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Loren cleared her throat. “Basilisk? Isn’t that a type of serpent?”

Darien smoothed her tangled hair before resting that hand on the back of her chair. “Yes. A serpent king, they’re called.”

She twisted in her seat to see his face. “And you killed it?”

He dipped his chin in answer. Ivy whispered something to Lace.

Loren stared blindly at the floor in thought. “That’s what I saw,” she murmured. “When I was in a coma.” She looked across the table at Roark. “I saw you,” she whispered. She had seen Erasmus, Cyra, and Roark—Elix—while drifting through the past. Had witnessed parts of the conversation they’d had withthe giant snake, its massive, scaled body shifting continuously around the perimeter of a dark cavern.

Roark’s eyes tightened, his hands that were braced on the back of the chair he refused to sit in tensing. “You…saw me,” he repeated. “What do you mean you saw me?”

“When I was in a coma, I went…somewhere else. I saw things that happened in the past. And I saw you—when you were younger and still…human. You were with Erasmus and a woman named Helia. You were speaking with a giant snake.” When she paused, the room was so silent you could hear a pin drop. “Was that the Basilisk?”

It took Roark a moment, but he nodded and said, “It was.”

Her lips parted in surprise, and she found herself looking up at Darien again. He looked at her as well, as deep in thought as she was.

Everything that had occurred while she was unconscious seemed so much like a dream, she’d half-expected Roark to tell her that she was wrong. Or lie, even, since he had never been willing to help them in the past, but…

It was all true. Everything she had seen while drifting elsewhere… The horrible past her parents had attempted to bury… The past thatthisparent—Roark—had also played a role in…

True. All of it was true. And it made her ill. All those secrets they’d kept, the horrific sacrifices they had made to the Well in exchange for power, status, and immortality… It made her sick to think about. Made her hate her parents for those heinous acts that had resulted in so many innocent deaths.

But—

But maybe it wasn’t just Roark who could now speak freely. Maybe the spell that was placed on Erasmus and Cyra—Helia—had been broken, too. Maybe they could finally help them right their many wrongs.

“No matter the details ofhowthe spell was broken,” Roark began, severing Loren’s eye contact with Darien, “I’m simply glad that it was. I came here today to warn you.” A beat of tense silence pulsed through the room. “The Veil is going to fall.” The severity in his tone made Loren’s scalp prickle. “It’s falling as we speak. Yveswich has days, if we are lucky, before every street will be blackened out and every person trapped there will perish.”

Murmurs rippled through the room. Loren’s heart skipped a beat, her thoughts drifting to the others, who they still hadn’t heard from. Max, Travis, Dallas, Dominic, Malakai… Where were they? Were they okay?

Ivy said, “The cops are trying to blame us for everything that’s happening there. That’s why Darien, Tanner, and Loren were taken into custody. They saw them on the street cameras and think they had something to do with it. They were looking for Jack, too.” She gestured to her husband.

“And Roman,” Tanner added. “They tried getting me to tell them where he is. They supposedly have a warrant for his arrest.”

Darien said, “They asked me about him, too.” To Roark he said, “I spoke to Finn on my way out. He said that prick detective Glen was a transfer selected by the imperator. Is that true?”

“I believe it could be. Like I said, he’s doing everything he can to cover up the truth, so sending cops on a wild goose chase and using Glen as an instrument could simply be another part of his plan. He needs someone to blame, and I think it’s obvious why he would choose to blame you.” To get rid of the Seven Devils and the threat they posed to his plan, as well as the threat that his true intentions could wind up being exposed. It would be his downfall. His plan, while not as sufficient as simply killing the Devils, was smart.

Because they were resilient. And perhaps Quinton was finally learning justhowresilient they were.If you can’t kill them, lock them upappeared to be his new motto.

“How muchdothey know?” Kylar asked.

“Next to nothing,” he admitted. “The Fleet and the military know more than the cops, as we’ve dealt with threats from other dimensions in the past. Most of what we’ve dealt with has been kept confidential. Members of the Fleet undergo extensive training to handle otherworldly threats like what’s happening in Yveswich. But even I can admit that they are in over their heads with this one.”

“Do you know how to get the Veil back up?” Darien asked him.

“That’s partly why I came here to speak with you today. To see if we can work together to solve this. Erasmus and Helia were careful about the information they chose to divulge to the society. They had a lot of secrets, those two. The closer they became, the farther I drifted. Helia was the one who erected the Veil hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of years ago. She is the reason our world is completely separate from the spirit realm. While I unfortunately don’t have all the answers myself,theydo. So it’s safe to say that if we want to fix this, we need to start by talking to Erasmus.”

The room shifted with uncertain glances. Jack snorted a laugh.

Roark looked side-long at him. “Is there something about this that amuses you?”

“Sorry, but—yeah, kinda. We’ve tried talking to Erasmus in the past,” Jack explained. “He’s pretty useless.”

“Maybe not now,” Lace pointed out. “If Roark can speak, I don’t see why Erasmus won’t be able to. Especially if itwasthe Basilisk’s death that broke the spell.” Loren knew where she was coming from, but… Something didn’t add up.

“But why would they spell themselves?” Sabrine asked, putting Loren’s confusion into words. “I mean, it was Erasmus and Helia who put the spell on the Phoenix Head Society, right? To protect their secrets. So why would they be under the same spell? Why do that to themselves?”