Page 356 of Psycho Gods

I hadn’t even gotten to the best part and Dick was already losing control. This was good.

My plan was working.

Now I just had to do the hard part and execute it fully.

I swallowed around the lump in my throat and explained, “If I’m killed, the algorithm is preprogrammed to override every enchanted broadcasting system in the realms and play footage of you both admitting just who you are.”

The cloaked woman recoiled.

Dick scoffed. “No such footage exists.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Are you sure? The manor in the beast realm has enchanted cameras in the entryway to deter thieves.”

Dick’s eyes flashed with recognition as we both remembered the day he’d strangled me in the manor’s entrance. We both remembered what he’d revealed when he thought he was going to kill me.

He only let me live with his secrets because he needed me and thought no one would ever believe me.

His eyes widened as he no doubt was scanning his memories and recalling the glowing recording crystals in the room’s corner.

Dick swore violently and paced back and forth.

“Fine,” he spat. “We won’t kill you. It doesn’t change the fact that you’re putting this cuff on and leaving the fae realm.”

This was the tricky part.

I pulled the wickedly sharp knife out from under my pillow and pressed it to my throat. “No,” I said calmly. “I won’t be doing any of that.”

The cloaked woman snapped, “You wouldn’t dare.”

She was just as powerful as Dick, perhaps more so.

I pushed the knife against the thin skin on my neck and winced as it stung, warmth pouring down my chest.

My heart beat erratically, and I tried not to think about what I was doing.

I tried not to hyperventilate.

“Are you sure about that?” I asked, my voice high-pitched with the strain of holding back screams. “You’ve already taken my life from me. I have nothing left to live for.”

“Do it, then, little girl,” Dick spat vehemently as his average disguise disappeared and a handsome, cruel man stared down at me. “Do it,” he taunted.

“Stop it.” The cloaked woman grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the bed. “What is wrong with you? You know this can’t get out. Everything we’ve worked so hard to build would be ruined. Our names would no longer be synonymous with greatness, and we’d be slandered. The realms would have nothing to believe in and the peace would fall apart.”

Dick glared over her shoulder at me with pure disdain.

I pressed the knife deeper and nearly passed out as the pain became unimaginable. It took everything I had not to scream in agony.

“Fine!” Dick raged, and I nearly sobbed with relief. “You better keep yourself alive, and we will be sending a representative to assist you in ruling the fae realm.”

He activated an RJE device.

The woman’s otherworldly blue eyes glowed as she lifted her cloaked head and stared at me. “Careful with the games you play, Jinx of Lazarus. We are very upset with you, and everyone knows—you don’t want to upset the gods.”

The truth of what she and Dick were hung in the air between us.

Crack.

They disappeared.