Goddess Of The Underworld (Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 97

Chapter 97

Noah

Gods, he really was ours. I watched him from the tree line, arms crossed, pretending to be assessing fort integrity, but really, I was just trying not to let anyone see the stupid smile on my face. Elliot was crouched in the grass beside Macey, the two of them deep in a whisper–huddle like they were planning an international heist instead of building a fort. He pulled something from his pocket, the crystal, faintly glowing with his newly forming magic. I caught the shimmer of it even from here. This kid. We’d barely brought him through the portal and already he had half the pack rallying behind him and Macey swearing vengeance in his name. She used to cry when someone knocked over her fort. Now she was plotting full- scale retaliation. With him. Gods, I loved him already.

I wasn’t even sure when it happened. Maybe it was the moment I saw him gripping Envy’s hand like she was the sun and the only anchor he had. Or when he looked at me like I mattered. Like we mattered. Like we were safe. That kind of look sticks.

“He’s gonna wreck us,” Haiden muttered beside me, arms folded. “Look at that teamwork. They’ve got a battle plan. Schematics. Probably a war council.”

“They’re building battlements out of actual enchanted vines,” Levi said in disbelief. “What even is that crystal he’s using?”

Xavier just chuckled. “Envy’s raw magic. It’s got Macey taking notes. That’s terrifying.”

“Honestly?” I said, watching Elliot as he smiled, really smiled, that full kind with crinkled eyes and a laugh that sounded like something blooming after winter. “I hope he wrecks us.”

My brothers went quiet for a beat. I didn’t care. Let them see. Let them know. Because something inside me had already rearranged itself the moment Elliot took my hand back at the Veil and looked at me like I was more than just a warrior or a hellhound or a walking wall of loyalty. He looked at me like I was safe. Like I was home and gods help me, I wanted to be that for him.

“He’s family now,” I said quietly.

Xavier gave me a sideways glance. “Already making adoption papers?”

“Damn right,” I said.

Out

in the field, Elliot and Macey began layering illusions over their walls. Not just shields, trickery. Portals that looped back to the entrance. Decoys. Sound–based traps, Was that a laughing fog cloud?

“Oh gods,” Haiden whispered. “They’re evil geniuses.”

“They’re us,” Levi said with a hint of pride and he was right. After absolutely decimating the other kids‘ forts, because tradition is tradition, we circled back as a unit, lining up in front of the final stronghold. Elliot and Macey stood atop it like tiny warlords, their hands clasped dramatically as they stared us down. “We won’t go down easy,” Elliot called.

“Not without a tickle tax!” Macey added.

I grinned. Gods, I was so proud of this little nightmare prince already. He didn’t just build a fort. He built a kingdom.

Haiden

This was supposed to be a game. A light–hearted, run–‘em–down, knock–over–some–pillows, let–the–kids–feel–cool–for–five–minutes kind of game. But no.

We were under siege. By children.

“Alright,” Imuttered, crouched behind a hay bale with mud on my face and moss in my hair, “new rule: next time we let the tiny feral warlord design the game, we ask for a terrain walkthrough first.”

You mean before the illusion fog tricked you into crawling into a pit of tickle vines?” Levi snorted, belly–crawling next to me with actual glitter stuck to his left eyebrow.

That fog laughed at me.”

“It laughed at all of us,” Xavier said grimly. His shirt was half–melted from an enchanted bubble trap. “I saw my reflection wink before it exploded.”

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Chapter 97

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“Are those bunnies still chasing Noah?” I asked, peeking over the edge of the barricade.

Sure enough, off in the distance, Noah was being herded by three enchanted dust bunnies the size of watermelons, all squeaking aggressively. One had a crown. I didn’t want to ask.

“Losing?” I repeated, narrowing my eyes toward the so–called Royal Stronghold of MaceLot, which was still standing in the middle of the field like some kind of magical child–built citadel. “No, no. We don’t lose. We adapt.”

Xavier, ever the calm one, wiped a streak of mud off his cheek. “Plan?“.

“We memorize the layout this time.”

“ONE,” I shouted.

“WE ARE SO GONNA DIE,” Levi yelled.

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