Dark Skye (Immortals After Dark #15)(81)

“Yet you two have no urge to do me?”

Lanthe muttered, “Maybe a little.” N?x was a dish.

“Hey!” Thronos yanked Lanthe closer.

“Understandable.” N?x twirled her long hair. “You two get dressed, and then we’ll talk.”

When the Valkyrie turned from them, Lanthe eased around within the circle of Thronos’s wings to face him. “We were bespelled.” They might not have been bespelled.

“Of course,” he said solemnly.

“We must have been.” Otherwise, Lanthe had so very nearly let Thronos Talos claim her—during her most fertile time. And she’d been about to shove her hips up to get him inside her faster!

If she got pregnant with a Vrekener’s baby . . . with his baby . . .

His expression was inscrutable. Was he angry at himself for their offendments? “Of course,” he repeated. “The Valkyrie must be mistaken.”

“Uh-huh.” Untruth.

He released Lanthe so they could find their clothes. She darted for her necklace right away.

The Valkyrie sauntered back to them as soon as Lanthe and Thronos were dressed. N?x herself wore a T-shirt that read: I lost my heart on Immortal Island!

Recalling how N?x had helped Thronos, Lanthe narrowed her eyes. “You told him how to capture me. Why would you betray me?”

“Did I?”

“I’ve been running from him for centuries.” Or she had been. Act like partners long enough . . .

“Have you?”

“Will you stop answering questions with questions?”

“Will I?”

“Ugh!” Lanthe wanted to strangle her!

“You both have roles to fulfill.”

“What roles?” Thronos grated.

N?x waved her hand in an arc above her as she breathed, “Future ones!”

Wait . . . immortal island? “You were on the Order’s prison island, weren’t you?”

“Was I?” N?x asked with a coy smile.

“You talked to me when I was unconscious!” Lanthe flashed a look of realization. “You hit me in the face with a log!”

“You dare accuse me of such a thing?!” N?x snapped, her Valkyrie emotions producing lightning above. “Outrageous! I would never!” Then she abruptly frowned. “I might have hit you in the face with a log.”

“You talked to me about realms and fires. Why?”

“You were in the mortal plane, then Pandemonia, now here, and soon . . . there. You really are the cutest wittle devilkin of a catalyst!”

“Catalyst? You’ve been steering my portals! You—you rigged my subconscious.” Hadn’t Lanthe felt like this journey was bigger than just her and Thronos? Had N?x wanted them in Pandemonia to shake up those demons? To bring peace to hell? After all, what could those armies fight over now?

Or did N?x want the dainty keys Lanthe now wore? Not without a fight, Valkyrie.

N?x murmured, “In one realm, hurt. In one realm, leave. In one realm, cleave. In one realm, shine.”

Lanthe had hurt in Pandemonia, as if the festering wounds of the past had been sliced open. At last to heal? “So here, I’m supposed to leave?”

N?x smiled blankly.

“What are you playing at, Valkyrie?” Thronos sounded like he was struggling not to lose his temper. He must be regretting their actions as much as Lanthe did.

Ignoring him, N?x asked Lanthe, “How’s your power coming, sorceress? You look at it as if it’s a pot that needs to be filled. When in fact, it’s a muscle that has been flexed very little.”

This news was exciting! “So the more I use it, the stronger it’ll be?”

“Use, use, rest. Use, use, use, rest. Use, use, use, use, rest—”

“I get it!”

To Thronos, the Valkyrie said, “How did you like your vacay in Pandemonia? Glad you saved up sick days? Did you feel all . . . liberated? And swagger-y? I bet that plane made your soft parts tingle.”

“Once and for all, tell me, woman: Are Vrekeners demons?”

“Tell me, man: Does it matter?” she said with a roll of her eyes.

“Yes! Absolutely. Are we a demonarchy?”

“What would be the difference between your life now versus if you were a demon? You’d be able to trace. Big deal.”

Lanthe could sense his steep disappointment. Because he still didn’t have the conclusive answers he sought? Or because N?x hadn’t denied Vrekeners were demons?

“I’ll make you a deal, Thronos,” the Valkyrie said. “I’ll tell you where you really are if your mate stores something for me.”

“Stores what?” Lanthe didn’t even have a bag with her.

N?x plucked up a curl of her lustrous dark hair, peering down at it. “This is the one, you know.”

Lanthe didn’t know. “Which one?”

“The one that enslaves all the Valkyries. The tipping point with the Scourge.”

“Okay,” Lanthe said slowly. “Your hair enslaves?” She turned to Thronos, as if he could make sense of N?x’s ramblings.

The Valkyrie nodded. “Quite.” Baring her foreclaw, she sliced off the curl, then glanced around, muttering, “What to tie it with?” She beamed at the bat, who now had a length of string in its creepy little maw. “Why thank you, Bertil!” N?x tied the end of the curl tight, handing it to Lanthe. “In your pocket, if you please.”