“Is there a reason why he’s walking along next to you like he’s out for a Sunday stroll?”
“He’s coming home with us,” I said. I wondered what Lucifer would think of that.
“What are we, some kind of halfway house for nephilim children?” Beezle said. “I hope he doesn’t like popcorn, because I’m not sharing any of mine.”
I smiled at Beezle as he settled on my shoulder. “Don’t worry. There will be enough popcorn for everyone, especially you.”
He glanced down at my left hand, the cauterized and bloody remains of my last two fingers. “I thought you told me you’d come back in one piece.”
“I’ve still got all the pieces that matter,” I said.
“Let’s go shock the hell out of Amarantha,” he said, shifting around to make himself more comfortable. “Wake me up when we get there.”
17
TO SAY THAT WE CAUSED A STIR WHEN WE ENTERED the throne room would be an understatement. I threw the doors open and strode ahead of Samiel. I must have been a sight to see—my torn clothes, my missing fingers, my face swollen and blackened from Samiel’s punches, and trailing behind me a strange half angel carrying Gabriel.
Amarantha was perched on the edge of her throne when we entered. Focalor sat beside her on a low stool, and he had obviously just said something to make her laugh when I entered. When she saw us, the smile faded from her face. Focalor blinked at me in surprise.
I came to a stop before them, the assembled courtiers whispering all around us. Samiel sidled up to me and pressed his arm against mine. I could tell that the crowd made him nervous and I gave him a reassuring little shoulder bump.
Amarantha and Focalor stared at me.
“Surprised to see me?” I asked.
“How did you survive the Maze?” Focalor asked, standing. “Where is Antares?”
“Antares is in the cage that used to hold Gabriel,” I said. “And I’ll be calling Azazel ASAP to pick up his wayward son, so if I were you, I would clear out of here before he arrives. You’ll probably want to pick the time and place for your groveling.”
Focalor came down the stairs toward me, and I actually could see steam emitting from his nostrils. I wondered vaguely if he could breathe fire. His breath stank of brimstone and I could feel heat emanating from his body. It was like standing too close to a furnace.
“I will not grovel to Azazel or anyone else. If you survived the Maze, then it was by trickery. Queen Amarantha assured me that no human could possibly withstand its powers.”
I raised my eyebrow at Amarantha, who actually cringed. “Did she, now? I’d hate to think that the queen purposely sent me into the Maze with the intention of killing me by proxy.”
“Of course I did not,” she said regally, but there was fear in her eyes. “You agreed to the terms of the contest, just as did Antares.”
“But you had no intention of actually negotiating with Lucifer even if I did win. It seems that while I was away you and Focalor have gotten quite close.”
“It is my right to do as I please in my own court,” she snapped.
“And it is my right as ambassador to Lucifer to call you false, to say that you have conspired against him and me from the beginning, that you have attempted to sow discord in my party using magic, that you have committed grievous offense by hosting Focalor under his own banner and accepting, even temporarily, a thrall of Azazel’s as your own prize. To say nothing of your other intentions,” I said, and let that hang unsaid between us for a minute. I didn’t want her to think I’d forgotten about her plan to have a child of Lucifer’s bloodline.
She stood from her throne, her face pinched and white. “You will not speak to me thus in my own court.”
I shouldered Focalor aside and strode up to her. “I will do as I please. You have broken the laws of etiquette of your own kingdom, you have risked the safety of humanity on a war for your own pleasures, and you have deliberately tried to murder me. Lucifer is not going to buy that you were a neutral party in all of this. He’s going to hold you responsible for encouraging Focalor.”
“I do not fear Lucifer,” she said through her teeth.
“You should,” I said softly. “If you don’t, then you’re dumber than I thought.”
“Leave this court, Ambassador. You are no longer welcome here,” she said angrily.
“Gladly,” I said and turned on my heel. Then I turned back. “Almost forgot.”
I slapped her across the face.
“How dare you,” she said, her face livid.
“I dare because your actions have betrayed you as a selfish, spoiled brat with no thought other than that of your own desires.”
“We will have a score to settle, Madeline Black,” Amarantha hissed.
“Bring it on, bitch. There isn’t anything you have that I haven’t seen before.”
Then I turned away from her and strode toward the doors.
The court was deathly quiet as I walked out, Samiel still carrying Gabriel and glued to my side. As I reached the doors, I suddenly heard the sound of applause.
I turned back to see Wade grinning at me and clapping his hands. He winked when I acknowledged him, and I gave him a little bow.
Then I walked out of Amarantha’s court, hopefully forever.
As soon as the doors closed behind me, I felt my body slump.
“You can’t collapse yet,” Beezle whispered. “Wait until you’re alone.”
“Right,” I said, struggling to stay on my feet. “Too bad I don’t know how to get back to our room.”
“I can help with that,” J.B. said from behind us.
It didn’t hit me until I saw him how scared I had been in the Maze, or how happy I was to be alive and not insane. It didn’t hit me until I saw his face, so reassuringly normal, and the relief that was evident there.
I threw my arms around him and pressed my face into his neck.
“Well, hey, there,” J.B. said.
I didn’t say a thing, just held on tight.
“I’m glad you’re alive,” he whispered.
“Me, too,” I said, swallowing so that I wouldn’t cry into his neck. I knew that eyes were still watching us, even if I couldn’t see them. I spoke softly into his ear, so that only he could hear. “Would you just hold on to my arm for a little while? I feel dizzy all of a sudden.”
“That won’t be a hardship,” he said, and then he looked at Samiel. “Who’s the new guy?”
I sighed. “Samiel.”
His eyebrows winged up. “Samiel, who tried . . .”
“To kill me, yes, but it was all a misunderstanding and it’s okay now, so can you just get me somewhere I can sit down?” I said.
“I’m so glad that you’re still you,” J.B. said dryly, and helped me to my room.
As soon as I entered my room, the connecting door swung open. Nathaniel stood there, looking utterly amazed. Then he seemed to collect himself.
“I don’t know why I am constantly surprised by you when all you ever do is exceed expectations,” he said.
He seemed like he’d healed up a little more in the past two days. I was still angry with him, even though I knew that at least part of what happened had been a spell of Amarantha’s. But that jealousy and anger had already been inside him, even if he would never have acted upon it.
And it was hard to look at him without thinking of what happened in the Maze. Still, I owed him a debt for giving me the sword.
