Infernal God

13

Exquisite metal vines twisted together so that it looked like the king was sitting on a chair made of plants and flowers, yet he managed to lounge as if he was completely relaxed. Behind him were huge windows looking out at the sky, with a stunning view of much of Faerie below it.

The most powerful fae of all time focused his eyes on me, while my group bowed low to him. I nearly bowed too, and then remembered that I was his equal now. Above his pointed ears was a crown done in the same style as his throne, and he had long black hair and cold eyes, with an expression that somehow looked both bored and cruel all at once.

"It's been a long time," he said to me in his haughty voice. “I preferred you as Persephone, though I do enjoy the irony of you being an angel now. And Demon Queen, no less.”

It took all my self-control not to roll my eyes. Was everyone in this realm stuck on the idea of me as Persephone? Yet while I might have changed, Oberon was still the same asshole as always.

Though I did notice one change from my previous life—there was no throne beside him anymore. I'd recently learned that my aunt, his wife, Titania, was dead, and most believed that Oberon was responsible. She was my mother's older sister and a powerful fae queen, but she'd been unable to produce children, and in Oberon's desperation to have a son and heir, he had many affairs. In retaliation, she cursed him to only have daughters. The rumor was that for many years he'd tried everything to break the curse, but when nothing worked, he'd killed Titania in a fit of rage. I believed it. The man was evil. Unfortunately, I had to play nice while in his realm.

I gritted my teeth behind my tight, closed-lipped smile. "Thank you for seeing us on such short notice. As you saw in my message, Lucifer has recently escaped the confines of Heaven."

"You mean War," Oberon corrected. "I suspect there is little left of Lucifer in there."

"We'll see about that." My fingernails bit into my palms as I forced myself to keep my cool. "He wants to start a war that will encompass all the realms, including Faerie. He must be stopped—and we believe the only way to do so is to use another Elder God."

A few shocked gasps went up around the throne room before it fell into deathly silence once more. Oberon straightened at my words and curved his hands over the arms of his throne. "You wish to release Famine."

"We do, yes."

He tilted his head as he considered. "Releasing one Horseman to stop another is a risky gamble. Still, Famine hates War, so you may have some success if you wish them to battle it out. But then what do you do with the winner? Or the loser, for that matter?" He stroked his chin. "There might be another way to save Lucifer."

"What is it?" I asked, unable to hide my eagerness. I’d searched all the books for any other solution, but hadn’t come across anything viable, but perhaps Oberon had knowledge even more ancient than I could access.

"If someone is possessed by an Elder God, that person can wage the battle inside themselves—an internal fight to defeat the god and take their powers.” He raised his eyebrows. “Only a few people would be strong enough to do such a thing, but Lucifer is one of them.”

My heart sank. “Except he failed."

Belial turned to me. "He only failed because he lost all his memories of you, so he didn't want to fight War. He has no reason to wish for peace without you."

"He's right," Damien said. "You were always the one to calm Father, from the very beginning."

Kassiel nodded. "And it's because of you that he ended the war with the angels at all."

A tiny ray of hope fluttered in my chest again. "So if we could get his memories back, he might be able to fight War and defeat him. But he sacrificed those memories—how would we get them back?"

No one seemed to have an answer for that.

Oberon waved a lazy hand. "Perhaps it's impossible. You may have to trap the Horsemen again in tombs, as we did in the old times. Or you could always try to send them to Void."

Void—the realm where all the Elder Gods lived. It was completely sealed off from anyone entering or escaping it, mainly to protect all the other realms from the powerful beings inside it.

"How would we do that?" I asked.

"Lucifer had a key to Void long ago," Oberon said. "Given to him by his father. Perhaps he still has it hidden away somewhere?”

"I don't remember anything about the location of a key." I turned to the others who'd come with me. "Do any of you?"

All of them murmured no or shook their heads. Damn. Another dead end. Even if I wanted to send Lucifer to Void, which I would only do as a last resort, the places he might have concealed a key were too numerous to count. It would take far longer to search for it than it would take Pestilence and War to destroy the realms between them.

I drew in a breath as the path ahead became clear. "Then we have no choice but to release Famine."

"Do you have someone willing to make the sacrifice?" Oberon asked.

Azazel stepped forward. "I'll do it."

"I also volunteer," Belial said.

"As do I," Damien chimed in.

Oberon drummed his fingers on the throne. "Perhaps one of you is strong enough to control Famine. Perhaps not. I'll be sending some of my own people with you to be certain it's handled correctly."

"I wouldn't expect anything less." In truth, I'd worried he might come with us. After all, he was one of the people who had trapped the Four Horsemen originally, and I thought he might want to be there when the one in his realm was released. I supposed Oberon didn't like getting his hands dirty anymore. He'd been different back when I was Eve. Not such an asshole. A real leader to his people.