Hecate waved a hand again, and a bar table and four tall stools appeared, drinks in front of each seat at the table.
Khent and Val sat close to each other. Val drank, needing an excuse to stop staring at Khent’s smile.
Hecate sat as well but switched Morpheus’s cup with Val’s the moment Val put her cup down. “Sorry. Wrong glasses.”
Morpheus shrugged. “I don’t care what it is. I’m tired and thirsty and sick of being Nergal’s play toy.”
“You agreed. You can’t back out now.”
Val sensed she’d missed quite a bit, because instead of the anger and upset the goddess should have displayed at Morpheus’s traitorous transgressions, Hecate appeared eager to hear him out.
Khent’s eyes narrowed. “You only pretended your perfidy?”
“Such big words from a vampire,” Morpheus sneered, apparently not one to readily forgive the guy who’d tried to choke him out. “But yes. Do you really think I’d have taken us to Irkalla if I thought Nergal could control me? Bitch, please. I’m the god of dreams.”
CHAPTER
THIRTY-SEVEN
Hecate watchedMorpheus drink his mead. His eyes widened when he realized Valentine had sipped from the cup first, and she hadn’t degraded into a violent human yanking at her hair or gouging out her own eyes.
He raised his brows.
Hecate subtly shook her head, so he said nothing and continued to drink.
Unfortunately, Khent’s gaze narrowed. The blasted reaper missed nothing.
“What is Nergal planning?” she asked Morpheus before Khent could speak.
She needed to think on what it meant that Valentine Darkmore could drink mead like an immortal. That Nergal found her interesting, that Vladimir of the Void had killed her parents, looking for a special stone sought by many, and that the “human” radiated death magic like a bucket of plutonium.
“For the record,” Morpheus said with an offended sniff toward Khent, “Hecate asked me to switch sides a while ago. Which is the reason I took you to Nergal’s lair and pretended to be down when he tapped me with that vile staff.” He grimaced. “Because, ugh.Nota fan. That makes us more than even, Hecate.Nergalfedfrom me. Do you have any idea how repulsive that was?”
“It looked awful,” Val said, sympathetic.
Khent shrugged. “Shit happens.”
Hecate fought a grin. Her vampires—and no matter what they considered themselves, she thought of them as hers—always amused. Khent had surprised her by having an actual personality clearly brought out by Val’s presence.
Though he liked to act better than everyone around him, and knowing Khent, he definitely believed it, he’d softened around the pretty human. As Morpheus had suggested, the reaper had definitely found a mate.
And not just any mate for the only reaper she knew of who grew Wings of Eternal Night.
Hecate had sensed he was something special the minute he’d been born. Fortunately, his sire hadn’t been a complete ass about lending him out. Although if he knew Hecate planned on keeping his son, he might argue the point. Violently.
She glanced up to see everyone staring at her.
“I’m so sorry, Morpheus,” Hecate said with real empathy, appeasing the vain god. She liked Morpheus, but he could be so dramatic. “That had to be excruciating.”
“Yes, it was.” He shuddered. “I had to pretend some petty little demon god of the underworld could best me. I mean, it’sme.” He looked around, incredulous.
Val bit back a smile, though Hecate had seen it, and said, “I couldn’t believe it when you went down.”
“Thank you, Val.”
“I could. You’re pathetic.”
“Khent,” Val warned. She squeezed his hand resting on the table.
