Bryce

“She never even realized that Thea was behind it the entire time!” Aurora doubled over in laughter as she finished the story. Of course, Leila didn’t seem nearly as entertained.

“I’m glad you found it funny, because it took me three weeks to get all the goop out of my hair.”

“Nobody said you had to fight it on your own,” Suriel interjected, which earned him a scowl from Leila. “I’m just saying that Aris and Ashaiya were already on their way. You could have just waited.”

“Shut up, Suriel.” Leila’s scowl only intensified, but Suriel shrugged it off as he turned back towards me. I was just standing there grinning at the bickering siblings. Other than the obvious differences in appearances, Aurora couldn't have been more like my brother. Her laugh was exactly the same and the way she annoyed Leila couldn't have been more like how Silas annoyed Char.

“Bryce, right?” Suriel asked, and I nodded. “Shouldn’t we move further away? It sounded like Thea was worried about keeping you safe.”

We were standing around talking maybe a dozen meters from the keep, with Persephone resting on the ground half a meter behind me. Her skin was sickly pale and her long raven-black hair was a bit worse for wear from being carried around, but she otherwise looked perfectly healthy. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with her, but it certainly felt magical to me.

I shook my head at Suriel’s question. “If they can’t handle Aris, then how far we are from the keep isn’t going to matter. Lady Tenebris has orders to lock down the gate if we fail, which means we’ll be trapped here. Besides, I get the feeling that Thea asked us to leave just to placate Lilith.”

“Which means even if we had resurrected dad, then it wouldn't have changed anything.” Aurora shook her head with a sigh. “Our plan probably never would’ve worked in the first place.”

“How did you three end up in Tartarus, anyway?” As far as I could tell, Tartarus was essentially a high security open-air prison. There was probably more to it than that, but even still, I wasn’t sure how Thea was planning on negotiating their release. Or even if she should.

“I’m not sure about Suriel, but Aurora threatened some noble in Feasjura,” Leila explained, which prompted Aurora to add more to the story.

“Threatening him was one thing, but when he tried to have me arrested Lei barbecued him along with all of his guards.”

That felt like a very Thea thing to do, which was strangely relieving because prior to that, Leila didn’t seem like she was related to her at all. “Oh, I can see how that might get you into trouble. What about you, Suriel? What’d you do?”

“I was accused of kidnapping a noble’s son, and I didn’t have much of a defense after he was found dead in my home.” Suriel rubbed at the back of his head in exactly the sort of way Thea did while she was trying to explain herself. “I tried arranging somebody to cast a truth spell for me, but my sentencing got expedited before I could get a hold of them.”

“Your sentencing? What about the trial?”

Aurora laughed at my question. “There definitely wouldn’t have been a trial. You’re guilty until proven innocent in the hells, and Hades is worse than most when it comes to nobility.”

“It was mostly my own fault for choosing to stay there instead of going to Hel. It’s just that Thea had her own thing going on there, and I didn’t want to intrude.” I frowned at Suriel’s explanation. Thea definitely would’ve welcomed him with open arms if he had gone to live with her. Besides, there’s no way he could’ve predicted what had happened. I was about to explain as much when I saw Lilith and Thea exiting the keep.

“Is everything okay?” I asked as they approached. Lilith was scowling, and Thea was uncharacteristically quiet. It felt like there was more going on than the obvious.

“How stupid could you be?” Leila scoffed. “If she’s walking out of there alone, then Thea just murdered our brother. Of course she’s not okay.”

“Leila shut the fuck up, I’m not in the mood to deal with your bitchiness.” Thea walked past her siblings to latch onto me. “I’m fine, or I will be, but I need to talk to you about something that happened when we get a second to breathe.”

“Alright, in that case, let’s plan on talking when we get back to the ship.”

“Thank you.” Thea stood on her tip-toes to kiss me before turning back to Lilith. “Are you going to need us to stick around after we get out of here or are we good to just leave?”

Lilith continued to frown as she answered. “That’s going to depend on the political situation in Hel when we get back, but I’d be surprised if any of us manage to get away without some amount of interrogation. Especially if you’re planning on arranging a pardon for these three.”

“For what it’s worth, it sounds like Suriel might actually be innocent,” I pointed out, and Lilith raised an eyebrow.

“Is that something you’re prepared to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt?” she asked. “And what of the other two? Are they also innocent?”

“We’re not leaving them down here.” Thea crossed her arms and set Lilith with an unmoving glare. “I promised them, and even if that wasn’t the case, I’m kind of running out of family members here. I can’t exactly afford to leave three of them rotting in Tartarus.”

“This may be one of those instances where it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission,” Suriel suggested, which caused Thea, Leila, and Aurora all to turn to him with a look of surprise. “What? I’m just saying that we’re not likely to get permission, so we’re better off escaping while we can and dealing with the consequences later. You can’t tell me that you disagree.”

