“Seven days to save or destroy the world,” Pico drawls.

“The Apocalypse and her Four Horsemen decide now is not the best time for a lovers’ quarrel,” Caesar adds, wrinkling his nose. “I’m embarrassed for you.”

They both disappear when Paca launches a fireball at them, and a tsking comes from behind us. We whirl around to find Cain shaking his head as he snorts a line of something off his hand.

“If you want to keep them, maybe you should just fucking win,” he states as though it’s the most obvious solution to our debacle.

He disappears before the next fireball can hit him.

“If you want a solution to all your problems, you should come with me,” Hera says as she pops in, absently glancing down at her nails as she props against the wall.

I expect a fireball to be hurled at her head, but Paca tilts her head as though she’s intrigued.

Annoyed with her intrusion, I return my attention to Paca. “I highly doubt trusting Hera with the fate of the world and our lives is in our best interest—”

She goes phantom, and she zaps to Hera. I don’t like the smirk on Lust’s lips as the two of them disappear from sight.

“What could she possibly have to offer?” Ezekiel asks as though he’s confused.

“A wealth of males who could become the Horsemen,” Pride says from behind us, continuing this game of Jack-in-the-Box pop-ups.

I start to come back with a witty retort, when his words sink in.

“What?” Kai asks, pushing by me to gawk at Pride. “Are you just being an evil fuck and playing with us right now?”

“He’s telling the truth,” comes Lilith’s voice from behind us, causing us all to do another one-eighty.

She smirks as she blows us a kiss.

“She doesn’t need you for the battle. She just needs the Horsemen’s unity. You guys are struggling to even reach the ‘level’ required to use your true power,” she adds as she struts around, meeting Pride in the middle.

Greed pops in on her other side, and she props up on him. The three of them seem to gloat about something.

“I do love a good lover’s quarrel,” she says through her growing grin. “Especially between my sister and her ever-loyal little puppets. I suppose it’s fun no matter what life you’re living.”

“She won’t take our power away. It’s part of us. She’d never leave us with nothing,” Gage is fast to argue. “Your smugness is a little premature.”

Evil fucking bitch.

I’m not sure why the three of them smile broader.

“Paca going into battle with four different Horsemen,” Greed says with a snort, as Pride’s smile doubles.

“If it is the end of days, at least it got really damn interesting here at the end,” Caesar chirps as the three of them vanish, leaving us alone in the mostly melted hallways.

“Think we pissed her off enough to be that reckless…or wrathful?” Ezekiel asks on a tired sigh.

I open my mouth to speak, and realize…I don’t know the answer to that.

“My siblings only enjoy this so much because it’s bothered them for centuries how truly loyal you are to her.” Manella’s voice has us looking around, but he’s nowhere to be seen.

“However, they forgot to mention something important,” Manella’s voice goes on, before he slowly fades into view in front of us.

We stare, waiting on him to elaborate, as he stretches and groans like this is a bothersome task. We do our best to be fucking patient.

At last, he adds, “If Paca strikes a deal with a temporary set of Horsemen, she’ll have to seal this deal. You should get there before the ‘handshake.’”

“Why did you say ‘handshake’ like it’s code for something else?” Kai is quick to ask.

Manella’s lips twitch as though he’s amused.

“You should thank Lamar for voiding your deal with a simple lie. He’s excellent at deception. Paca can’t seal a deal with her Horsemen…except for one way. You can imagine what my dirty sister needs to do in order to make a binding agreement with powerful men she pledged her life to. It’s certainly not a handshake. You’re naïve for falling for that so easily. So is she.”

It takes me a second to figure out what he’s saying, and…I’m still confused.

“Paca’s not going to fuck some guys to make a deal with them,” Ezekiel says as though he’s caught on.

I ignore the blood that starts boiling in my veins, because the rage is a little excessive for something that will never happen. Paca couldn’t bring herself to—

“If your lives are at stake and she can find four perfectly acceptable replacements to die in your stead, what do you truly find my sister capable of?” he drawls. “I only tell you this, because I disagree with their plan. Only you four can aid my sister on a battlefield where she’ll face the first true adversary worthy of her insufferable, meticulous strategizing, magnificent power, and cunning battle skills.”

He vanishes without another word, and a chill seems to spread through the fiery air in his absence.

“We should split up and try to find her. We’ll go in pairs. Don’t get caught in any illusions,” Gage says as I turn and follow him quickly through his siphon.

Son of a bitch.

Where do we even begin trying to find them?

Chapter 19

PACA

“Their powers will really return to them once these temporary Horsemen die?” I ask, tapping my chin as I stare over the roomful of men who’ve bowed at my feet, showered me with roses from Eden, and given me some priceless gems just for considering them as possible candidates to die in place of the men I love.

You know, in case things go bad inside the Pure Branch. I’m not sure I understand what makes them so eager to be my dead bitches.

Hera is so giddy that it’s…concerning.

She drags me into the room next to the one where the men are, and she shuts the door.

“Okay, so you’ll have to recycle them if they survive, if you really want to return the powers to your guys,” she tells me like that’s the only catch.

“The deal seems too good to be true,” I tell her, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“Does it?” she asks, lips curving in an enigmatic grin. “I’m not so sure your current harem would agree.”

“Why are you so eager to help me out with this?” I ask her, crossing my arms over my chest as I keep a wary eye on my evil sister.

Both of my sisters are crown thieves. Both of them were harem thieves at one point in my past life. They’re not the most trustworthy.

“Because it’s possible, after you do battle with these very eager-to-please boys, you may choose them for your new harem, should you manage to defeat Jahl without them dying. It’s worth it to me to roll the dice and hope to win a bet against Manella. He bet his crown. I want his crown, Paca. I’ve selected only the best warriors who will put the weaker version of your boys to shame,” she says, rubbing her hands together in glee.

I have no intentions of permanently replacing my guys, but a temporary replacement program?

“How would it work?” I ask, watching her eyes light up with a lot of excitement.

“It’s simple really. I have all your notes about how you infused their souls with the power. You’ll remove it, and with their new balance, they won’t be so reliant on those gifts.”

For the next long, boring, tedious two hours, she says a whole lot of really complicated things that I don’t understand at all. If we do this, I’ll have to be walked through it step by step, because…I’m not even as smart as Hera, it seems.

Not that I tell her that. I nod my head a lot, like everything she’s saying makes perfect sense.

I’m exhausted just listening to the detailed, impossibly hard layout involved in changing the Horsemen. I thought it was supposed to be impossible, but clearly it can be done.

So long as I’m the one who does it…

“It’s a winning deal you can’t pass up. All you have to do is make your selection. I even set up some trials for them to run through today in order to make the selection process easier,” she concludes, wrapping up the longest lesson in history.

I still don’t trust her. There’s no way she’s serving me the secret answer to all my fears on a silver platter with no strings attached. Even she can’t be so petty as to do this because she enjoys watching us quarrel.

This will definitely be a major argument.

“What are the trials?” I ask…timidly.

She snaps her fingers, and we’re suddenly standing in a section of purgatory, if the gray horizon is any indication.

She gestures out to the grounds, and far in the distance, I can see specks. I think those are the Horsemen candidates who are fighting amongst the beasts of that region.

“Do you remember those monsters you struggled with the day Rafael first tested you? The ones who attack in pairs?” she asks me, not giving me time to respond before she continues on as though she’s so proud of herself for coming up with this. “They’re among the hardest to defeat. I created a few more that are even harder to defeat. I pulled out some of the freak mutations that pack a punch as well.”