I marveled at the sheer power the dragon possessed. It destroyed every demon outpost in the Desert of Thorns, raining fire on anything within its sights. Countless demons had already fallen, and we hadn’t even made it to Decanum yet.

The oasis sat just ahead, beckoning like a mirage in the dunes. Exotic trees rose around a magnificent palace. The array of domed roofs and gleaming marble walls was a wonder of Underworld architecture. I almost hated to destroy it.

Farnkelan continued the path of annihilation until we swooped down over the high domes. Legions upon legions of demons massed in the courtyards and along the high wall surrounding the palace. None of them would survive the dragon’s fury. It breathed fire along the ground, the demons falling like wheat before a scythe.

After charring the largest courtyard, Farnkelan settled to the ground in a fluid movement. Flames leaped in the palace, many of the ornate buildings already alight with dragon fire. I dropped to Farnkelan’s foreleg and then down to the ground. My men followed.

The spiders jumped, using their silk to rappel down the giant before skittering off into the dark night. Nearby soldiers screamed, but the sounds were cut short. The spiders worked fast. More fighters rushed us, and the vampire soldiers skirmished with them, holding them off.

I didn’t know where Helen was being kept, but I raised my eyes to the largest of the palace domes. Menelaus would no doubt claim the finest, largest tower for his chambers. I turned to Faren. “There.” I pointed to the top, where curtains billowed from open windows in the cool night air.

Faren commanded the soldiers in the ancient vampire language. They sprinted to the palace, slaying any demons who stood in their way. Farnkelan took to the skies again, its rage still not sated. Fire bloomed along the ramparts and inside the walls once more.

My soldiers rushed the stairs, and I led them up and up. We fought our way through. Demon soldiers poured through the doors at every landing, seeking to escape Farnkelan’s wrath more than anything. But they strayed into my path and paid with their lives. Nothing would keep me from Helen. My soldiers seemed to agree—they fought with renewed vigor. The terrified demons were no match for the prepared vampires. Blood coated my armor and sword, and I was still thirsty for more.

Higher and higher we climbed until we emerged in a verdant paradise. The garden was full of the same roses as Menelaus’s earthly palace, and I recognized the scents of the blooms in the air. The demon had recreated the same beautiful prison for Helen.

Farnkelan screamed overhead, blood in the very timbre of its roars. The dragon’s rage fueled me along. I was getting close to Helen, could feel her tugging at my heart and pulling me closer.

We hurried through the roses and entered the top of the tower. Helen and one of her sisters, though I was unsure which, were fighting in the long hallway. Demons attacked them from all sides, but the warriors of Artemis fought as one. Helen cast vicious hexes, felling demons with a touch of her hand. Iphi was a bruiser with her fists and fast as a snake with daggers. These were the warrior maidens of legend, fighting their way from the palace.

I let out a battle cry and rushed into the fight, taking out demon after demon. I would not stop until she was safe in my arms. My sword rang with battle. The demons here were putting up far more of a fight. They must not have felt Farnkelan’s flames on their hides yet.

I fought a large rage demon, which had to be at least eight feet tall. Its aura inspired the other demons to fight harder and dirtier, spurred by the essence of rage. I rushed the demon with my shield but clanged off him with a jarring backward step. The demon roared with laughter and raised a broadsword over its head. It could easily split me in two.

I darted to the left and plunged my shortsword into the demon’s side. Its laugh turned into a howl, and it dropped to one knee. That was all the opening I needed. I jumped onto the demon’s knee, then vaulted myself onto its shoulders before driving my blade deep into its neck.

“Well done, my lord,” Faren called as he removed a lesser demon’s head.

I allowed the falling rage demon to carry me forward into the soldiers surrounding Helen and her sister. The other demons’ tenacity flagged as the rage demon’s influence waned. They fell before the onslaught on both sides. I cut my way closer and closer to Helen, like a fuse burning toward black powder.

I had almost made it to her when a demon grabbed her from behind and put a blade to her throat. Menelaus. He pushed the silver deep into Helen’s neck, and her blood ran down his blade. Her sister stilled and glanced from me to Helen.

“Stop, or I’ll end her!” he screamed.

The sister cursed and dropped her daggers. The demons around her converged, kicking and punching her into unconsciousness before lifting her limp body.

The air was quiet, the battle sounds of a few moments ago dead and whisked away by the desert winds.

