Page 24

CHAPTER 24

brIAR

M alachi glances up from where he’s sitting at the same desk he was working at a few hours earlier. His hair is mussed like he’s been running his hands through it. “Find anything useful?” he asks once Saint lets the portal close behind us.

I shrug. “Kinda?” My statement comes out more like a question because I don’t know if the potion will end up being helpful or not. With the whole sacrifice thing, I don’t know when we’d use it, and I hope we’re never in a situation where it seems like a good idea.

Pushing to his feet, Malachi stretches as he stands up, giving me a tantalizing glimpse of his abs. I tear my gaze away from his muscles to glance up at his face. Luckily, he didn’t notice my staring. He strides over, and when he reaches us, his nostrils flare, and his eyes snap to mine. “Have a good time?” he rumbles with a raised eyebrow.

“Yep,” I squeak, my face flaming. I’m pretty sure he can smell that we just fucked, and I don’t really know how to handle having multiple mates in this situation.

His mouth quirks up in a half smile. “Good. So, what did you find?”

I exhale in relief at Malachi not making it weird. I won’t apologize for getting it on with my other mates, but I never want to rub it in anyone’s face.

I hand Malachi the small amber glass vial. He holds it up to the light to inspect the murky contents curiously. “What does it do?”

“It can strip a person’s or object’s magic,” I tell him. Malachi raises his eyebrows in surprise and looks at the potion with newfound appreciation. “The bad news is it kills whoever uses it.”

“Fuck.” He scrubs a hand over his face. “That’s one hell of a catch.”

Tell me about it.

We found the answer to all our problems for the low, low price of one of our lives. That’s par for the course with the prophecy, though. Everything is just one big riddle, catch, or impossible task after another.

“Yeah. It wasn’t what I wanted to find, but maybe the diary entry will have something more helpful in it.” Here’s hoping. I could really use something going right with the stuff we found in the crypt.

Malachi nods, his mouth flattening into a harsh line. “I finished translating the letter. It mentions something about a potion.”

By his expression, I’m guessing whatever the diary entry says isn’t good. “Can I read it?”

He dips his chin and heads back to his workspace cluttered with papers, books, and pens. Saint and I follow him. When we reach the table, I hop up to sit on the edge that’s reasonably clear of the mess. Saint stands beside me and wraps an arm around my waist. I lean in to him and enjoy the comfort he’s offering for a second.

Malachi sifts through his scattered notes before handing me a crumpled piece of paper with his neat handwriting on it.

I smooth it out on my jeans and begin to read.

11 August 1077

I can no longer feel my wolf. She is gone, just like women have reported from all over the continent. The Knights of Aeneas have finally succeeded in their mission to take our wolves away. Peculiarly, it only seems to affect women, perhaps to target Dido’s descendants directly. They learned of the prophecy, despite our attempts to guard it.

Whatever the reason, we female wolves are now an easy target for the Knights and other species. Along with taking our wolves, this curse also took our strength, speed, and senses. We can hear, see, and smell better than humans but not as we once could.

In my weakened state, I am unable to combat the curse directly. May another of Dido’s descendants break the curse swiftly for we are already dying. Two of my sisters have been killed in the month since news of the Knights of Aeneas’s success reached us. I fear that we may not survive long enough to fulfill the prophecy if the destined one is not revealed soon.

To aid the one mentioned in the prophecy, I will leave everything we have found about the curse in the newly built crypt for safe keeping.

I am including blueprints for Dido’s burial site, which is underneath the place she took her life on the funeral pyre so many years ago. The location is steeped in very old, powerful, and vengeful magic. If anything could power the curse, it would be that residual energy. I have heard reports for several years about increased Knight activity there, which supports our theory that the source of the curse is there.

Dido’s final resting place is said to be three levels deep in the ground, with her body entombed in the lowest floor. Despite the site being littered with traps, the Knights must’ve found their way inside. Be cautious when entering because the location of these defensive measures is unknown, and the Knights have most likely added additional fortifications.

Along with the blueprints, I have also included the key to Dido’s tomb room. The pyramidal quartz will unlock the most secure part of the site. No one in memory has been able to find the exact location, so I do not know how it will unlock the room.

Lastly, I have included a recipe for a potion that has the ability to remove the magic from an object or person. My reports indicate that the curse is tied to an object. Once you track down the source of it, you will need to use this potion to undo the damage the Knights have caused.

The sacrifice will be great, but no one else is capable of the task. Be brave, child of magic and earth, for us children of the moon depend on you.

Take care and be well,

Aurelia Aspera

Well, that’s not great.

We know where to go and what to do, but I’m not loving the whole “sacrificing myself for the cause” thing. Because the letter definitely wants me to use the potion, not trick Ryker into using it or use it as an ingredient to make something else.

