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“Those and some other creatures,” she answered with a shrug. “Is there food? I’m starving.”

Razik cursed colorfully. “You brought them back here? Do you know how hard we have worked to keep them from this side of the Nightmist Mountains?”

Scarlett pushed up onto her elbows. “No, actually, I don’t,” she snapped. “Because you lot decided to keep it from us, even though they apparently come for me as much as they do for Cethin.”

“We didn’t know that,” Razik countered.

“And we would have never figured it out if I hadn’t gone to the estate that night alone. Even then, we weren’t sure if it was merely coincidence or not.”

“It is most definitely not coincidence. Not after what I saw today,” Rayner muttered. “But I have to agree with her. They combined their power to take them out. It was unlike anything I have ever seen.”

“They are not gone,” Razik insisted. “We have tried everything. Fire has never worked. Only the dark stone Kailia can conjure kills them.”

“Dark stone?” Rayner asked. “Nightstone?”

Razik shook his head. “This is different.”

“Like deathstone?”

Everyone turned to look at Cyrus who had been watching and listening to everything play out. Being gone for three days, and then sleeping for nearly five, he felt like he had nothing to contribute to current conversations or planning.

“How do you know of deathstone, Cyrus?” Rayner asked, and the way he said it—like he was seconds away from destroying someone—told Cyrus he’d struck a nerve.

He grabbed the rack to busy himself and began collecting balls, even though they were in the middle of a forgotten game. His eyes were on the green felt of the table as he said, “The Sorceress told me of it.”

The others fell silent. The only sound was the light clinking of the balls as he dropped them into the rack.

After several awkward moments, Rayner said, “Moranna had some deathstone. Not much. A few items at most.”

“What does it do?” Scarlett asked, her tone soft.

Cyrus shrugged. “She said it was like nightstone in that it suppressed and drained power, but when the power was gone, it drained your life-force. Never actually killed you. Just held you in the in-between.”

He felt Cassius move closer to him, but he didn’t acknowledge it. The balls in position for a new game, he lifted the rack. He didn’t want to be thinking of any of this. He’d come down here to keep his mind busy, and it had been working until now.

“Kailia can conjure deathstone?” Rayner asked, and when Cyrus glanced at him, he looked as if he’d just put something together.

“Yes,” Razik said. “It is the only thing we have found that truly kills the things that come for Cethin. And apparently Scarlett.”

“You’re talking about the Hunters, right?” Cyrus asked, lining up his shot to break the balls. He hit the cue ball, the other balls scattering. Straightening, he studied the layout, trying to decide which ball to try to sink next when he realized no one had answered him. He looked up to find them all staring at him. “What?”

“Who are the Hunters, Cyrus?” Sorin asked. Scarlett was sitting completely upright now, silvery-blue eyes pinned on him. How much magic had she used?

Cyrus cleared his throat. “Not who. What.” He looked at Razik. “You don’t know what they are?”

Razik shook his head, arms crossed over his chest. “Explain.”

The solid purple ball. That one would be the easiest to sink. Except it was violet. Like Gehenna’s eyes. And he could feel them on him as she’d told him of the Hunters that day. So he lined up a shot for the striped green ball instead as he cleared his throat. “Achaz created them. Their sole purpose, according to her, is to hunt the bloodline of Arius, and any beings created by him or Serafina. She said there are some here, and when they can leave, they will report back to Achaz what they discovered. She wouldn’t tell me anything else about them.”

He hit the white cue ball, but he hit it too hard. It bounced up over the side of the table, and Cassius shot out a hand to catch it. “My shot,” he said with a smirk.

Cyrus moved out of the way, swiping up his drink.

“But there are no twin flames over here, right?” Scarlett piped up.

“That is random,” Razik muttered.

“It’s not though,” she said, pushing up onto her knees and leaning over the back of the sofa to see him better. “You said you’ve tried everything, but if there are no twin flames over here, you wouldn’t know if our combined power could kill them. And Sorin’s magic is… Well, it’s stronger now.”