“Now you.” Menelaus motioned for me and my men to drop our weapons.

Helen’s gaze was locked on me, though I could divine no message there. Only her steady confidence shone like a beacon. It chilled my blood. I knew what she meant to do. I shook my head, a silent plea. If Desmerada lied and Helen was still bound, any attempt to use her magics on Menelaus could drive him to kill her. The dagger was already lodged in her neck.

“She belongs to me.” Menelaus dug the blade deeper. “Drop your sword.”

Blood bubbled from her mouth, though she made no sound. I dropped my weapons, and my soldiers followed suit.

Menelaus laughed without warmth. “That’s right, little coward. Same old Paris.”

The demon licked the blood from Helen’s neck. “I’m going to fuck her raw. You’re going to watch. I’m going to make you a permanent fixture wherever we go. Your eyes will never stop seeing me on top of this bitch. You will hear her moan my name every night. And that’s not all.”

The remaining demon soldiers formed a wall around me, the tips of their blades at my neck.

“I’m going to kill every last vampire in the Bloodkeep. Anytime I even hear the mention of a vampire, I will send an assassin. I will hunt and kill your kind until there are none left to befoul the Underworld, or any other world, for that matter. How does that sound, king of the vampires?”

Menelaus smiled. Those cruel eyes were the same ones that looked down on me in the dusty battlefield outside of Troy. The demon believed he had won. Just as he believed it that fated day in front of the gates of Troy. But each time—then and now—there was a piece at play that Menelaus hadn’t considered. The white queen.

Helen’s hands erupted in flame, scorching Menelaus’s sides. He let out a gasp and backed away, keeping his dagger at her throat. He looked down at his body, aghast at the charred, melting flesh.

Desmerada had told the truth—Helen’s magic was no longer bound.

“Stand down, or I will torch him all the way,” Helen called to the demons. The ice in her voice was the perfect complement to the fire in her hands.

The soldiers surrounding me did not move. Helen summoned a small fireball and pushed it into Menelaus’s chest. He sank to his knees, yowling from the pain.

“Do as she says!” he gasped.

The soldiers dropped their blades and backed away. I took only a step before Menelaus roared up from the ground and sank his blade into Helen’s chest. She cried out and fell to her knees.

“I would rather destroy her than let you have her,” Menelaus screamed and twisted the blade.

Helen pinned me with her emerald gaze as my heart froze. So much in her eyes, so many things left unsaid and undone.

I shook my head. Please, don’t do this.

She closed her eyes, her magic building. Menelaus pressed the dagger deeper.

“No!” I dashed forward.

Helen exploded into a burst of pure light, Menelaus turning into ash and the blast blowing me backward. A whooshing boom rang in my ears, followed by a chafing silence.

I could only see white. I blinked over and over, trying to regain some semblance of sight. Stumbling forward, I tripped over bodies until I reached a clear area. There, my feet kicked only ashes. She had to be close. I dropped to my hands and knees, ignoring the remains of the demons unlucky enough to have been close to Helen when she went supernova.

“Helen?”

I felt a warm body under my fingers and ran my hands up. I would know Helen anywhere. It was her. I sat and drew her into my arms. She was alive, but I couldn’t tell the extent of her wounds. My vision was slowly repairing itself, but I could only see hazy colors and light. I ran my hand along her throat and winced when I felt the blood still spilling from her veins. I ripped the blade from her chest. She convulsed in my arms but made no sound.

Pressing one hand to her neck and the other to her front, I stanched the flow as best I could. I rocked her back and forth and sent up silent prayers for someone, anyone to save her.

Could I turn her? Give her my blood and save her as she’d done for me? Or would it be of no use since she was no longer mortal? I held her tightly in my arms, listening to her shallow breaths and feeling her blood flow onto my hands. The memory surfaced of that night so long ago when I’d awoken in the same pool of her precious blood. I couldn’t let it happen again.

“Please, please, my love.” I still couldn’t see her. Could only hold her to me. I pressed my lips to her forehead. “Please.”

Her breaths sputtered before resuming their shallow rhythm. Fear took hold in my breast. She had to survive this.

“Iphi?” Helen’s voice was so faint, I almost thought I was imagining it.

“I don’t know, my love. I can’t see her.”

