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“Does Marlise understand what she needs to do?” he asked, double-checking with me, because we’d already been over this.
I nodded. “She’ll be there inside the main building of the Maven Coven when we arrive. Then you’ll take her blood and she’ll remain on Coven grounds so she can be bound to it—her new role consecrated with her blood woven into the enchantment.”
“Perfect. Once I have her fresh blood, we’ll move to the secret chamber I told you about. It holds the physical core of the legacy enchantment. I’ll unlock the seals using necromantic magic. At that point, we begin.”
I looked at Ariana. “Remember, no matter what happens, you can’t use your Celestial power offensively against my parents or any Coven member there. The political fallout would be horrific.”
“I know. I understand. Vorzyr and Nyx will see to defense.”
“Motherfucking right we will. Nothing will interrupt this spell.”
Sylas told me, “Ariana will be there both as a precaution if complications arise and I can’t restart your heart should the limitations of my sickness rise up during the spell. But she’ll also be there to flush out your system with Celestial Light. I’m using death magic to stop your heart. I’m not using a balance to do that, nor to bring you back, because we’d have to tie your life to somebody else’s and they’d die in your place—something none of us will allow. As such, this is dark magic. Given your obsessive nature and… other things… it invites the possibility of magical corruption getting its claws into you if that dark magic remains in your system. So Ariana will see to it that it does not.”
I took a moment to absorb the weight of everything.
It wasn’t the first time I was hearing these same details of the forthcoming spell from him, but now that we were right on the verge, it did feel different. Weightier.
Nothing was going to stop this from happening, though.
I wanted this.
I needed this.
And I was as ready as I’d ever be.
“Let’s do it. Let’s move,” I spoke.
Here goes nothing.
The Maven Covenmain estate loomed as it always had—grand, cold, and immovable.
The stone façade was a smooth gray-white that always made it look colder than it already was.
The heavy oak doors groaned on their hinges as we all passed through into the building, Sylas and I leading the way, with V, Ari, and Nyx right at our backs.
I resisted the instinct to reach for the latest branding mark my parents had afflicted me with—earlier this morning—still burned into my chest. Soon, it would be gone.
All of it would.
We made our way through the Main Hall, which was empty at this time of night.
Well, almost empty.
Because there stood Marlise over on the far end.
She stepped from the shadows, carrying herself in her usual commanding way, an air of precision and charm emanating from her.
Her auburn hair was pulled into a bun with a few loose strands framing her face in a way that softened her sharper edges. She was wearing her wire-framed glasses, and she was clad in a jewel-toned blouse and a tailored coat.
“Kai,” she greeted, as I reached her. She looked to Sylas. “Necromancer.” She extended her greeting to Ariana, Nyx, and Vorzyr. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, dragon.” She grinnedat Nyx. “Long time.” And then she gazed at Ariana. “You’ve certainly grown into yourself. I’ve been hearing a great deal about you. Good for you. You deserve it.”
“As much as I’d love to extend this social interaction, especially with you being so accommodating, time is limited,” Sylas told her.
She straightened. “Yes, it is. Thomas and Louise would have felt your arrival. Especially their son’s.”
In the next moment she was holding out her palm to Sylas.
He pulled a black and gold ceremonial knife from his coat and slid it from its sheath. One of many ceremonial blades. He had a ton of them, which I’d seen during my visits to his home lately.