Wicked Abyss (Immortals After Dark #17) - Kresley Cole Page 0,117

in his expression.

“I’m late for my fiancé’s gala, so you are going to open a rift to Sylvan for me.”

His canted head so clearly said: I am?

“I’m the queen of hell, the sole sovereign of Pandemonia. Abyssian won’t be returning. You may stay in my kingdom, if you serve me.”

Golden eyes gleaming, he drew back his wing and made a flourishing bow. —Then your wish is my command.—

She jolted to hear his strangely accented voice in her head. She’d understood his telepathy? She supposed it made sense, at least here.

—If you’ll just step back, my fair queen, I’ll get started on a pumpkin carriage. Of sorts.— He steered her aside with his tail. Inhaling a deep breath, he loosed a stream of white flames across the throne room.

After the smoke cleared, a circular portal remained, like a tunnel of fire. She could see Sylvan on the other side! Traitorous feelings arose. As much as she loved hell, she’d missed Sylvan.

Lila would seize both realms, uniting them under her rule!

Uthyr must’ve opened his portal into the royal gardens; the stunning castle lay just beyond, haloed by portentous gray clouds.

Torches lit the structure, candlelight beaming from the arched windows of the throne room. She gazed with longing at the ivy-covered spires, the giant evergreens flanking the palace, the trellised roses that painted one wall bloodred.

In Gaia, she’d dreamed of that place, yearning for her childhood home so much she’d haunted a facsimile of the castle. Memories from those years surfaced, dividing her focus, but she ruthlessly shoved them away.

Just as she shouldn’t think about Abyssian. Whatsoever.

But how could he have said those things to her? When she’d told him she loved him?

The dragon leaned in again. —Be back before Sylvan’s clock tower chimes midnight.— He winked at her. —In all seriousness, my portal will extinguish itself on the final stroke of twelve.—

She raised her brows, surprised yet again by a M?ri?r. Like Rune, he didn’t strike her as very vicious or monstrous.

—You are teeming with power here, Queen Calliope, but outside of hell, you won’t be. If you go to confront Saetth—perhaps for double-crossing you—he will prove far too strong and fast for you to defeat.—

“Precisely,” she said with utter confidence, practicing for what was to come. “As long as we’re all on the same page about that.”

Expression merry, he said, —Anything else, my queen?—

“Yes. I’m going to conjure a note for you to deliver to my ex-husband in Tenebrous. I would like him to read it aloud to his allies.”

The dragon looked delighted. —This is better than my soaps.—

Pacing the war room, Sian racked his mind for a way to reach Calliope. Every back entrance and secret portal into Pandemonia had been blocked. An impenetrable barrier had hurled him back onto his ass a dozen times—

White flames appeared out of thin air. Uthyr’s rift! When the smirking dragon strutted from a fiery tunnel, Sian dove to return through the portal, but the edges sealed behind Uthyr’s tail.

Sian scrambled back to his feet. “Is Calliope safe? Why can I not trace to hell?”

Uthyr cast him a broad smile. —Look at you! You’ve returned to your old form. Which is good, since you won’t be returning to your old home.—

“What are you talking about?” Sian bit out.

—You’ve been barred from Pandemonia. I did warn you that your plan would end badly, did I not?—

“I can’t be barred from hell; I am hell.”

—Well, apparently so is Calliope. She’s brimming with magic.—

How? He’d figure that out later. For now . . . “Tell me how to reach her!”

—She sends you a message.— Uthyr lifted a forepaw. A small scroll had been tied to one of his talons. —You’re to share it with your allies.—

“Give it to me!” Sian nearly shredded the page in his haste. He read aloud:

Demon,

Hell is now mine. You locked me in a dungeon; I locked you out of our godsdamned house. In the immortal words of a very wise mortal: everything you own in the box to the left.

Field advantage is key, and the joke’s on you.

Game, set, and match,

Calliope I, Queen of Sylvan and Pandemonia

P.S. If you or your allies make any move on Sylvan, I will retaliate against the M?ri?r tenfold. Do not test me.

“Queen of Sylvan?” Sian clutched his chest. “She must plan to go back to Saetth. Must not have believed what I said about him.” Why would she when Sian had been bragging about all his lies and trickery? “I told her that we were no