Page 54 of Courting War
She was a petite thing, and she seemed entirely harmless, but her bite was that of a black widow.
Today, she wore a bubblegum-pink Theodic bustled dress with an azure blue pendant of a dog.
“What did you do to anger your mother so?” A sugarplum smile floated on Destruction’s face.
“Murder,” Havyn said with a debonair grin.
“Some call it murder; some call it justice,” Theo retorted. “It’s all perspective, really.”
“A little mayhem never hurt anyone,” Destruction agreed with her boss, her blue hair flickering between silver blonde and azure blue. She said it with such a twinkle in her eyes, which made Theo’s skin crawl.
“I hope you haven’t been causing mayhem with—”
“If you were going to say Cecile, don’t worry, Great Goddess, I’ve only slightly been antagonizing her.”
“Don’t call me that,” Theo cut in, “and what does slightly mean?”
“Oh, a little discord here and there.” Destruction’s blue waves bounced with her glee.
Havyn chortled and shared a knowing look with Destruction.
“Oh, hydras, tell me you two haven’t been conspiring again.” Theo crossed her arms. There was no world in which Destruction would ever actively go against War. The goddess didn’t wantpower. She’d hate the responsibility of it all. Besides, Destruction’s loyalty was like diamonds; once formed, it was unbreakable.
“You asked me not to lie to you.” She flashed a jungle-cat grin. “So I won’t say anything at all.”
“Don’t worry. Our meddling is all for the greater good,” Havyn said.
“That is not comforting at all.”
“Fantastic. Now if you would go away, Havyn, your sister, and I have important matters to discuss,” Destruction said. “Shoo, shoo, little Deathy.” The blue-haired goddess waved her hands as if trying to get a puppy away from her food.
Havyn simply chuckled and disappeared into shadow, leaving them alone.
“Before you ask or say anything more, you know I’d only work with Death to aid you.” Destruction’s blue hair bounced as she dropped down in a huff at Theo’s side on the bench. “And it was only after your mother had already spelled you. Which, by the way, is so unfair. You barely murder anyone, and all the men you do kill deserve it.”
Theo’s lips twitched up at her friend’s defense of her.
“Besides, if I had your position and authority, I’d have done far worse by now.” Destruction talked at a mile a minute when alone with War. It was where she felt safest to let out all her stored energy.
“You would have probably burned the world down.”
“Oh, absolutely.”
Theo rubbed her temples. Half of her job as leader of the War Court was keeping her subordinates from destroying the world.
“So what is it you need from me?” Destruction asked. “I saw your signal in the ballroom.”
“I need you to get Hecate’s Grimoire from Theoden and bring it to me.”
“Oh, that’s easy.” Destruction snapped her fingers, and the azure blue dog pendant on her dress transformed into the spell book. “Havyn told me you might be wanting this.”
Theo’s stomach dropped. Havyn did nothing without seventeenreasons for it. She did no favors that wouldn’t come back to bite the recipient tenfold in return. If Havyn knew Theo wanted the book, then that meant there had to be something wrong with War’s plan.
Theo took the magical, sentient book from Destruction’s hands. It sparkled with stardust and blood diamonds, a Hecate spiral etched onto the cover, but its moods were coated in venom and sprinkled with bile. A trulylovelybook.
Opening the first page, Theo understood her horrible problem. The book could only be read by a member of the House of Azraelle or by Pantheonan sight—meaning only one of the nine gods of the Pantheon could read it. And Theo was no longer divine.
Not a single member of the pantheon would be willing to transcribe it without a hearty price.