“She’s here, if she’s asking about the other female,” Faren said. “We have her, my lord. She’s only a little singed.” He coughed and inhaled deeply.

I heard a slap and a growl.

“Hands off the goods!” That had to be Iphi.

“Play nice,” Helen said, her voice still a whisper.

“Since when has playing nice been a part of warrior maiden protocol?”

I sensed Iphi approaching and saw a vivid slash of red. “What’s with your eyes?” she asked. “Wait, you watched Elena go all kaboom? Should have closed your eyes like this here smart maiden. Oh, and this guy over here with the scars. His eyes are fine too, though half of him is charred. Gross. But you? Silly vampire king.” She plopped down next to him.

“Does Helen look okay? How is she?” he asked.

“Helen? Who’s Helen?”

“I’m Helen,” Helen said.

“Wait, what?”

“Elena is Helen,” Paris said.

Iphi snorted. “No, Elena is Elena.”

“Just tell me how she is!”

“She’s okay. Well, okay for someone with an extra smile on her neck. Ew. And the dagger to the chest. Just bad form, Uncle Menelaus.” She whistled. “He’s getting toasty by the fire in Hades right about now.”

Movement blurred ahead of me.

“Don’t move,” Faren growled.

“What is it?” I drew Helen even closer to my chest, wary of any threat.

My vision was improving by the second.

A demon knelt, his head bowed in deepest respect.

“Uh, why are you bowing?” Iphi asked.

“Queen Helen is now the ruler of Decanum.” The demon’s voice trembled.

“Are you shitting me?” The slash of red came into better focus as Iphi whipped her head around.

“She killed Menelaus, which makes her—”

“The boss! Well fuckin’ A!” Iphi cried and clapped her hands.

“Order the demons to stand down, now.” Helen’s voice, now a little stronger. Her breaths were deeper, the blood flow easing.

“Shh, now. Just rest.” The scent of her blood was still too strong. She needed to heal. Her golden hair was like a halo in my blurred sight, though I thought it appropriate.

The demon hurried off. Helen leaned against me. I held her, at peace just knowing she still drew breath. More screams erupted in the palace below us.

“Did you bring more soldiers?” Helen asked.

“Sort of. Faren, take the men, wrangle the spiders—”

“You brought spider soldiers? Like, are we talking giant spiders?” Iphi asked.

“That’s correct,” Faren said.

She jumped up in a blur. “Sweet. I’m going to see if I can make one my pet!”

“I wouldn’t—”

“Don’t worry about her,” Helen said. “She’ll probably wind up feuding with Arachne over which one of them the spiders love most.” Her strength seemed to be returning. Thank the gods.

“Yes, my lady.”

“And, Faren, see if you can talk Farnkelan down,” I added.

A burst of flames and explosions thundered behind us. Faren coughed.

I smiled. “Well, at least try to talk the dragon down. I can’t have it destroying Helen’s palace.”

“I’ll do my best, my lord.”

“You tamed a dragon for me?” She nestled against my chest. I breathed her in, the honey scent intoxicating.

“I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

Farnkelan shrieked in irritation, the rush of its wings stirring the air even in the enclosed hallway. Faren had his work cut out for him.

I didn’t release her for the entire time Faren and his men were clearing the palace. After a while, long after the yelling died down, Helen struggled to sit up. My eyesight had fully returned. She was almost healed, the wound on her neck closed and the one on her chest nearly closed, as well. Still, I didn’t want her hurt. Not anymore. Not even a scratch.

“I’m okay. Really.” She brushed her lips against mine, shifted in my lap, and settled back against me.

Farnkelan landed somewhere nearby, the whoosh of air from its wings like a gust of hellish wind.

Calming the dragon was a feat, but I had another wild thing to tame. Helen was free now. “Look, I know you just got out of a bad relationship…”

She giggled against me, tickling my chest with her breath. “Understatement of all time.”

“But now that you’re on the market, I’d like to formally ask for your hand in marriage.”

Helen sighed. “I’m afraid I can’t agree to that.”

I stiffened. Was there another? Had she fallen out of love with me? Would I have to kill another to claim her hand? I would do it.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to pledge myself to a vampire who stands a very real chance of becoming spider food,” Helen said. “Strategically, it’s not a smart—”

I stopped her with my mouth, kissing her with a claim more powerful than any other.

When I finally released her, in a breathy voice she said, “I accept your terms.”