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He was in obsessive mode.

The papers and books and what-not were even spread over Nyx’s desk and his bed.

“I’m guessing Nyx had to vacate while you’re engrossed in all of this, because you needed so much space?” I asked, drawing closer.

He didn’t look up as he answered, clearly hyper-focused. “No. He booked time in a Ruminat hut so he wouldn’t be interrupted as he met with one of his Crossborn colleagues via dreamwalking. They’re each partnering up to put forth proposals that will be reviewed and discussed, possibly ratified, during their next in-person meeting at the Guardian Compound. He’s working with Velra Nox. Seems like they’re developing a friendship. It’s all very good for him.”

I tensed at that last part. “Who is this person he’s getting so close to?”

“I wouldn’t saysoclose. He’s referred to her aslittle sisa couple of times, so you can calm the territorial animal in you.”

“What about the dreamwalking? He can’t always control hisallurewhen he’s submerged in that.”

“She’s part wraith. He can’t affect her like that.”

“Huh. A wraith. Well, that’s… rare.”

“Something the two of them obviously have in common with their makeup, Nyx’s Incubus side being rare as well.” He grunted with irritation and actually finally graced me with his eye contact, looking up at me from the floor. “So, like I said, it’s goodfor him. Are we done now? I need to return my full and absolute focus to this.”

What the hell?

“Kai, you stood me up.”

He started. “What?”

“We were meant to meet at your lab after my last class, which was twenty minutes ago.”

His brow furrowed. “What are you—no. I don’t miss appointments. I don’t arrive late. That’s… you’re sure?”

“I’m sure. You didn’t show, Kai. Hence me barging in here.”

“I thought the barging in was down to you having Halloway’s class today. That fucking fool.”

“It didn’t help. But my currentandrapidly building frustration is rooted inyou.”I gestured at the mess all over the place. “I get that you’re excited about Gabriel Morgan’s course of Apex Magic starting up, but don’t you think this is a little overkill? And, from what I gather, you don’t study last-minute, you’re prepared weeks in advance.”

“This isn’t about the course.” He let out a disgruntled sigh and rose to his feet, facing me and explaining, “It’s concerning our upcoming meeting with Cornelius Martel that Mia was able to wrangle us.”

“What about it? He agreed to give me information about Malrik as a show of trust, so that we can then work together to create a failsafe against Cassius. It was to ensure we can trust them with what we’ll need to reveal about my Primal Celestial Resonance ability being the thing that acted as a stabilizing agent with the Aetherbound Scepter.”

“Even as you speak the words, you can hear the risk involved in doing this, yes?”

“It’s only a risk if Ariana’s family can’t be trusted with this.”

“No. It’s also a risk with the more people we bring on board.”

“And that’s the reason we’re keeping the circle so small. It will just be Cornelius who comes to know of this.”

“Even adding one additional person, somebody outside the four of us, still invites risk. Cornelius is more closely tied to the Cassius of it all being both a Fallen and Ariana’s grandfather, not to mention the guy, along with Jaxon, who was pissing them off so much lately by trying to break the bargain struck that binds Ariana to this fucked-up duty.”

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take. Not just to know about Malrik, which will help me to figure out much more about where my powers come from, and possibly even understand how to work with them better,butalso to help Ariana and give her a way out of this nightmare—being forced into service as the Celestial Plane’s Champion, a pawn in a war she didn’t choose.”

“I know you’re willing to take the risk.” He gestured at the mess all over the dorm room. “And this is me trying to mitigate that, to hold as much knowledge as I can when it comes to Corneliusandthat vault of his. Cornelius’ personal vault isn’t just storage. It’s where he keeps magical artifacts too volatile for Guardian regulation. Half the Movement doesn’t even know it exists. A lot of these books and papers that you see here talk about what may or may not be held within that vault. They mention the Wrath of Hades and the fact that it was never actually destroyed. They even talk about how the fuck Cornelius was able to conceive a child when he was True Celestial with a mere sorceress. It could be the key to a lot. All of that pertains to our goals—and our concerns.”

He shoved a hand through his already wild hair. “And while I’ve been doing that, I’ve also been continuing to research a way to break the deal that’s been struckwithoutCelestial Plane permission.”

As if all the rest he’d put out there hadn’t been enough to absorb,thatwas something else altogether. “You’re talking about overriding them? Their will and their command?”

“Yes,” he admitted, eyes burning into mine with fiery force that certainly melded well with the dangerous subject matter.