Page 109 of World's Okayest Oracle (Reluctantly) Seeks Demon

Not the demon transporter.

Josiah, smiling. Marlee, stone-faced, her gaze directed somewhere behind the group.

Panicked, her thundering heart lodged in her too-tight throat, Gwen twisted around to see two guards standing braced to their rear, their weapons drawn. Since bullets traveled faster than oracles did, there would be no escape back into the hallways.

“I’m delighted to meet you in my true form at last, Hugh.” Josiah waved the group forward. “Please, come inside, all of you.”

“Well, damn.” Jing-Jing sighed and shuffled into the courtroom with the others. “He found us. We’re truly in our flop era now.”

“No cap,” Timon agreed.

The bright hope blossoming within Gwen had withered to dust. Hugh squeezed her hand comfortingly as they walked through the doors side by side, his brows drawn as he tried to think his way out of their predicament.

The guards followed them inside, shutting the doors with a definitivethud.

And with that, they were trapped. Again.

32

The oracles and Hugh stood in a loose cluster in the open gallery area of the courtroom, to the rear of the expansive, soaring space. Behind them, guards positioned on either side of the door kept their weapons trained on the group. In front of them, Josiah beamed delightedly while Marlee stared into space, expressionless.

“Mother.” The cool command in Hugh’s tone caught her attention, despite her best efforts. “If you ever loved me, please remove Gwen from the Realm Below and keep her safe. For my sake.”

“If Marlee does that, her life is contractually forfeit. So is your father’s,” Josiah told him.

Hugh didn’t release his parent’s reluctant gaze. “Mom?”

When she simply shook her head and looked away, Josiah chuckled. “I control Drake too, incidentally. Just in case you’re still waiting for your teleporter to arrive.”

A muffled, hopeless sob came from behind Gwen. One of the oracles, all hope lost, dreading a brief future spent under Josiah’s cruel command.

The fae didn’t even bother looking. His gaze stayed fixed on the only member of their group he considered worthy of attention: the lone Supernatural among the humans.

“That demon signed a contract.” Hugh sounded genuinely aggrieved. “I drafted it myself. It’s ironclad.”

A graceful flick of the fae’s hand dismissed that complaint. “You might take everything Drake owns. I’ll kill him.”

“When I’m through with him, he’ll wish he were dead,” Hugh said.

The stony vow raised goose bumps on Gwen’s arms. Because Hugh—meticulous, rule-bound, law-abiding Hugh—didn’t threaten lightly. He meant every word he said.

Josiah brushed aside the threat like an errant gnat and began his villain’s monologue with obvious and predictable relish.

“On the contrary. You won’t do anything to him, because I don’t wish it. You and every other member of the Blacke family are now mine to command, since your fool of a mother bargained her freedom away”—a contemptuous flick of his wing indicated Marlee—“your overambitious father wouldbegme for a bargain if I offered him the opportunity, your stubborn bitch of a sister is thankfully dead and gone—”

Wait. Did the smug satisfaction in Josiah’s tone mean he’d engineered Eloise’s final, fatal confrontation with her CEO client?

“—and at long last, Hugh ‘Tediously Moral’ Blacke is in my grasp.” Another pleased smile creased his handsome, tanned face. “All these years, I never had quite enough leverage against you. Until now.”

Hugh’s ear tips had turned pink. He let go of Gwen’s hand and took an aggressive step toward Josiah despite the gun barrels that immediately swung in his direction. “Did you play a role in my sister’s death?”

Apparently he’d read Josiah’s smarmy tone the same way as Gwen.

“Perhaps you’re not as smart as we both thought you were, however.” The fae entirely ignored Hugh’s question, continuing as if his former mentee hadn’t even spoken. “My dear boy, how did you intend to transport all these sniveling oracles out of the Realm with only a single teleporter? Even if he hadn’t already been in my employ?”

Without waiting for a response, he turned to Hugh’s mother. “Speaking of untrustworthy demons…you can go, Marlee. I’ll summon you when you’re needed. Run along.”

She disappeared from the courtroom without even a last look at her son, and Gwen ached for Hugh. Not only the adult demon who now stood in the Realm’s courtroom, but also the sensitive child who’d been raised by such an unfeeling parent.