To Hell and Back by L.B. Gilbert

Chapter Fifty-One

“How did she take it?” Naveen asked.

“Badly.” Rhys sighed, crossing the length of his office with ground-eating strides.

How else could anyone take news like that?

“Does she know all of it?”

Rhys sat at his desk, shaking his head. “Not all. She knows Ravenna was a surrogate and that she ran off with her while she was still in the womb. But I didn’t tell her about her real family. The other news was bad enough. It took everything she had to hear that. She’s sleeping now.”

Naveen leaned against the wall. “With your permission, I’d like to speak with her when she wakes. There are some things Ravenna wished for her to know.”

Rhys murmured his assent. His impulse to protect Valeria was beside the point now. She’d been to hell. How much worse could it get?

“I think you have to take that meeting now,” Naveen prodded.

I’m wrong. It can get so much worse.

But his second was adamant. “I don’t think you can put off meeting the Elemental.”

Rhys suppressed a growl. “I don’t want to leave Valeria.”

“I know.” Naveen winced. “But Veda says she’s stable. And I’m afraid it’s you they want to see—no other will do.”

There are consequences to opening a doorway to hell. The Elementals, the Mother’s chosen, were charged with making sure things like that didn’t happen. But according to Jerik, there were extenuating circumstances—including the possibility that one of their own had made their own unfortunate detour to Sheol at the same time they did. And she hadn’t done it alone. Jerik had recognized her companion.

Sometimes, coincidence was too inadequate a word to describe the way the forces in the world aligned.

So maybe, just maybe, they’d get a pass for violating the treaty they’d signed, which promised they’d live here in peace and not do anything to compromise the safety of this world.

Of course, it wasn’t a good sign that their offer of reparation, a chest of gold and jewels, had been spurned by the Elementals.

“All right, set the meet for tomorrow.”

“Tonight,” Naveen pressed. “It’s more than our trip back home. Rumors are running rampant about the Mother. Some are saying that she’s gone.”

Rhys’ scowl was immediate. “Has the barrier fallen?”

Naveen shook his head. “It’s as solid as the day we first crossed. But the witches from the high houses are manic. Valeria probably senses the disturbance, too, but she can’t process it given everything else she’s feeling.”

Right. “Set the meeting for tonight.”

* * *

“Don’t you think you should let her decide? From what I hear, Valeria possesses a strikingly decisive mind and manner. And I don’t think she would like you making this decision for her.”

The words of Gia, the Earth Elemental, rang through his head.

All things considered, Rhys thought he’d acquitted himself well during the meeting. He was certain the Elemental hadn’t known he was sweating bullets, waiting for the moment when she condemned him and his entire clan by exiling them back to Sheol.

Years of facing down the enemy had allowed him to cloak his face and form in arrogance. The camouflage had worked, too.

Gia had been more forgiving than he would have believed. Which meant the rumors about the Mother’s departure had been true.

The Elementals would need allies once word left this realm. And the news would get out. It was inevitable. The Angelli were bad, but they were by no means the only threat out there.

To her credit, Gia hadn’t seemed worried. As far as she was concerned, nothing had changed. The power granted to her and her sisters by the Mother was as potent as it had ever been.

But what was interesting was who had been there at the meeting with her.

Salvador Delavordo looked just like his picture. He was young, handsome, and guileless, with an energy that was not unlike Veda’s. Except Salvador’s healer energy was so deep and potent it made him feel ageless. And yet, he’d been raised by the family that produced Valeria. That meant he could do more than heal. His magical potential was off the charts. Just like his sister’s…

When Rhys shared this with Naveen, his second, perhaps predictably, sided with the Elemental.

“It’s inevitable that Valeria will ask about her real family once she recovers. And, as the Elemental pointed out, her brother has been disinherited, so he’s safer than the rest of the family.”

“You and I both know he’s as entangled with them as he ever was.”

Or else he’d have been hunted down, prey for the predators that swam in those waters.

“There is also the fact he’s a gifted healer,” Naveen prodded. “Rumor has it that’s how he met Gia. She needed his services.”

Rhys never asked Naveen who his sources were, but his network of informants was a marvel that never ceased to amaze him.

“I will reach out to Gia myself,” Rhys promised.

Valeria was healing too slowly, and Salvador was a witch of her blood. He would be able to do more for her than Veda had.