“It’s not that we disagree,” Leila started hesitantly. “I think we’re all just surprised that you were the one to suggest it.”

“Oh, come on, I’m not that much of a square,” Suriel protested, which caused Aurora to smile.

“Square, huh? That’s some pretty strong language coming from you. I guess prison really does change a person.”

“What do you think, Lilith? Could we sneak them out?” Thea asked. She was acting a lot more serious than usual, even in a life or death situation, which only served to reinforce my concern for her.

“That would be difficult with Lady Tenebris watching the portal on the other side.” Lilith seemed to be actually giving the idea a real amount of thought, which surprised me. It was obvious when we first arrived in Tartarus that Lilith had a lot of respect for Lady Tenebris, so that she was willing to entertain the idea of tricking her for Thea’s sake was more than a little endearing.

“What if they just used magic to hide themselves?” Thea asked. “Tenebris has no reason to think we’d try to leave with more than just the three of us, and it’s not like she can keep tabs on everybody in Tartarus. She'll probably never even notice that they’re missing.”

“Except that doesn’t matter, because none of us are good enough with illusion magic to get past an army of trained guards unnoticed.” Leila shot down Thea’s idea, which caused me to interject.

“As long as you can hide yourself enough to not be immediately obvious, then I can prevent you from being detected by any magical means.”

“I could probably handle that much,” Aurora agreed before turning to Suriel. “You’ll have to stick close to me, though. I’m not sure how effective my illusions are at hiding things that are more than like a meter from me.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Suriel smiled fondly before adding. “It’s not like this will be the first time I’ve had to rely on you for protection.”

I frowned at the exchange. Illusion was an extension of light, well mostly. It was actually a lot more complicated than that, but the illusions Thea created were definitely a part of her talent with light magic. Since light was a part of Inim’s domain, I had expected all of his children to be able to do something similar. “Can you not use your own magic? It really doesn’t need to be much here, and it's easier to hide a lot of little spells than a single big one. Otherwise, I’d just ask Thea to handle it.”

Suriel glanced toward Thea hesitantly before answering. “Illusion magic is somewhat counter to our father’s teachings, not many of us practice it, and besides, I’m kind of specialized.”

“Kind of specialized?" Aurora smiled as she shook her head. "He once nearly died eating a sandwich, then five minutes later, went on to save a man who was bitten in half by a wyvern. 'Specialized' is the understatement of the century.”

“In his defense, I don’t think the sandwich was ever meant to be eaten. Salayah made it during one of her ‘experiments,’” Leila added with a shiver before questioning Thea. “Do you really think this plan will work? I don’t know Bryce and if she fucks this up then we’ll all be executed on the spot.”

Thea shrugged. “If Bryce says she can do it, then she can do it. You three focus on not being seen, and we’ll handle the rest.”

“What about you, Lilith? Do you have any concerns?” She had been quiet ever since Thea came up with the plan, and I figured her input was probably the most valuable in this situation.

“Countless, but it’s not a bad plan so long as we can keep them hidden until they can get into the city.” Lilith paused for a moment before turning to Aurora. “I’d recommend heading directly to my household once you get clear of the gate. Devils aren’t common in Hel, and it would be best to limit the number of people who know you’ve escaped.”

