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“He prefers to see for himself. Can you really blame him?” He made to turn away, but then he paused, seeming to remember something. Pointing a finger in her face, he said quietly, “Don’t be mentioning this to your little friends or your Devil bodyguards. Got it?”

She lifted her chin, fighting the urge to bite his finger off. “And what if I do?”

“This warning comes from me, Loren. It doesn’t come from my dad. He is willing to play nice as long as you follow his rules. He just wants to talk—that’s it.”

Sure. And then the minute she found out what the hell the imperator wanted this time, the information would be going straight to Darien, just like last time.

She offered Klay a stiff smile. “Understood.”

So this was why he was here. But she didn’t have time to say anything else, or to ask any questions.

He turned and walked away, leaving her staring after him.

Loren sighed and slumped against her locker. It looked like she wasn’t getting out of this one.

—

Mondays usually dragged, but this one ended far too soon.

When the bells chimed at three p.m., signaling the end of herbology, the only class she didn’t share with Sabrine or Dallas, she jumped from the sound. Students stood and gathered their things, the sound of excited chatter swelling to a roar around her.

She took out her phone and saw that there was still no cell reception. This was odd for a place like Angelthene; cell reception almost never failed, thanks to the cristala tower that pulled the anima mundi up from the planet’s core. Which made her wonder if the imperator had anything to do with it. If he believed there was even the slightest chance that she would tell Darien about this, she wouldn’t put it past him to shut down all cell service in the school.

He had been right to make that decision, because she had checked her phone all afternoon, waiting for the opportunity to send a message to Darien or one of the other Devils. But that same message she’d tried to send him before Klay showed up was still frozen on her screen.

With a sigh, she got to her feet and shoved her books into her book bag. She made her way out of the classroom, lost in thought as she walked, not noticing the figure leaning against the wall by the door until she was only a foot away from him.

“In case you get any bright ideas,” Klay said, keeping his voice muted as he shrugged away from the wall.

Adjusting the straps of her bags, she marched past him, slamming her shoulder into his arm. “Your dad must be pretty powerful if he can shut off cell reception.”

Klay followed her, a hungry wolf on her heels. “Considering he’s the Terran Imperator? Yeah, he really is.”

She glanced about the hallway. “Where is he wanting to talk?” They were already nearing the staircase.

Klay gestured to the doors below. “He’s waiting for us by the gates.”

Great.

Loren scanned the crowds of students, searching for Sabrine or Dallas, but they were nowhere to be found. And before she knew it, she was pushing through the doors, dodging students who mingled on the front steps, Klay hovering just behind her.

It was sunny today, but still oddly cool, the grass still damp from the brief spell of rain that’d swept through the city last night. The smell of it transported her back to Hell’s Gate, when she’d awoken halfway through her sleep to the patter of the rain, Darien snuggled up against her side, his strong arms wrapped around her middle, his head resting against her hip. The nights when he stayed with her until dawn were few in number, but she cherished every single one.

Blinking away the memory, she drew a deep breath, steeling herself for what was to come.

Klay stayed close to her side. Too close for comfort as they walked up the hill and through the gates that were ajar, droves of students passing through, magic staves and stacked grimoires in hand.

She didn’t need to ask Klay where to go. There was a black limousine parked a short distance away, the sight of it bringing a sickening wave of déjà vu to Loren’s stomach.

The last time she’d been inside this limousine, she had come face to face with not just the imperator, whose legal name was Quinton Lucent, but also Jonathon Kyle and Calanthe Croft, who’d entered the vehicle shortly after she’d slid onto the seat. Loren had stared at Calanthe in quiet shock for a long minute, wondering if it was a spell playing a trick on her, or if it really was Calanthe sitting before her. She’d ended up connecting the dots on her own: Tempus the Liar had turned back the clock to before Calanthe had shown up on the Control Tower and attacked her.

She still didn’t fully understand it—how the wish had worked so many miracles while reversing others. If she thought too hard, it felt like her brain was liquefying in her skull.

The deaths of millions of people that day, Calanthe included, hadn’t been an end at all, but the beginning of something new.

With a steadying breath, Loren stopped at the back door of the limousine.

The driver stepped out—a warlock who came around to her side and opened the door.