Page 38 of I Regret Nothing
his had been going on long enough. I got why Rei had to be secreted out of Hell and placed topside, but I warned them several times about bringing her home as soon as possible. It wasn’t just that our families had arranged for us to marry, and I’d never even met her. She’d pissed off a lot of witches, and now she was in prison. What did they think would happen, sending a Kitsune topside with no one to train her?
She should have had demons around her growing up. Even if they sent her topside and couldn’t spare a Kitsune, she should have been sent with a demon guardian. They would have just cut that fucking witch’s head off if Rei wanted that amulet so severely. The fact that she only bit her instead of killing her made it painfully clear she’d been away from Hell way too long.
Her father had permitted me to fetch her. Takahiro was the emperor of our portion of Hell, but we all still answered to Bael. All requests to go topside had to go through him. Technically, Hell was ruled by seven kings, but Bael was the most powerful. He agreed to let Rei go topside after she was born for her safety, but no one would give me an answer as to whose decision it was to send her alone. Probably because I was so angry about it, I probably would have hurt them.
We had every access to topside news and television in Hell. I knew it was her as soon as she got arrested. She looked exactly like her troublesome older brother. It was his fault they had to sneak her out of Hell in the first place. Only a Kitsune could cause that much trouble stealing things and pissing people off. She’d be celebrated in Hell for everything they slammed her for in the news, but topside was just so cranky about crime.
Hell didn’t have a crime problem, but we understood certain demons were just prone to mischief. We taught them how to channel that. If Rei had stolen from witches in Hell, we would have only made her give it back and apologize. We didn’t torture people here when things went missing. Topside was just so anal about theft.
I needed to get Rei out of that prison, and it was prime time she came home. I just couldn’t do a thing until Bael permitted me, and right now, he wanted me to wait. I was going mad.
“I can handle this without Barbatos!”
Bael just chuckled.
“No, you can’t. You’re acting like a hothead, and he knows human and supernatural law. One of two things is happening here. They don’t know she’s a demon to send her here, and if that’s the case, they have to be totally inept. The other situation is that they know and they don’t care. Amduscias wasn’t turned over to us when he got arrested. If that’s the case, you’re going to need someone who knows the old laws to get her out of there.”
“Barbatos is off playing soldier in yet another realm. How long does he intend to be gone?”
“Oh, hush. He just met his daughter. If you can’t kill people because your child wants to, how else are you supposed to bond? If they can pull this off, we’ll have alliances with two new realms. You have tunnel vision about your bride. You can’t go there without a plan.”
“Have you talked to the witches down here? Because I have. They all say no one fucks with the Aether Circle and lives to tell the tale. Most of our witches haven’t been topside for a long time, but they still know.”
“You don’t have to tell me about the Aether Circle, Sota. We kept track of all the covens who summoned demons. The Aether Circle was the worst, and if the demon lived to make it back home, they reported how awful they were. I can tell you exactly how big they are and how difficult it would be to take them out because we plotted several ways to wipe them off the face of the Earth for hurting demons.”
I threw up my hands. I was way too old for tantrums, but if Bael knew how dangerous they were, why was he waiting for Barbatos to get back from playing in Olympus with his kid?
“If you know all that, why are we waiting for Barbatos?”
“Because even the Aether Circle is going to need time to get someone in Silverhold. She’s safe there for now. Trust me. After the Scorchwood debacle, I know all about corruption in prisons. I know they can get to a guard. It only takes one, but they will have to ask around. There has to be at least one in there that will turn them down and move her to solitary for her safety.”
“Kitsunes are not built for solitary. You know that, Bael.”
“I’m aware, Sota. They need people to cause trouble with. It’s where she needs to be since she pissed off the Aether Circle. We’ll throw her an enormous party when she gets back that she was able to steal from them until she got caught.”
“I want them dead. All of them. I know they can’t summon us anymore, but they deserve to die for hurting demons and coming after Rei.”
“We all want them dead, Sota. Believe me, we brainstormed several plans. Not even Solron could come up with something. She offered to hack them and steal all their money, but they’d just take it out on someone topside.”
“I’m going to do it. I’m going to figure out how to kill them all.”
“You’re a Tengu, Sota. I’m sure once you get your bride back, a Tengu and a Kitsune can come up with a plan. Hell won’t support you unless we know it will work.”
My ancestors caused so much trouble on Earth before Hell decided to keep to itself. So did Kitsunes. Her father picked me as her husband for a reason. A Tengu and a Kitsune ruling that region would be quite the power couple. If her older brother hadn’t been such a fucking problem, we’d be married already. Kudan was still an issue, but she could defend herself now, and we were getting close to pinpointing his location to take him out for good.
He was technically next in line, but he didn’t want to wait his turn. He tried to assassinate his father and failed. His mother had been pregnant with Rei at the time. He managed to escape and had been hiding somewhere in Hell. He had his minions hanging on his every word.
Everyone knew he would try again. Kudan knew damned well he wouldn’t be allowed to rule after that. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try. Everyone knew he would have had no problems killing a baby, so that there were no other options for an emperor if he managed to kill his father. So, Rei got sent away for her protection, and I never got the chance to get to know her.
I was an advisor on the team that was set to hunt down Kudan. I should have been focused on finding him and taking him out. Rei couldn’t come home until Kudan was dead. Except now she had to because some witches got butt hurt she took their Grimoire. The witches in Hell told me all about that book and said Rei did everyone a solid stealing it from them.
I felt totally helpless because I couldn’t get permission to get her out of prison, and I couldn’t concentrate on finding Kudan. We’d zeroed in on a general location, and in four days, several legions in Hell would be storming it to see if we could capture him.
I couldn’t help Rei until Barbatos was finished playing in other realms. I needed to focus on what I could do. I could get rid of Kudan and make Hell safe for her when I could get her out of prison.
Chapter 32
Rei
