I blinked a few times, forcing myself to answer. “None of this was mandated by me. Your precious Lili deceived us all. The power in the Underworld is shifting… whether you like it or not,” I gasped. “I can feel it and I know you can too. So the question is, will the power of the Underworld go to her?” I nodded toward Lili, who was struggling with the Eudoxia. “Or your Princess?”

The Vampire Queen had almost lost her power to Valdov when she died for that brief moment—the power of the Sect chooses the most fit to rule—and right now the power of the Underworld was shifting, sensing a change, searching for the most powerful. If Lili succeeded in becoming the strongest supernatural on earth, the power would shift to her, but if I could change it and give that power to the Princess, there might be a way to stop it.

The Prince appeared taken aback and finally responded through a grim look, “I will not relinquish my crown to anyone, so you are wrong on both counts.” Even through all of this insanity, I noticed that not one hair on the Prince’s head was out of place. His glamour was impeccable.

“It’s funny you still think this is your… choice,” I managed as the spell pushed at me once again. Lili was occupied, but she wasn’t down. I still couldn’t access my magic, but at least I could see. “It’s already begun and I know you can feel it. You’ve probably felt it all along. That’s why you’ve been running scared—searching me out, wrongly accusing me, breaking the rules, and going against your own code. You knew this was coming. The power of the Underworld is leaving you. Your Scriptures were right about that. So, again, I ask you, will it go to your wife or your mistress?”

Lili snickered, and then chanted something in Demonish. My eyes slid closed again. “Those are big words coming from a defeated pawn. You’re not even strong enough to break my spell—the spell I created from the very fiber of your being, strands from your very DNA. The power of the Underworld will choose me. The Princess is dead. There is no other.”

Rourke snarled as the Prince of Hell roared and lunged at his former mistress. Power accumulated quickly in the room. He grabbed her by the throat and my eyes snapped opened. They began to battle and Eudoxia was by my side in the next instant.

“If we want to get out of this alive, I need your blood,” the Vamp Queen insisted, leaning over me in hushed tones. “Lili is the most powerful being on this plane right now, and she’s right. The power will choose her. To defeat her, it will take all of our magic combined.” Her face was as intense as I’d ever seen it.

“How do you know that?” I asked.

As the Prince battled Lili, the spell lifted a little more, but I knew it wouldn’t completely disappear unless I forced it out with magic or Lili died. Magic I couldn’t access.

“Because I know all about Ardat Lili. I’d hoped she was dead, because no one has heard from her for hundreds of years, but I can see we were not that lucky.” She narrowed her eyes on the fighting duo.

“How do you know her?” I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”

Rourke still had me in his arms. “Vampire Queen, explain yourself.”

“Lili is one of the Five.” Eudoxia’s words were harsh in my ears and not above a whisper. “She can only be defeated by one of the other four. But I think I may have a way around it. As a fae child I learned that there are ways to defeat the Five, but to do it you must have powers numbering five and the ability to control magic.” She cocked her head at me. “And you happen to be able to do such a thing. And there just so happens to be five different supernaturals in this room. A coincidence? I think not. I have learned there are no coincidences when it comes to you.” She shook her head like I tried her patience as her fangs snapped down. “If I had not been forced against my will to follow you to this wretched plane, all would’ve been lost. You would’ve surely died, and now, because I am here, saving your sorry life, you will owe me more than just blood for this.”

I tried to put the pieces of what she was saying together in my mind. “Are you telling me that Lili is part of the Coalition? Is that what the Five is?” If it was, that news was nothing less than completely staggering. I’d had no idea the Coalition was made up of only five supernaturals.

“Yes,” the Vampire Queen hissed impatiently. “Can’t you keep up? She is one of the Five, and has been for centuries. But she did something very bad to someone—quite possibly your predecessor—and was cast here as punishment. Lili has managed to escape over the years, but can only stay on our plane for a very short time before she is automatically pulled back. That is where I encountered her. As I said, I think we can defeat her here and now and finally be rid of her forever, but we must hurry.”

“How?” I asked.

“Why did Fate have to play such a cruel joke on the rest of us by having you be the one we must depend upon?” she scoffed, clearly irritated I wasn’t following along quickly enough.

Instead of answering, Rourke’s voice sounded low in my ear. “She means by giving you magic from the five most powerful supernaturals at the same time. The strongest Sects are: shifter, vampire, demon, witch…” He glanced up at the Vamp Queen.

Her eyes shot to silver. “And fae.”

25

I couldn’t fight it any longer. Lili had broken free of the Prince and her prime motive was to keep me down. The spell dragged me under once again and I couldn’t respond to my mate. Both Rourke’s and Eudoxia’s landed on my body, both of them transferring power to help me best the spell, but it wasn’t enough.

But now I knew why.

Lili was a member of the Coalition.

One of the five most powerful supernaturals in the world. She was more powerful than I was. There was no contest. I knew I wasn’t alone in my confusion as I tried to process all the information. Most supes had no idea who sat on the Coalition, not to mention how many. It was clear Eudoxia had knowledge not every supernatural had. My guess was the Vamp Queen had made it her life’s goal to gather as much information as she could on everything and her cunning had paid off. The members of the Coalition were cloaked in secrecy for a reason.

My wolf snarled, but I couldn’t see her. She managed to flash me a fuzzy picture of us glowing with power, eradicating the spell. It won’t be enough. This spell is attached to our DNA, just like she said. Our body thinks we don’t want to access our magic. My wolf snapped her jaws together. There’s a power order in place for a reason and the top is the Coalition. Lili is stronger. Eudoxia is right. It’s going to take all of us to defeat her. I just hope there’s enough time—