Zee was there.”

“Why? What happened?” Hope bloomed in her chest.

He shoved the phone in his pocket. “Zee was able to glamour everyone at the club. They won’t remember you.”

“How?”

“Zee’s a fae. That’s one of the reasons I sent her along.”

“Fae? I don’t even know what that is.” She was still vibrating with panic; her statement came out as an angry shout.

“The fae can influence people’s thoughts. Luckily for you, she convinced the security guards to hand over the tapes of your panicking face.”

Ursula loosed a long breath, steadying her nerves. She slid her face into her hands, trying not to imagine Hugo burning in hellfire. “A relief from my death sentence. I could kiss Zee. And now I just need to find Hugo. I heard him saying he was going to the opera tomorrow night.”

Kester smirked. “You see? The prospect of your own torment clarifies your thinking, doesn’t it?”

She glowered at him. “I don’t need you to gloat about it.”

“Obviously, you need training. I can give you until tomorrow night to collect Hugo’s soul, but beyond that I’ll have to report to Emerazel. Even this amount of leniency is risking my own skin.” His glacial voice chilled her blood. “And do not create a scene again, or we’ll both end up in flames. You have one thousand pages in your ledger—a thousand souls you must collect. Don’t give Emerazel the pleasure of reaping your soul before you get through them.”

He pivoted, stalking out of the room, and Ursula was left on her own to stare at the cold vastness of New York.