I Regret Nothing - JB Trepagnier Page 0,50
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