Lord of Chaos (The Dragon Demigods #7) - Charlene Hartnady Page 0,37

Hellhounds are powerful creatures.”

I feel my hackles go up at the thought. My jaw tightens, only because it’s all true. It’s not that I’m jealous. I just hate that fucker so much.

“She’s spent the last year in hell…quite literally,” Death goes on, “Nia has had to fight for her survival. Day in and day out. Her skills are as honed as they get. She needs to weaken the bond enough to be able to stand up to Gaire when he compels her. At that point, there might be a chance.”

“Someone needs to have sex with her to make that happen?” I say.

“Not someone. It needs to be you.”

“Why me?” I immediately retaliate. I don’t mean it to sound as hard as it comes out. “I know why,” I go on, calmer this time. “Gaire will want to kill whoever it is who does the deed.”

“Yep, and since he already has you on his shit-list,” Death shrugs, “it may as well be you. Thing is, you and Nia together would stand the best chance against him.” Death’s eyes glint, and his mouth twitches. “Ideally, you need to get Nia to fall in love with you. That would work best. Then the two of you could—”

“Not happening!” Nia and I say at once. In fact, I would go so far as to say that she sounds more animated than I do. She’s returned without us noticing.

I look her way, and my eyes bug out of my skull. Her hands are on her hips, and her eyes are burning holes into Death. She’s wearing a dress. I’ve only ever seen her naked or in men’s wear. This is new. Holy shit, but she looks good. The dress has thin straps over her shoulders, with three straining buttons between her breasts. It’s a mustard-yellow color with red tulip-type flowers all over it. It’s long and flowing and—

Tri bumps his elbow against my arm. “Pick up your jaw, bud,” he chuckles. “I hope you have a rubber in your wallet.” He winks at me.

I give Tri a dirty look. “Don’t go there.”

13

Nia

I’m so nervous. I haven’t worn anything this pretty in a very long time. I feel awkward. Twelve insisted. She told me I looked amazing. I could only hear my heart beating like mad in my ears. I didn’t hear what just went down after Death said what he did. From the looks on everyone’s faces, we definitely walked in on something. Why does Death want me to fall in love with Rage? What is he up to? I don’t trust him. Do the dragon demigods plan to use me next? I thought I could trust Rage. Maybe I was wrong.

“Fuck off!” Rage mutters to Trident. He looks pissed off. His eyes are dark. The scar cutting through his brow is even more pronounced against his pale skin. His shirt is soaked through with dark blood. It’s sticking to his broad chest.

“I have a huge favor to ask,” Death says to Twelve, who is apparently his stepmother. This surprised me since she doesn’t look old enough, but who am I to judge. She’s been really sweet to me. I’m cautious, but I like her. I mean, she’s pregnant, so how dangerous can she be? I’ll keep my guard up, since we’re in the Underworld.

Death makes a face, “We need to stay the night. Would that be okay?”

The night? No! What?

“Sounds wonderful,” Twelve says. “What shall I have our chef prepare us for dinner?”

“Surprise us.” Death lifts his brows.

Twelve clasps her hands together, looking excited, “I’m thinking five courses. Nothing too crazy.”

Death smiles. “Sounds fantastic. You’re an amazing hostess.” I get the feeling he means it.

Hades walks back inside, carrying a tray of drinks. “I wasn’t sure what you wanted…” He looks around the room at all of us. “What sounds fantastic?” He tries to smile and fails.

“I invited everyone to dinner, my darling.”

“Isn’t that nice.” The smile is more of a grimace. Hades doesn’t want us here almost as much as I don’t want to be here. This might be a safe haven from Gaire, but it feels too much like ‘out of the frying pan into the fire’ for my liking. Everyone chats for twenty minutes, and then we are summoned for dinner.

It’s a tough evening. The small-talk is like chalk on a board. Thank god for Trident. He keeps telling these silly stories that make me laugh no matter how hard I try to keep a straight face. Twelve is also making