We co-rule our kingdom. Our marriage is a partnership.

It works.

Lanthe gave a sob.

“Thronos truly understands about the gold?”

“He m-met Mother when he was a boy. He understands the importance.”

Sabine didn’t look surprised, but then she’d long since woven an illusion over her face.

However, upon further reflection over your letter, I realize that my only response to you can be gratitude. Melanthe is not only my wife and queen, she is my most treasured friend. You helped free her from the tyranny of Omort, and you’ve pledged your protection since.

Because of this, I am deeply in your debt. I wish for no war between us.

If you can agree to terms, I propose a meeting that would include you with your wife, and me with mine.

Melanthe has been against this course, fearing that you or Sabine will take her from me against her will.

I look upon my powerful queen even now as I write this, and confidently dare you to try.

Thronos

Lanthe choked back her next sob. If he hadn’t written of her being a powerful queen, she’d probably be curled up in a ball, her tears wetting the divan upholstery.

“That was . . . big of him.” Sabine folded the letter. “Perhaps we Sorceri oughtn’t to have blown up his kingdom?”

Lanthe whirled around and punched her sister in the tit. Regrettably, Sabine was wearing a metal breastplate.

As Lanthe shook out her hand, Sabine snapped, “You should’ve told me about your history with the Vrekener!”

“I didn’t know what to make of it back then! For so long, it only brought pain. I was embarrassed. It seemed like all I ever did was confess my poor judgment to you.”

“Can you not understand what it looked like to me? I thought you’d finally been caught by a fiend. I was just trying to protect you.”

“I don’t need your protection anymore! I don’t need your worry! Sabine, I stole keys to the gates of hell and convinced demon hordes that I was a goddess.” She held up her necklace, the red gold nearly mesmerizing Sabine. “I somehow made a portal under duress in the belly of a beast! Thronos and I prevailed over a deity.”

“I can’t simply stop worrying about you or stop protecting you. Short of your commanding me not to, it will never happen.”

“Then fine, don’t stop. But support me in this.” She took her sister’s face in her hands. “For me, Thronos is all the gold in the world. He’s my next heartbeat.”

Sabine was bewildered, and let her sister see it. “Well. Way to sum up your feelings.” At length, she exhaled with defeat. “All right, then, consider me . . . supportive—if you’ll forgive me, and stop being cross. I can’t stand having discord between us.” She opened her arms. “You know I only want what’s best for you.”

Lanthe hugged her for long moments—she’d hated the discord too.

Sabine was teary when they broke away. “You know, the Queen of Zephyr is a very disagreeable sorceress. In the future, if you’d like to spend some quality sister time together, we could ambush her and steal her power of flight. In case Thronos wants a flying wife, or whatever.”

Lanthe smiled through her own tears. “QT with my big sis? I’d really like that.”

“Also, if you’re out of leads, you could renew my search for the Hag in the Basement.” After Omort had died, Hag had delivered those antidotes for the morsus, then fled Tornin. “She’s rumored to be working for King Lothaire in Dacia. Wrap your head around that for a moment, will you?”

Hag possessed locating powers! “You’ve stopped looking for her?”

“We sought her—only to find her partner in crime, Lothaire, and his hateful book of debts. No longer. It’s rumored that he gave the book to La Dorada for some reason.”

Then Rydstrom owed the Queen of Evil a blood debt? That didn’t bode well. And he and Sabine already had a lot on their plate.

Because the mysterious Well of Souls was . . . stirring.

“Hag’s a great idea,” Lanthe said. “I’ll send a dispatch to Dacia right away.”

“There’s one more idea. Cadeon came up with it. . . . If Thronos truly is a demon, it might be possible for you to summon him.”

A female who slept with a demon of certain breeds could summon him at any time—if she knew the rites and possessed the esoteric ingredients. The demon would uncontrollably teleport back to her.

Lanthe had contemplated this—was preparing for it—but had decided to save the idea until she’d exhausted all others.

Despite the amount of gold she’d offered Loa the Commercenary, the priestess couldn’t get the ingredients to Lanthe for another three weeks.

In any case, the situation with Thronos was . . . tricky. He wasn’t going to remember Lanthe when he saw her. As far as he’d know, she might be an enemy sorceress. Plus, she wasn’t sure whether he’d ever fully accepted he was a demon.

Being involuntarily demon-summoned by an unknown Sorceri would have to spook him.

“Of course, some breeds are immune,” Sabine continued, “and I can’t imagine anyone having tried it on a Vrekener.”

“Tell Cadeon thank you from me. But it’s my last-ditch option—since I have Thronos’s memory issues to consider.”

Sabine narrowed her gaze. “You’ve got another plan up your gauntlet. You never used to keep secrets from me.” She snapped her fingers. “Oh, wait. You did for five hundred years.”