Tristan grimaced. “Thanks, V.”
“No offense, Tristy.” She cringed. “The truth is that if Mom hadn’t sent me to stop you, you would have eventually found your way in.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Really?”
She nodded. “But if you had, it would have set off a chain reaction that would have led to Lavinia Kane wiping out the entire mage and faery races. If that had happened, Mom would have had to destroy all her earthbound kids.”
“Which means if I’d found that doorway, we’d all be dead right now,” Tristan said, connecting the dots.
The room fell silent as we all absorbed that information. Her reminder that fate had plans for us that we couldn’t begin to understand was sobering.
“Okay,” Adam said, finally changing the subject. “To summarize: Getting through the gates is really just the first part of Lilith’s overall test. If Sabina fails at any of them, it will prove she isn’t the Chosen.”
“Right,” Nyx said.
“As I was saying,” the demoness continued, “in order to get to my mother, you’ve got to get through gates located in the dark races realms.” She pointed a metallic fingernail at the second level of the map. “After you get through the Adamantine Gate—the main entrance—the next one is here in the Hekatian Fields.”
“That’s where mages are punished?” I asked.
Tristan shook his head. “Unlike the mortal hell, Irkalla isn’t concerned with punishing the sinful. Instead, it’s an afterlife residence for all the dark races. There’s certain areas devoted to punishment, but they mainly exist in the demon realms.”
Nyx picked up the explanation. “The mage realm is first because it’s sacred to Hekate and it’s closest to the Adamantine Gate and Cerberus, both of which she also rules.”
I nodded. “I guess that makes sense. She’s the goddess of Liminal spaces and dogs.”
“Right. Moving on,” Valva said. “After the mage area is the Fae Realm. It’s home to the Unseelie Court.” At my questioning look, she explained. “They’re the exiled dark faeries who tried to wrest control of the fae from Queen Maeve in the early days of the race. But don’t worry about them. They’re all terrified of Queen Maeve.”
I’d met Queen Maeve on several occasions, and while she could be a first-class ballbuster, I found it hard to believe the Unseelie Court would be scared of her. “Why is that?”
Nyx looked up and shrugged. “She’s a demigod. None of the Unseelies can compete with her powers.”
My jaw dropped. “Maeve is a goddess?”
“Demigoddess,” she corrected. “But yeah, a deity.”
That certainly explained how she escaped being poisoned by my sister when she took out Orpheus and Tanith at the treaty signing. It also explained how she went through four stages of woman each year—child, maiden, mother, crone. I tucked that in my back pocket for examination later.
“What’s this here?” Within the region marked for the fae, there was a small section labeled Lupercalium.
Nyx took that one. “The werewolves aren’t numerous or powerful enough to get their own level, so the fae allow the were dead to live in a small area in their lands.” Nyx moved her finger lower. “Vamps are next. They live in the Bloodlands.”
Of course they did. While the other races all had somewhat poetic names for their final resting places, the vampires had picked a forbidding name. Typical. “Is there a reason for the order of the realms?” I asked.
Nyx looked at me with a speculative glance. “Very astute of you. Much like on the earthly plain, the fae and weres act as a buffer between the mages and vamps.”
Considering the mage and vampire races had been mortal—or immortal in the case of the vampires—enemies since Hekate created the mages, it made sense to keep them separate.
“The Bloodlands are relatively small compared to the others since vampires don’t die so easily,” Valva explained. “Which, of course, you know all about.”
While it was true vamps weren’t easy to kill, I’d personally offed three hundred twenty-seven vampires in my time as an assassin for the Dominae. But I didn’t think it was smart to remind Tristan about my checkered past as an assassin. “I’m sure I have lots of fans there.”
“I wouldn’t be so flippant about it if I were you,” Tristan said. “Chances are good you’ll be running into old enemies as part of the tests.”
That shut me up. In my head, a list of potential enemies appeared. In addition to the ones I’d killed for the Dominae, there were countless others of every race.
Tristan cleared his throat. “Past the Bloodlands are the demon areas. The lower-level temptation demons such as Nasties, Greedies, Lusts, Vanities, and Mischiefs”—he nodded at Giguhl—“live here in the Gizal region.”
“What’s it like there, Giguhl?” Rhea asked the demon.
“A total shit hole.”