“Alright, that seems reasonable. Are we good to go, then?” Aurora looked around and shrugged when nobody objected. “Well, here goes nothing.”

~~~~~

A somewhat awkward two-and-a-half hour hike later, and the six of us were stepping through the gate back to Hel. We did our best to cover for the siblings by having me and Lilith go first while Thea followed them through the portal. We were hoping that, combined with the concealment spell I was channeling and the confusion of our sudden arrival, it would all be enough to prevent them from being noticed.

To her credit, Lady Tenebris’s response was a lot more organized than when we arrived in Tartarus. She had set up a perimeter a few dozen meters from the gate, and while she didn’t shut down the other gates, there were guards redirecting traffic to prevent the lines from getting too close. Plus, this time when we were met with a half-dozen armed demons, they weren’t even pointing guns at us.

“Duchess Lilith, I’m glad to see you well.” The same warden who had led us through the camp in Tartarus greeted us from a distance.

“Thank you, warden,” Lilith shouted from where we were standing. “Would you please let Lady Tenebris know we’ve completed our mission and are prepared to prove we’re free of corruption?”

“I apologize, duchess, but we’ve been ordered to remain at our post even after you’ve returned and wait for orders from Lady Tenebris herself.”

“I understand, thank you warden.” Lilith shook her head before adding with a dark chuckle. “At least they weren’t ordered to kill us on-sight.”

“Wait, would she actually tell them to do that?” Thea sounded shocked, and I started to worry.

“I doubt Lady Tenebris would, but Orrid could have ordered her to if he was upset enough with us. The fact that he didn’t is probably a good sign.”

“Would he be able to get away with something so obviously politically motivated?” I asked.

“I honestly don’t know.” Lilith shook her head as she adjusted the unconscious Persephone on her back. “I’ve never been cut out for these sorts of politics. It’s why I’ve done my best to avoid them for so long. But Orrid usually finds a way to get what he wants, and he can be a real dick about it when he’s angry.”

“In that case, we probably won’t be killed.” I smirked as a trio of people approached. “But Lilith, if Orrid thinks anything like I do, then you might want to get used to your new title.”

“He wouldn’t dare,” Lilith forced a tired smile onto her face as she addressed the god in question. “Orrid, I see you got my letter.”

The prince was accompanied by Lady Tenebris and a bald androgynous demon with red skin. The three of them stopped close enough that we wouldn’t have to shout to have a conversation, but it was a near thing.

“I suppose congratulations are in order for a job well done, duchess.” Orrid actually sounded relieved as he spoke, all the way up until he added Lilith’s title. “I assume you won’t object to an examination by Chancellor Svain?”

“We have no objections.” Lilith stood up a little straighter as she addressed the red-skinned demon. “However, I would ask that you make it quick. I’d like to get Persephone back home as soon as possible.”

“I won’t dawdle, but I refuse to sacrifice thoroughness for the sake of expedience when it comes to matters of Nemesis.” The chancellor spoke with a serpentine accent that reminded me of a Naga I dealt with a few decades ago. I only hoped that this ‘examination’ would end better than that deal had.

“Very well, you may begin.” Lilith nodded, and Chancellor Svain stepped forward to begin channeling a spell. They were a natural caster, which made it difficult for me to decipher what exactly the spell did, but as far as I could tell, it was similar to the mana detection spell I had used to help me work on Thea’s meridians.

After about half a minute of casting, Svain stopped to furrow their brows at our group. Then, without saying a word, they started again. They repeated the process two more times before Orrid grew impatient enough to interrupt. “Is there a problem, chancellor?”

“I-I’m not sure. For whatever reason, my spell isn’t detecting any mana coming from the direction of the gate.”

“Is that enough to clear them?” Orrid seemed confused, and Tenebris furrowed her brows. Meanwhile, I immediately realized what was wrong. Lilith must have too, because she turned to me with an overacted sigh.

“Bryce, you wouldn’t happen to still have your spells active from when we infiltrated the obsidian keep, would you?”

“I apologize. Being in Tartarus made me uneasy, and I left them up for the trip back.” All technically true, even if the spells I left active after the battle at the keep weren’t the cause of the problem.

“An understandable and wise precaution for a mortal.” Chancellor Svain appraised me with an appreciative gaze. “Would you please lower your defenses so that I can examine you?”

I nodded in response and mentally hoped Thea’s siblings had had time to get far enough away as I canceled all of my support spells. Ending, of course, with the concealment spell.

Chancellor Svain’s eyes went wide and Orrid blinked a few times as he took me in for the first time since our meeting with Chorus. “Lilith, need I remind you that your oaths mandate you report any new gods to me the moment they appear in your household?”

“Bryce is still merely a candidate, not yet a god,” Lilith retorted. “And besides, I’ve been busy.”

“Fine, I’ll let it slide considering the circumstances, but don't let it happen again. Chancellor, please continue your examination.”

“Right.” Svain restarted their spell, and this time maintained it for several long minutes before nodding to themself. “There’s absolutely no trace of Nemesis corruption. They’re clean.”

“Tenebris, I want a complete accounting of all convicts still in Tartarus by the end of the month,” Orrid ordered before addressing Lilith. “As for you, duchess, I want a full, in-depth report of everything that led to these events happening. Including all the details regarding the newest member of your household. You are to deliver this report to me personally in Hades tomorrow morning.”

Orrid didn’t even wait for any sort of response before turning to leave, and when he was gone, Lady Tenebris shook her head in obvious disappointment. “As you wish, brother.”

“What a dick!” Thea proclaimed, and I was inclined to agree with her.

“He was worried about Persephone enough to come here personally, despite the obvious pain he’s in from his wound.” Lilith pointed out, but I wasn’t so sure. Orrid didn’t seem like he was in pain, and the way he was acting definitely didn’t scream ‘concern’ to me, but Lilith started walking before I could object. “Come on, let’s go home.”

“One last thing before you go,” Lady Tenebris interjected with a deadly serious expression, and we stopped in our tracks. “Salinthea, I wanted to give you my condolences for all four of your siblings that were no doubt killed in the assault. I also wanted to warn you that it’s not always possible to retrieve the remains of the deceased, which can make deaths difficult to confirm. Tartarus is a large place, and sometimes, things get lost.”

Thea froze in place as she processed what had just been said. “I-uh, right? Thanks for letting me know, Lady Tenebris.”