“Reginald Hubler.” The growl got worse and shook the old brick foundation. “I’m working on killing that guy, too.”
I took in some deep breaths and told myself to calm down. Turning my eyes on, I checked for wards or other surprises in and around the cell, but found nothing.
“All right, Gigi, you’re good to ’port her up to the store entrance.”
“What? Why? Aren’t you coming?”
“I’ll meet you up there. If I get too close to her once her Divinity is restored, the pain will cripple me.”
“Oh.” She bit her bottom lip. “Are you going to make sure there aren’t any other prisoners down here?”
“No, I’m gonna torch the place.”
“But there could be others! You need to check first!”
“You’re as bad as Jax!” I threw my hands up in frustration. “I can’t save the whole world, Gi!”
“No, but you can save who you can save.” Her dark blue eyes were steady as they held mine. “Wouldn’t you feel awful if you burned this place to the ground and later found out that there were innocent people trapped down here?”
“Oh, for the love of— ” Knowing it would only cost time to keep arguing with her, I gave up. “Fine! Just get her outta here. Then wait for me at the door or ’port back to Jax.”
“I’ll wait.” Gigi turned to the queen. “Your Majesty, I’m coming in.”
I waited until she popped into the cell.
“Queen Parvenah, it was our honor to help you. If you can set up a meeting with Darius, I think I can help him, too.”
“Then a meeting I shall arrange.” She dipped her chin in a slow, serious way that made me think of Ms. Chapman. “My gratitude is boundless.”
I gave Gigi a short nod, and the pair of them winked out of sight. Standing there with my hands on my hips, I cussed a little at the time I was gonna lose cleaning out Og’s dungeon.
She would never know if you didn’t.
I considered that for half a second, but my conscience bit me. Giving the iron door a hard kick, I headed down the hall to look in the next cell.
#
I should have known I’d end up needing to call Josef Krall.
“I killed Og and cleaned out his dungeon,” I got right to my point when he answered. “Found some nephs who need help.”
“How many? Where are you?”
“Seven alive, and we’re at his den.”
“You know where Og’s den is? Do you know how long we’ve been searching—”
“Not important right now, Josef. These people are in bad condition.Realbad.”
“I’ll send a team. What’s the address?”
After I gave it to him, I hung up and looked at the nephs slumped together in front of Parvenah’s cell. Three of the guys had helped me get everyone this far and could probably make it up the stairs. The rest, though…
“Do any of you know each other? What are your names?”
A couple pairs of glazed-over eyes looked up at me, but no one responded.
I frowned. I didn’t know these people, and I didn’t care about them, but I couldn’t leave them, either.
