Page 36

HALWEN

Hope bubbled inside my chest right next to the rage and bloodthirst that drove me to get revenge on Cronus for torturing Wane and killing Wynvail. That fucker would pay, but first we'd break the curse.

The flight to Iarlon took too damn long. I was impatient to know what they'd learned at the palace, to know if it would save us—or break my heart when I learned it was unviable.

When we landed, I wasted no time, running up the stairs and into the palace, hurrying down pale hallways towards where Renna guided me—the sitting room where I first met Lucifer and Queen Lili.

Thankfully, Renna was unable to carry so many of us with her magic, so I wouldn't be throwing up all over the devil's fancy shoes today.

"Finally," Lucifer huffed when I burst through the door. His gaze went to Renna, his eyes deep red and impatient. "What took so long."

"You donotwant to know," Renna replied, disgust twisting her face.

I snorted. Who'd have guessed she was a prude? Aww cute, the tips of her lilac ears were pink.

My eyes travelled around the room, and I jumped when I spotted another woman sitting primly on the sofa by the fire beside the queen. She looked supremely uncomfortable, and shot me a foul look as if I was to blame.

"Agatha Avonlea," I greeted in a cheerful voice I knew would piss off the grumpy old woman.

Her stare flattened. Her beautiful onyx face and shiny brown curls did not match her personality at all. "You know my name is Aggie."

"Just checking to see if you remembered me," I replied sweetly, and then figured out why she was here all at once. She was old—and if my instincts were right she wasoldold—and worked with the endless knowledge in Lucifer's library. "Did you find something to end my curse?"

"Doubtful," she muttered.

"Don't talk like that," Lili sighed, coming over to squeeze my hand. "It's the best hope we've found. Aggie had the idea, and it's brilliant, honestly."

Aggie ducked her brunette head, smiling. Fuck, I didn't know the womancouldsmile. Lili could charm anyone.

"With all this talk of gods and titans floating around," Aggie said, giving me a look that told me she'd heard of my involvement with said titans, "I thought it made sense to go directly to the source. Instead of fucking around with anyone who studied curses, we need to find someone whoisa curse. We need to find the Arae."

I waited a moment to see if that would spark an inner knowledge. Nope. "Who?"

"They're spirits of curses," Emlyn murmured, skimming the edge of his wing down mine to reassure me—or himself. "They were madebya curse, and they embody that curse. The Arae can also place curses on other people."

"And, in theory, remove them," Aggie added, giving Emlyn a sour look. Probably for stealing her thunder. "Let me see," she barked, getting off the sofa, surprisingly spry for someone who gaveolder than Luciferenergy.

She grabbed my arm before I could push up my sleeve, and did it herself, her wide lips pressing thin and eyes squinting as she scanned the geometric lines, circles, and arrows on my arm. "Nasty work."

"Why does everyone always say that?" I muttered.

"This circle here represents life, but yours is bisected," Aggie replied, tracing the mark. "This line should be longer, but it's cut off. All these signs point to death. The arrow pointing away from you says it'll be someone else's death. The two dots I'm not familiar with, but I presume it refers to your twin soul—the one you possess and the one your mates do."

"Twin soul," Harvey murmured, edging closer to frown at the mark on my arm, mostly concealed by the skulls and flowers I had Oren tattoo to mask the curse.

"Every mate is a twin soul. You have half, your mate has the other. With multiple mates, they all share the half, each possessing a piece," Aggie explained, releasing my arm. "I can interpret the curse, but I can't tell you how to break it. Not my specialty."

"I've never heard you admit to being less than perfect at something before," Lucifer remarked, striding forward for a look at my curse and halted by a wall of muscle.

"You can look at mine," Kai offered. I couldn't tell if he was being protective or territorial. Knowing Kai, probably both. "It's the exact same as Haley's."

"Don't hiss at the devil," Harvey whispered to him. "It's rude."

"And it could get us killed," Wane added, startling hard when the door flew open and a scowling grizzly bear stormed into the room.

Well, he was a man, but he definitely had a grizzly soul with the deep slash of his brows, his unfriendly eyes, and the scowling face mostly hidden by a bushy beard. He didn't even blink at the rest of us, just fixed his attention on the king and queen of hell and barked, "We have a problem."

Wane's shadows thickened, his silver eyes widening with panic; I crossed the room to take his hand, squeezing hard and whispering, "You're safe, I'm with you."