Free bedeviled & beyond 06 - bedeviled & befouled by sam cheever

appeared, looking slightly the worse for wear. The skin under one of her eyes was puffy and bleeding, she had a long, healing wound down one slim arm, and blood caked her usually silky black hair. The feisty royal still held a bloody sword in one hand. “I tried to trace the king’s magic signature but lost it at the dimensional split. He’s definitely left this dimension.”
    “The Shadows?” Gerch ventured.
    The royal shook her head. “I can’t know for sure but I don’t think so.”
    Slayer shimmered into the room and picked up the conversational thread. “Could he have gone to Olympus?”
    We all looked at each other but Brina finally said. “It’s possible.”
    My sister shimmered in next. She and Slayer shared a look that made me distinctly uncomfortable.
    I inclined my head in her direction by way of a greeting and told my gathered friends what I knew. “He’s very depressed. I’d even say suicidal. He told me that he no longer belonged here.”
    Slayer frowned. “If he doesn’t feel he belongs here he probably wouldn’t go to Olympus either.”
    “Or any of the light dimensions,” Brina agreed.
    “He could have gone to Hell.”
    We all looked at Gerch. He met my gaze and I realized he’d been nursing that thought for a while but hadn’t wanted to voice it. “He’d feel more comfortable there,” I whispered.
    Myra and my father shimmered into the room. When I looked at them I had to blink tears away. “What are the chances Dialle’s soul will survive a prolonged visit to Hades right now?”
    The air beside my father flickered and Emo shifted into the room. My father turned an angry look toward my friend and partner but Emo just returned it with a stoic expression. I knew that look. He was dug in. Nobody would be altering his decision. Whatever that was. I smiled when he turned my way.
    Myra touched my father’s hand as if to say “let it be” then answered my question. “If Dialle is in Hades that would be very bad. We need to get him out of there. As quickly as possible. He’ll not only lose his soul if he stays, he’ll most likely die. He’s not built for that kind of darkness anymore. Not after walking in the light for three years.” Her clear blue gaze held mine, carefully devoid of accusation. But she didn’t need to say or even think the words. They were in my mind anyway.
    What she meant was, after two years of being tied to me. And now he was set adrift, an empty vessel with a hole in him the same size as the one I harbored inside me. By taking himself to Hades he’d made sure only one thing could fill that void.
    Black, oily evil.
    I shuddered. Every minute he spent there would take him further away from the man I knew and loved. Further from the hope of a future together. “We’ll leave as soon as I’ve recharged my power.”
    Darma stepped forward, touching my arm. “Astra, you don’t have any powers. And we don’t even know if he’s there.”
    I glanced at my aunt. No one had told Darma about my temporary fix. “You’ll be my power, Darma.” My sister looked at me as if I was mad. “Think of me as a battery you need to keep charged. I’ll explain while Myra gives me what I need to get started. And as for Dialle’s location, I know he’s there—in my heart—but even if he’s not, we have to check that off the list of possibilities first because it’s the most dire one. He’s in the greatest danger in Hades. So that’s where we’ll start our search.”
    Gerch nodded. “I’ll return to the court and retrieve as many of my men as I can gather.”
    “Thanks, Gerch.” I touched his arm. “It means a lot to me...and Dialle...that you stood by him despite everything.”
    Gerch stared at me for a long moment, his craggy mouth thinning slightly. He looked as if he wanted to say something but he didn’t. He finally just nodded and stepped back.
    Slayer’s voice pulled my thoughts away from Gerch. “Do you want me to go to Olympus and get dragons?”
    I