Page 131 of Spellbound
My eyebrows furrowed. “Lucius said his demons go to our world sometimes to make deals. How can he if the portal isn’t open?”
“Yes.” He balled his fists. “When the portal is opened by some stupid shifter wanting to make a deal—or a god—but it’s rare. We closed it behind us when we came in.” He rubbed his forehead, smoothing the wrinkles that had formed.
“How were you going to get out?”
He pulled a small emerald from his pocket. “We had one way out: this.” He held it up, showing it under the dim lights. “It was spelled to allow one of us to step between realms. Once I killed Lucius, I was going to use it to come back, get Aziel out, then kill Freya, but you already took care of the last part.”
“Use it now then. You don’t need to kill him. As I said, we can seal it so it can never be opened, by anyone.”
“He could still find a way out. I did from my prison realm.”
“We’d just need to keep the spell reinforced,” I explained, recalling Edmund’s words. “Future keepers would be assigned with the job, like how we protect dark objects now. It was blood witches like me who created your prison realm. Our coven is strong enough.”
“I don’t doubt it,” he said, seething. “The problem is now we can’t get out.”
“There has to be a way out of here. Where’s Aziel?”
He didn’t say anything.
“Raiden?”
My heart skipped a beat.
“What happened?”
He threw the emerald onto the bed, torture glittering in his irises. “He’s dead. No-coming-back kind of dead.”
My hand shot up to my mouth. “Did Lucius...”
He punched the wall again, sending a tremor through the castle. “He wiped him out of existence.”
I gripped the blankets, holding my breath as I gazed at the black iron fireplace with a silver ornate mirror hanging over its mantle. Focusing my eyes on the burnt coal, I breathed deeply. “Who did he replace him with?”
“He didn’t. He won’t. The god of thunder will be no more. He wants the very existence of us erased.”
“He can’t do that,” I said hastily, remembering how the gods needed replacing.
“He’s the high god, Elle. Fuck, he can do whatever he wants here.”
I felt like someone had stuck their hand in my chest and twisted my insides. “Your sisters.”
“Leda’s gone,” he whispered, as if the words would be truer if they were said louder. “He wiped her out of existence a long time ago. I didn’t know until we came.” He pressed his arms against the wall, leaning his forehead against his fist. “Thalia’s soul is still here, but he’ll kill her soon. He’s weighing us all!” he shouted, pure rage guiding his tone. “He deemed Aziel unworthy, as he had with Leda.”
I swallowed thickly. “That was what he asked me.”
His gaze snapped to mine. “What?”
“He asked if I’m worthy.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.” I ran cold. “Is he going to kill me? Wipe me from existence? He took Thalia’s dagger.”
“No, he’s not.”
“Why?”
He sped to the emerald on the bed and rubbed it between his fingers. “Because you’re getting out of here. Once you’re out, seal the underworld. Make sure it stays that way. Do what you said. Go back to your coven.”
