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PANDORA

S now dusted the sand in the coldest part of the Demon Capital as the Ice Factory loomed ahead. The sandstone building had ice creeping along the walls. It was a cruel contrast to the rest of the territory. Rusting metal beams were frozen, and the air reeked of stagnant water as a frigid breeze slithered around us, hissing as it scraped across my face. It was laced with the scent of sulfur.

The day of another mission had come, and my mates and I stood with Jesper and his men outside the Ice Factory, ready to sabotage another ritual space of Sybil Shaw’s.

We only had three weeks left until what was supposed to be the big ritual. Just three weeks until I would be forced to say goodbye to Nebula. Twenty-one days.

The thought churned inside of me like a soulless corpse, but I buried it as quickly as it came.

Instead, I focused on the tiny kitten skull in my hands, tracing the delicate cracks along the surface.

“I can sense dark magic,” I murmured. “And souls. The building is holding a lot of cultists.”

It was just like Jesper’s spy had told us.

“Be prepared for anything,” Nebula told us. “She knows what you’re doing now. She’ll have taken precautions.”

Another fact the spy had told us. Sybil was well aware that there was a spy among her, and she wasn’t concerned about it.

She was overconfident.

Dex’s arm wrapped around my shoulders and tugged me against his chest. “We’re prepared.”

“Don’t worry, Nebs, we’ll protect our princess,” Skel promised.

“Focus on the mission,” Hunter scolded them. “Jesper is telling us all the updated information from the spy.”

Reed and Bram nodded as if they were happy to not be scolded, and I bit back a smile.

Jesper briefed us again about the ritual site we were supposed to destroy within the building, but my focus was on the faint hum of energy pulsing from Nebula’s skull.

Dark magic tainted everything it touched. It was like ink that bled into water, tainting every drop, and Nebula was soaked in it. His soul was muted, but I knew it was his soul—I just couldn’t sense anything about it.

“ Focus . Weaken her,” Nebula said before de-manifesting.

I carefully placed him into my bag and slung it over my shoulder just as Jesper finished the brief.

Jesper smacked his hands together in two rapt claps. “Move out. Stay aware.”

The agents went ahead of us and opened the door with a loud creak that echoed through the air. When there was no response but the howling wind, they motioned for the rest of us.

Our entire group stepped into the bitter cold building.

It was eerily silent, but as we reached the middle, dozens of souls honed in on us. Cultists stepped out of the shadows and from behind industrial shelves. What struck me as odd was that none of them were infected with dark magic. Regardless, their intent to kill us was just as strong as the ones I’d fought who had been infected.

The thing was, there was no trace of dark magic within the Ice Factory.

“They aren’t infected, but they’re just as dangerous,” I rasped, and Jesper repeated what I said to his agents. “I don’t sense dark magic anywhere.”

“No, but I sense powerful magic…” Jesper titled his head. “Fae magic.”

The cultists’ eyes gleamed with devotion, lips curling into sneers as they surrounded us. They weren’t the first to strike.

As the supernatural agents circled around me and my mates and moved further into the building, elemental fae magic detonated all around us.

Fire roared to life, eating through the frostbitten floor, causing smoke to curl into the rafters. Agents caught fire, their screams piercing my ears so loud it hurt.

Ice came from the ground, jagged and razor-sharp, a frozen storm cutting through flesh and fabric of the agents on the outer circle.

Wind howled, lifting bodies and slamming them against walls, bones snapping like twigs.

The earth itself cracked beneath us, splitting open like a mouth ready to devour, and several of the agents fell inside.

“Fae traps! Be fucking careful!” Jesper shouted, his usual demeanor breaking.

“Jesper!” the student who was shadowing him screamed as she was picked up and tossed into a wall by air.

Scales scattered along Jesper’s skin as he let out his dragon roar. Then, he started shouting orders at his standing agents.

A jagged piece of ice ripped through my shoulder, penetrating my flesh and piercing straight through.

My breath hitched, but I didn’t falter as I let my magic surge, taking down a few of the cultists near me. Blood oozed warm down my arm, staining the floor beneath my boots.

“Pandora!” my mates screamed, but they were all too far away now. Reed’s voice was closest, but they were all desperately calling out for me.

“I’m fine!” I shouted, turning toward Reed’s voice as I swallowed some of the souls of the cultists, but a fresh gust of wind sent me crashing into a pillar.

My body met the pillar with an audible crack. I gasped as pain flared through my ribs.

Through the smoke and fighting of cultists and agents, I saw Reed, running for me, but a wall of fire cut him off.

“Pandora!” He was in full demon form, but he couldn’t get to me.

Rage exploded through our bond before a wave of raw, nightmarish energy pulsed outward, hitting every single cultist in the factory.

One by one, they crumpled. Eyes rolled back. Mouths twisted in silent screams as their minds were plunged into nightmares.

They hit the ground, writhing in a terror they couldn’t wake from. With the fall of the cultists, the fae traps finally ceased.

“Fuck, Reed, they’re all trapped in terror,” Skel muttered, his eyes glowing green as his tail flicked behind him. “You and I are a lot more alike than I thought power-wise. Great job. ”

Reed sucked in a sharp breath, his body sagging against a nearby pillar as if he couldn’t hold his weight anymore.

The cultists were all screaming in their sleep.

All of them.

I stumbled toward him, ignoring the way my legs shook. When I reached him, I wrapped my arms around his waist, inhaling his cotton candy scent. “That was amazing, Reed. I didn’t know you could do that.”

“I didn’t know I could either.” His breath was ragged, and his skin cold from the magical energy he’d spent. His fingers trembled as he cupped my face. “I’d destroy the psyche of anyone if it meant you’d be safe,” he murmured. “I couldn’t get to you.”

“You made a way to get to her,” Bram praised him.

“You did,” Dex agreed. “That was cool as fuck.”

“All but five of them are dead,” Hunter called out, gesturing to the five remaining cultists trapped in their nightmares.

Jesper had ordered the agents to kill all but five of the sleeping cultists, and they had done so as I checked on Reed.

The five remaining souls, ripe with fear, were in a magical slumber and helpless.

I unwound from Reed and moved toward them. My dark smoke slithered out of me and into four of their bodies, devouring their souls from the inside with greed.

Their souls became fuel for my reserves, but there was one last cultist.

He was weak, trembling as the nightmare warred in his subconscious.

“I’m going to try to see into his memories,” I explained, letting my magic brush against his body, exploring his soul.

His breath hitched as my magic slithered around him, unraveling his memories like frayed thread.

His memories flooded me.

Sybil Shaw.

Her voice echoed in my mind, cool and sharp, dripping with authority as she spoke to the cult. Her plans were whispered in the shadows of a ritual steeped in dark magic and supremacy.

And Nebula.

She spoke of Nebula being her winning card—she boasted of keeping him as her power source. As long as he remained cursed, they would prevail.

I wanted to kill her for even saying it.

But then, she revealed another ace up her sleeve, and it made my blood run cold.

She had a bloodstone steeped in dark magic, but it wasn’t just any bloodstone. It was Grayson Haven’s—one of the villains of the Second War.

I ripped myself from his memories, gasping.

“What did you see?” Hunter asked, and all of my mates had surrounded me by the time I came to.

Blinking rapidly, I steadied myself, reaching out and grasping Reed and Bram’s arms. “Sybil Shaw has Grayson Haven’s bloodstone.”

The color drained from their faces, and my heart skipped a beat.

We all knew that her having that stone wasn’t a good thing, and we had to tell the council.