Page 69

Cali walked over to us, her expression tight and a slight limp to her step. I dug my blades in a little deeper—both of them. Malachi didn’t seem to care. I couldn’t see his face from where I stood, but I could tell that all of his attention was on my friend.

“You ever call my friend trash again”—her hand snapped out to grip his chin—“and I’ll rip out your tongue. Now, once again, why are you here?”

“Aiofe is in the pit.” He kept his voice even, but I could have sworn I heard a hint of despair in it. Who was Aiofe? His new lover? I swear to fuck, if he came to beg Cali to help him rescue his new love, I’d slit his throat. Plan be damned.

Cali released her hold on him and took a step back, as if she needed the space between them. “Why is your little sister in that godsforsaken place?”

“Because of you and your refusal to obey.” Malachi twisted his head slightly towards me, not even caring about the blood dribbling down his neck. “Either slit my throat or get the fuck away from me.”

“I vote to slit his throat!” Kieran called out.

“Same!” Alaric and Roth chimed in.

I glanced at Cali, and she shook her head. Reluctantly, I pulled my blades away—making sure to open up some nice cuts on the way out—and stepped back. As if by magic, Draven and Vail appeared on either side of me.

Malachi instantly spun to face me, his expression filled with rage and a dagger in his hand.

“I wouldn’t,” Vail warned.

“Oh please do,” Draven purred. “I’ve always wanted to taste Furie blood.”

“Here.” I held up one of my daggers, and Draven leaned forward, his tongue darting out to lick the flat side.

“Mmm.” He took another swipe. “Tasty.”

Malachi’s mouth twisted in disgust, and he took another step towards us, only to stop when Rynn growled behind him.

“Focus, Mal,” Cali ordered, “or I’ll let my friends tear you apart, and I promise, I won’t shed a single tear over it.”

Something flickered in those glittering black eyes of his, there and gone in an instant. Regret, I thought. Maybe guilt.

Whatever it was, I didn’t care. Malachi had hurt my friend deeply, and he seemed intent on continuing to do so. I had to let the events of today play out, but sooner or later, I was going to bury my blades in his flesh again, and next time, he wouldn’t be walking away.

Malachi slid his dagger back into the sheath on his thigh and turned to face Cali.

“The Furie Elders have decreed that they will not be involved in the petty squabbles of the Moroi,” he said evenly.

I snorted. Apparently the slaughter of our previous Sovereign and the brutal rise of another was just a petty squabble .

Malachi ignored me and kept going. “All Furies have been ordered to return. You’ve been ignoring their commands for weeks, so they told me to handle you. Aiofe is my incentive to be successful.”

“I don’t know why they bothered.” Cali shrugged. “We both know you would have done it anyway. Always the good little soldier.”

The muscles in Malachi’s jaw flexed. “Some of us have people we care about—who care about us. We don’t get to just flutter about Lunaria doing whatever the hells we want.”

“Listen here, you piece of shit—” I took a step towards him.

“I’ll go,” Cali cut me off. Her tone was harsh, but her look at me was pointed. This had always been the plan. We just had to make it believable in case Carmilla had someone watching. If Cali went without a fight, it would be suspicious. “Let me just get my thi?—”

“Now,” Malachi interrupted. “We leave now. Aiofe’s already been in the pit for two weeks.

I’ve been flying around looking for you this whole time and just happened to stumble across some of the new queen’s rangers this morning, who told me where that one had been spotted.

” He pointed at Vail before glancing at me.

“Your own people were quick to sell you out to a Furie, by the way.”

“Yeah, we’re a treacherous lot,” I deadpanned.

Malachi narrowed his eyes.

“Let’s get this over with.” Cali sighed before stomping over to me. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone, okay?”

“I don’t like this,” I said with a tightness that I wasn’t faking.

“I know.” Cali gave me a sad smile. “But sometimes we just have to deal with the hand we’re dealt. I’ll see you soon, I promise.” Then she took a step back and launched herself into the sky. Black wings snapped open, and she waved a hand at Rynn and the others before flying off.

“She can’t keep doing this,” Malachi said, a dangerous edge to his voice, his eyes tracking Cali’s movements before turning to me. “Her friendship with you is causing her more harm than you can possibly imagine. Stop being selfish and let her go.”

I took a step forward, away from Vail and Draven, and let the Furie see the predator in my eyes—ones that were now as black as his.

“You were wrong earlier when you implied she didn’t have anyone she cared about—or who cared about her.

” Rynn moved to stand next to me, her lips pulled back in a silent snarl. “She has us—she always will.”

“Let’s hope that’s enough,” he said so quietly, I almost thought I misheard him before he leapt into the sky.

“Have you summoned him?” Draven asked, his gaze locked on the silver coin I was flipping back and forth across the top of my knuckles.

It was a habit I’d picked up from my father.

I still remembered him teaching me how to do it.

He’d even made me a smaller coin so that it was easier for my child-sized hands.

I’d stopped doing it the day he’d died.

As soon as Cali had been gone from sight, I’d retrieved the coin from the lower levels of the temple. I’d been sitting in the large room in the main entrance—the unwarded part—playing with the coin in the same way my father had once done.

I wondered what he would have said about my plan. About who his daughter had grown up to be.