“It’s true. Low-level demons get the worst real estate.” Valva nodded. “The more serious demons—Anarchies, Blasphemies, Vengeances—live here in the Zigal region. Much nicer digs, but technically it’s more like one large realm divided into two neighborhoods.”
“Yeah,” Giguhl said. “Gizal is what mortals would call the wrong side of the tracks. The snobby Lilitu demons got the prime real estate of Zigal.”
I looked closer at the map and saw that on the border between Gizal and Zigal there was a dark pit drawn between the two sections of the demon region. The area around the hole looked just like a Hieronymus Bosch painting with lots demons stabbing various sharp instruments into the orifices of sinners. “Let me guess—the Pit of Despair?”Tristan nodded. “Stay away from there.”
“No problem.”
Valva waved a hand. “Oh, it’s not so bad. I’ve spent a few epochs partying by the Pit. The weenie roasts were totally fun.”
All the men grimaced at the demon. She shot them a clueless look. “What?”
Tristan cleared his throat. “And of course all this leads us to the lowest level and Asmodeus and Lilith’s palace.”
I squinted at the large black fortress drawn on the very bottom of the map. I read the wording out loud for everyone. “The Bone Palace.”
“Cheerful.”
“Sounds like the name of a strip club, if you ask me,” Giguhl said. “I don’t know why Asmodeus hasn’t changed it. It’s kind of a joke among the Shedim demons.”
Valva looked at him in shock. “Really? I’ll have to tell Mom.”
Giguhl grimaced. “Please don’t.”
Tristan cleared his throat, so I switched back into student mode. “Okay, so there are what? Six regions?”
“Yes. But five gates. The entrance to Irkalla. And these.” He pointed to the Adamantine Gate, one in Hekatian Fields, another in the Fae Realm, and a final one in the Bloodlands. “Once you make it through the gates, you’ll still face Lilith’s final exam.”
“So how does one get through the gates?”
We all looked at Valva. She shrugged. “Some will demand a toll of some sort; others might force you to answer a riddle or perform a task before they’ll open the portal to the next realm.”
Adam glared at the demoness. “So basically you don’t know?”
“Hey,” Tristan said in a warning tone.
“I’m with Adam,” I said, crossing my arms. “Her answer isn’t exactly inspiring confidence here.”
“Valva already told you these aren’t the normal tests because Lilith herself created them to test the Chosen,” Tristan said, his tone heavy with censure. “While the information we have may be incomplete, we’re lucky to have Valva’s assistance. You’ll remember that when you speak to her from now on.”
“Sorry, Valva,” I said with a saccharine smile. “I didn’t mean to be a controlling bitch again.”
The demon crossed her arms.
Tristan shot me an annoyed look. “Sabina, your humor is brave but misguided. This isn’t a game.”
“You think I don’t know that?” I raised my chin.
Finally, he sighed and said, “So your first task is to come up with a list of enemies. Chances are good some if not all of the gatekeepers will have it out for you.”
I chewed my lip. “Okay. I’m going to need a pen or three… and lots and lots of paper.”
Tristan sighed. “Sabina—”
Giguhl spoke up. “She’s totally not joking about that part. She’s got a shit ton of enemies.”
Tristan looked at Adam and Rhea for confirmation. They both shrugged and nodded.
“When are we going in?” Calyx asked.
Tristan glanced at Nyx. She took over. “There’s a new moon in three nights. I think that’s the best time to go in. What do you think, Rhea?”
Rhea stroked her chin, looking from the map to me. “I agree.”
As much as I’d love three nights to prep for this mission, I didn’t have the luxury of that kind of time. I glanced guiltily at Adam. He grimaced and nodded.
Looked like the time had arrived to come clean about Asclepius’s deadline. “Actually, we might have a slight… wrinkle.”
Several pairs of eyes swiveled toward me. The weight of their stares bore down on me. Not until that moment did I realize how stupid I’d been to wait so long to tell them about Asclepius. No doubt they’d be suspicious about my reasons for holding back. And they’d be right.
“Oh?” Tristan asked, crossing his arms. “And what might that be?”
I chewed on my bottom lip. Crap, this was hard. I glanced at Nyx, who looked more curious than alarmed. I hated that in a few seconds that expression was going to harden with either fear or, the more likely option, hatred.
Unfortunately, my hesitation gave Valva time to butt in. “She’s talking about how Asclepius wants you dead.”