My eyes flick up to Malachi, who is watching me grimly. When he sees that I’m done, he hands me another piece of paper. I glance down at it.

I finally found Dido’s tomb. I don’t know who to trust, so I hid the map in the Temple of Janus. I placed the key here in the family crypt and a spelled letter in our library. If you’ve found this, your next step is in Rome. Good luck – Livy Asper

I squint at the letter because I’m pretty sure Livy is the name of one of my great-grandmothers. She was long dead by the time I was born, but I remember my mom talking about Grandma Livy. I’m guessing this is the same person.

I wish my mom was still here so I could ask her. There are so many things I wish my parents could be here for, but they’re not. Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I ask, “Where is the Temple of Janus?”

Malachi pinches the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “It doesn’t exist anymore. It was built by the second king of Rome, and it stood in the Roman Forum near the Basilica Aemilia. Scholars debate if it was a gate or a bridge, but regardless, it’s not fucking there any longer.”

Fantastic.

The only way to find Dido’s tomb is to go to something that doesn’t exist anymore. That place should have a map to a booby-trapped ancient burial site that contains an unknown artifact that I have to destroy with a potion that will kill me.

Have I mentioned that I hate everything about this?

Because I do. So much.

“How long has it been since it was there?” I ask, hoping it was only recently demolished.

I know I’m not that lucky when Malachi says, “Oh, only about twenty-five hundred years, give or take.”

Sounds about right.

Although, if it hasn’t been there for thousands of years, then Livy would’ve hidden it somewhere near there that existed in her time. That should’ve only been a few hundred years ago at the most.

“Well, that might actually be a good thing because I think Livy Asper was my great-grandma. She was killed a hundred years ago. Wherever she hid the map should hopefully still be accessible to us.”

Malachi rubs his chin in thought. “Huh. That makes sense with Asper and Aspera translating to wild, so somewhere along the line your family must’ve anglicized their name from Asper to Wylder.”

“I didn’t know that.” My lips tip up in a small smile at learning something new about my family. Ava and I are the only ones left, and my mom didn’t get time to teach us much about our ancestors. While I wish it were under different circumstances, it was cool to see my family library and read letters from relatives long gone.

It would be awesome if any of these letters said something helpful about how to fix the curse without the death potion.

Saint looks down at me. “Who killed her?”

My mouth twists in a grimace. “Who else? The Knights. They’ve killed everyone in my family, other than Ava and me.” And if the letter is to be believed, they’ll kill me with their curse, too.

Hugging me to his side, Saint presses a kiss to the top of my head and mumbles, “I’m sorry, little shadow.”

I shrug because what is there really to say? Nothing about the Knights killing my entire family is fine, but I can’t do anything about it now. All I can do is fuck up their plans and try to keep them from hurting anyone else. “So what do we do now?”

Malachi tilts his head back and stares sightlessly at the ceiling for a long moment. He eventually looks back at me, his navy eyes swirling with frustration and fear. “I don’t know. Both letters want us to go to Dido’s tomb. But I would rather let the Knights eradicate all supernaturals than have you sacrifice yourself yet again.”

Stepping up to my other side, Malachi props his hip on the table and wraps one of his large hands around my thigh. He squeezes, whether to comfort me, reassure himself I’m still here, or both, I don’t know.

Saint nods in agreement. “I’m a fan of just fucking off, hiding out somewhere, and letting someone else deal with the Knights.”

I sigh because that’s tempting. Really tempting. Unfortunately, it won’t work. “As great as passing off this problem to someone else sounds, there’s a reason Ava and I are the only ones left. The Knights find my family wherever we hide. The only way to truly be safe is to destroy the curse and take out as many Knights as we can. So we need to go to Rome.”

According to the prophecy, I’m supposed to be the downfall of the Knights. If I can get rid of the whole organization then Ava, my mates, and I will all be safe. Finally.

How I’ll accomplish that? Hopefully someone knows because I sure don’t.

Saint scrubs his hands over his face and shakes his head. “You’re right, but I don’t like it.”

Squeezing his eyes shut in resignation briefly, Malachi surprises me by stepping between my legs and shoving his hands under my thighs. He lifts me up, and I wrap my arms and legs around him. I hug him tightly, trying to give my bossy wolf mate some reassurance.

“I need you to be okay, baby girl,” Malachi rasps into my shoulder. “I can’t do this life without you. I’ll follow you to the ends of the Earth, but I need you to promise me that you’ll make it out of this alive. Please.” His voice breaks on the last word, and it shatters my heart.

I’ve seen Malachi be many things—frustrated, amused, wanting to spank my ass for not listening, understanding, thoughtful, and more—but the one thing I’ve never seen from him is this defeat and heartbreak and hopelessness.

“I promise,” I whisper into his neck. I don’t know how I’ll manage it, but I’ll do everything in my power to keep it.