The coin stopped, balanced on my middle knuckle.

For all the secrets he and my mother had kept, I had no doubt that they’d loved me.

In keeping my grief locked away, I’d also prevented myself from remembering all the good times.

Maybe it was time to change that. Accept the past once and for all so I could truly focus on the future.

I rolled the coin towards my thumb and flicked it up before snatching it out of the air.

“No. But I’m about to.” Then I rose from where I’d been sitting on one of the long benches and closed the distance between me and Draven, who was leaning against one of the pillars.

“You don’t need to stay,” I said softly. “You can join the others downstairs.”

Everyone except Rynn and Vail had retreated back to the first underground level.

We had everything in place for our plan, but keeping busy seemed to help everyone deal with the anxiety of what we were about to do.

Plus, the knowledge contained in those secret rooms was truly astounding.

We’d learned more in the last week than we had in our entire lives.

Hells, we’d probably learned more than all of the Moroi had in our collective existence.

Things that could change life in Lunaria as we knew it. Assuming we all survived what came next. If Carmilla was in charge of the information, I didn’t have faith in her to let others know.

Knowledge was power, and my aunt had already demonstrated just how far she was willing to go to claim it.

“You’re going to kill your aunt,” Draven said wryly as he tucked a strand of loose hair behind my ear. “Least I can do is have a face-to-face with dear old dad.”

“Someday we’ll figure out a way to kill him too,” I promised. “He doesn’t get to live after everything he’s done to you.”

“Agreed.” Vail strolled into the temple, sweat plastering his hair to the sides of his face.

It was a blistering hot day in the badlands, and even in the shade, it was warm and stuffy.

“Rynn’s scouting a little farther out, but so far, we haven’t seen any signs of Carmilla.

I doubt she would risk traveling at night, so we likely won’t see her until at least tomorrow. ”

I nodded. Now that Cali was gone, my aunt would come for me. It was unlikely she knew I’d been speaking with Erendriel and had wraiths backing me up, but I agreed with Vail. All kinds of nasty things roamed Lunaria at night, so Carmilla would likely launch her attack during daylight.

“Alright.” I held the coin up between two fingers.

“Time to get this over with.” Erendriel had told me all I’d have to do was think about him and push a small amount of magic into the coin.

I wasn’t sure if that would be enough or if I’d need my blood to make it work, but I figured I’d try without it first.

For a few seconds, nothing happened, then the coin started to pulse with a soft glow.

“Guess that means it worked?” We all looked around, as if the Seelie King was just going to pop into existence.

He did not.

“Come on.” Draven grabbed my hand. “I have a hunch.”

I tucked the coin into the pocket of the dress I’d changed into and held my hand out to Vail. He intertwined his fingers with mine, and the three of us headed farther into the temple.

“My father has kept most of his abilities a mystery. Some I know but can’t talk about.

” He winced. So far, in all our readings, we hadn’t come across anything to explain how Erendriel had spelled Draven to be unable to tell us things, but I was still hopeful we’d find something.

“How he travels around Lunaria is something I don’t understand, but I’ve noticed on a few occasions that if he does it during the day, he always comes from somewhere dark. ”

“You think he needs shadows to do it,” Vail guessed.

“I think so.”

Draven stopped, and I did the same, Vail halting next to me.

We were in the back of the temple now. Only two rooms were left, and both had a narrow hall that led to them.

The last time I’d been in one of those rooms, wraiths had attacked Nyx and hurt them badly.

I also hadn’t been faring particularly well.

“Let’s wait out here.” I squeezed their hands. “I’d rather not be in a tight space with Erendriel, even if he is our ally.”

“That’s a shame,” a deep voice called out from the dark passageway, “because I’d very much enjoy being in a tight space with you.”

Erendriel strolled out of the hall on the left before stopping a few feet away from us. His hands were tucked into the pockets of his black pants, and the dark tunic he wore was practically molded to his upper body. Apparently, he was still hoping to tempt me into marrying him.

“You’ll just have to dream about it.” I shrugged. “I’m a happily mated woman—four times over.” Soon to be five once Kieran gets his party.

Erendriel gave Vail a dismissive glance before looking at his son. “You managed to hide just how strong your magic was from me all this time and get yourself mated to a rising power. I suppose you’re not a total disappointment after all, unlike your brother.”

Draven’s fingers tightened around mine, but he remained silent.

The Seelie King chuckled. “She won’t be able to keep you safe from me forever, boy.”

“And the deal you have with our queen won’t protect you forever either,” Vail drawled.

“How about we all play nice so everyone walks away with what they want?” I cut in and gave Erendriel a polite smile, ignoring the way being so close to him without the safety of the ward had my instincts screaming at me to run.

Very fast. “It’s time to set our plan into motion.

Carmilla will be coming for me, very likely tomorrow. ”

“Of course.” Erendriel gave me a deep nod. “Once night falls, I will summon the wraiths here as we discussed.” He offered me his hand, and after hesitating for only a moment, I took it and allowed him to tug me away from Vail and Draven, both of whom growled.

Erendriel ignored them as he guided me back towards the front room, one of his hands resting on my lower back. “Now, have you been practicing closing the door as I instructed? I’d love to see what progress you have made with your magic. There is so much I could teach you if you’d only let me . . .”