“No,” Phanes said before I could reply. “She also seeks an annulment of our betrothal, which only her father can do.” His mouth turned down. “She still favors you over me, though why, I have no idea.”
“You should be glad of it,” Ian said at once. “Saves you worlds of trouble. I’ve had enemies cause me less stress, and that’s on a good day of being with her.”
“Should I leave you two alone?” I asked in an acerbic tone. “Maybe you’d enjoy discussing me more if I weren’t here.”
Ian’s wrist flicked in an indulgent gesture. “You can stay. Most time I’ve spent with you in weeks, after all.”
So he’d decided on emotional retribution. I wished we could just brawl it out. That would have been quicker.
“I wasn’t aware of the time difference until recently,” I replied, then shot a hard look at Phanes. “You didn’t tell me that when you had me come with you.”
“And I should have?” he said with open disbelief. “The difference between our worlds is negligible even to the human race. He’s a vampire. I’m surprised he even noticed.”
Gods, that man! “Even if you didn’t deem it important, you still should have mentioned it,” I said curtly.
Ian snorted. “You’re one to talk. You’ve made it quite the habit to make up my mind for me, haven’t you?”
I gave the wall of water a longing look. Flinging myself headlong into the netherworld had never felt more tempting.
“There is one thing I’m unclear on,” Ian said, turning his gaze to Phanes now. “Why would you help her storm death’s punishment playground? You gain nothing. In fact, you lose a powerful fiancée. What’s your real angle here?”
Phanes’s wings fluffed, reminding me of an angry swan. “I need not explain myself to you—”
“Did you think I wasn’t going to ask the same thing?” I interrupted. “And you do need to explain yourself to me, or I’m not going near that watery gateway, let alone through it.”
His golden eyes fixed on mine.
“I already told you that I, too, did not want this betrothal, and that was before we met. Now that we have, I know we are not a compatible match.” He shrugged. “You are very beautiful, but you argue with my every command, question me in front of my people, constantly make unreasonable demands—”
“Welcome to my world,” Ian muttered.
“—and most insulting of all, prefer another to me,” Phanes said, with an imperious wing flap at Ian, who winked at him.
“Still, I would have married you if you were willing,” Phanes went on in a more reluctant tone. “In your world, you have many chances to elevate your status beyond what you are born with. In mine, there are few. Marriage is one, and you are the daughter of one of the higher gods. In lieu of that . . . alliances are another.”
A gleam lit Ian’s eyes. “And a higher god would owe you quite the alliance if you were instrumental in his escape.”
Phanes tipped his head in acknowledgement. “I would have all the power that a marriage to her promised me, with none of the drawbacks of actually being married to her.”
I’m going to freeze his innards and stab him with them, my other half thought. My sorcerer’s, too, if his lips keep twitching.
“Now we all know our motivations,” I said through gritted teeth. “But you left out the most important part, Phanes. How am I supposed to raid the prison section of the netherworld to free my father when only the dead can enter?”
Phanes gave me his sunniest smile. “By being dead, of course.”
Chapter 14
Ian, shockingly, didn’t seem to have the same objection to this notion that I did.
“How dead are we talking?” he asked in a casual tone.
“Only a little.” Phanes gave me a slanted look. “You didn’t think I meant permanently dead, did you? Even humans know that there’s more than one form of death, with how many of them have flatlined and then been brought back.”
Yes, but unlike humans, vampires didn’t have a heartbeat that could be restored. Our form of death was much more limited, and my father was no longer in a position to resurrect me.
Besides, even if I could pull off only being a little dead, I didn’t trust Phanes enough to do it.
“And I’m supposed to, what? Wander around the netherworld yelling ‘Dad!’ until he answers me?” I let out a short laugh. “If that’s all you’ve got, Phanes, it sounds like a terrible rescue plan.”
Ian’s teeth flashed in a quick smile. “Not to mention, he’s yet to show proof that your da is in the netherworld at all.”
True. Granted, no one in their right mind wanted to breach the land of death’s prison system, plus Ashael had said he’d looked everywhere else for our father. But, if Phanes had any further proof, he needed to show it.
I gave him an expectant look. Phanes saw it, and made an exasperated sound.
“I have done nothing but speak the truth to you and assist you since the moment we met, yet you continue to heap insults and suspicion onto me. You demand more proof? Very well. Look.”
The wall of water changed, becoming translucent. It showed a long, deep tunnel surrounded by darkness so thick, I couldn’t even see the tunnel’s walls. All I had was a dronelike view that zipped down the tunnel with dizzying speed. Several quick turns and zigzags later, the tunnel narrowed to a ledge bordered on one side by a sheer rock face and on the other by a steep drop into darkness. On the other side of the dark expanse, in a tiny alcove that barely fit his tall frame, was my father.
His silver-white hair was so dirty, I could barely see the gold and blue streaks that mirrored my own locks. His eyes were the only brightness around him, those silvery beams highlighting thick chains that bound him so tightly, blood slicked wrists, arms, neck, thighs, and calves where the chains bit into him.
They weren’t even necessary. If my father took one step forward, he’d fall into the relentless darkness. The design of his prison trapped him more than those cruel chains that tore bloody grooves into his dark brown skin.
“There,” Phanes said, and the image whooshed backward until I only saw the watery wall again. “Your proof.”
It was indeed. Few people knew the warden’s real appearance. Everyone else only saw whatever god they believed in when they saw my father. But Phanes’s spy-drone view showed my father as he was, and that, Phanes wouldn’t know unless this was real.
“Interesting ability, to spy into the netherworld,” Ian remarked with none of the calm I felt.
I didn’t love my father the way most people loved theirs. He’d abandoned me before I was born, ignored me for most of my life, and showed only the barest concern the few instances I had spent with him. But he’d resurrected me every time Dagon had murdered me, and back when I’d been the tool Dagon used for his worship, that had been more times than I could count. My father had also resurrected Ian for me, and he’d warned me that if he did, he would face consequences.
I hadn’t cared. I’d argued, berated him, and used massive amounts of emotional blackmail until he gave me what I wanted: Ian alive.