“You don’t have to go all the way.” Nïx winked. “Just a great deal of the way.”

Aghast, Lila asked Saetth, “You wouldn’t mind another male’s hands all over me? A Møriør touching your future queen?”

He exhaled, as if he found her attitude tiresome. “Perhaps if I were a demon myself. But I’m better than that. I know this is the only logical course, and I’m not ruled by primitive instincts.”

Nïx collected more cotton candy for the bat. “Speaking of instincts, Abyssian might be turning a jot more demonic of late. But with the Accession coming around, who isn’t—am I right? Just be sure to stay feisty with him. He’ll like that.”

Feisty? At times, Lila nearly choked on her rage toward the Møriør.

Saetth said, “If there were any alternative, I would undertake it.”

Nïx’s gaze flashed to him, and Lila could have sworn a spark of . . . animosity lit the Valkyrie’s eyes.

It passed so quickly, Lila thought she’d imagined it. “I just wanted to come home,” she said, though the opportunity to plot against the bogeymen did hold some appeal.

When she thought of the endless nightmares she’d had about them—waking to her own scream, still feeling the fey-slayer’s arrow in her chest—fury surged.

And Saetth shared much of that blame. He’d sent her to the mortal realm with only a few belongings. No ID, no money, no way to contact him.

Early on, she’d rationalized his behavior: My parents did try to kill him.

But lately, she’d decided to call a dick a dick.

“Accomplish this mission,” Saetth said, “and you will come home. As my queen.”

Lila had three pie-in-the-sky dreams: to live safely in Sylvan, to be the queen, and to start a family that would also live in safety. A distant fourth was the hope that she’d fall in love one day.

Saetth could make three of her dreams come true. He was a means to an end.

All she had to do was give up any sappier hopes. As a calculating fey royal, I should have no problem doing that.

“You know we will do well together,” Saetth said. “With your ingenious mind and my ruthlessness, we will be unstoppable. Which means Sylvan will be unstoppable.” Gazing down at her, he said, “We’ll celebrate your success with a wedding. You’ve always wanted your own family. You could welcome our babe before the year is out. We’ll get started on that upon your return.”

“My return.” Like a glass of cold water tossed in her face. “From seducing the oldest demon alive.” Her groping sessions with furries notwithstanding, Lila wasn’t exactly seductress material.

Nïx pouted. “But you don’t have to go all the way.” Then the soothsayer grew abruptly serious, and a lightning bolt fractured the sky in a spectacular display. The crowds below gasped, thinking it was a part of the show. Thunder boomed with such force that the castle shuddered. “I’ve foreseen this future—if you journey to hell, you will save Sylvan from the Møriør. Because of your sacrifice, your people will be protected. For an eternity of eternities.”

Dramatic much?

“I’ve also foreseen that if you don’t journey to hell, the Møriør will declare war on Sylvan—imminently. Just as they leveled my home, they will destroy yours. Then the archer will use his new foothold in the fey realm to uncover more of the royal line.”

Lila didn’t care about any of her cousins; they ran the gamut from scummy to vile. She’d only ever cared about her own survival and maybe Saetth’s. “If the demon knows I’m one of the archer’s specific targets, he could turn me over to his ally despite his . . . matehood with me.” A sentence she’d never thought she’d say. “I might not get a chance to encourage anything.” Don’t vomit.

Nïx shook her head. “With your human accent and ballsy ways, he’ll never suspect you’re a princess of anything—just as long as you don’t let on that you know you’re his mate.”

Sylvan’s destruction versus a throne and a family.

As Lila had struggled to survive over these years, she’d at least had the hope of returning to her beloved kingdom. Would she allow its ruin because she wasn’t ready to sacrifice for her people?

Isn’t sacrifice what queens do? “How would I begin?”

Nïx said, “Go about your regular daily life—it’s an excellent cover. We’ll arrange for the infiltration.”

“How?”

The Valkyrie’s gaze grew unfocused. Seeing the future? “I’ve informed the hell king that his mate is somewhere in the universe, ready for the taking, and provided a description of you. He’s already put out a bounty. When the time comes, I’ll make sure you’re captured and safely delivered to him. Of course, you’ll have no idea when, since the capture must look real.”

This plot sounded more and more dangerous. “If I agreed to this, I’d have to wait until I’m fully immortal.” The females in Lila’s family usually transitioned around twenty-three, so she was long overdue. Until that happened, she was as vulnerable to harm as a mortal. Going toe-to-toe with immortals would be idiotic. “Maybe in a few weeks.”

“Events are building with the Møriør,” Nïx said. “I can’t give you that much time.”

Saetth told Lila, “You’ve been out of the Lore, so you don’t know how bad it’s gotten.”

“I’ve read the Book of Lore, keeping up to date with the Møriør’s major battles.” If those one-sided slaughters could be considered battles.

“What goes on behind the scenes is just as important.” Brows drawn, he said, “The cowardly fey-slayer sprung a sneak attack on me recently. He destroyed the Ancestors’ Sword.”

“Are you shitting me?” Lila’s gaze dropped to the scabbard on Saetth’s hip. Looking more closely, she could see he wore another sword—not the king’s blade. This shocked her as much as everything else she’d learned tonight.

The sword that had beheaded her parents was no more.

The Møriør had struck home yet again. Was Lila going to hide while they continued their assault on the kingdom?

Never.

She faced Nïx. “When would the . . . capture happen?”