Page 9

Nika

M y pulse thundered in my ears, but I’d known Lev long enough to know that smile came with an incredible idea.

He leaned forward and pointed to a few of the symbols. “I remembered some of these. I’ve seen them before in the texts Mother kept hidden. If you can learn to do what your grandmother did with your power, I think there’s a way we can expel Rilas’s soul back to the After.”

Why hadn’t she taught me before? She never mentioned anything like it, but Dugan hadn’t come until after Rilas had attacked us.

Maybe there was a reason. Maybe this was what they saw.

It was the only conclusion I could draw as I twisted my thoughts around the new information I’d learned from both Lev and the journal.

“But how will you get that text?” I asked.

Lev’s grin was downright diabolical. I’d never seen him look so excited, not since we’d seen each other again in that field.

Silas cackled as the two men stared at each other. “Another dance around those pompous wankers? I accept. I think a little extra spook might put them off trying to regain power if they think I’m watching. It’s a win-win, it is.”

“The Dark Fae Society?” I surmised, humming. “Are you sure they wouldn’t have tossed everything out or hidden it somewhere else?”

My friend shook his head, laughing. “They’re not that clever, Niks. Not the ones that matter, anyway. You know this. It’s why they did everything through the power of the Council. They’re probably still trying to name new leaders. I doubt they’ll have done much else.”

He wasn’t wrong. The Dark Fae Society was nothing if not wholly focused on performative measures rather than real ones.

It was all lineage and bureaucratic bullshit.

Skill wasn’t how you obtained power in that society.

It was who your family was for the last thousand or so years.

So they wouldn’t be thinking about another attack; they’d be worried about leadership and regaining their foothold in the Fae space.

“So we go back and grab what we need, then leave?”

Silas’s arm tightened around me. “What’s the fun in that, love? I still have a list of bastards to pay a visit to who Lev failed to mention last time.”

I glared at Lev, and he shrugged, not even the slightest bit sorry. “He’s annoyingly persistent, and I didn’t think we’d have to go back anytime soon. Sorry, Niks.”

“No, you’re not,” I clapped back angrily.

“No, I’m not,” he agreed with a sly grin.

Silas kissed my shoulder and stared at me like he wasn’t the biggest child in the room. “I won’t be but a minute, love.”

“Bet you won’t. Hope you like a cold bed,” I threatened.

Silas pouted and snuggled closer. “You don’t mean it, do you, little rebel? Why protect those undeserving tossers after all they’ve done to you? Why worry your pretty little head over them at all? Not like I wasn’t quick the last time.”

I wouldn’t win this battle with him. Silas was a monster about revenge. He’d made that clear when he risked the box to destroy several Dark Fae who hurt me. And I’d fallen in love with him despite the many shades of grey. That, however, didn’t mean I had to give into him every time.

“How long is the list?”

Knowing he’d won, the smug mercenary wore a grin and produced a list inked in silver.

Did he just keep it in his pocket everywhere he went?

“Only about…thirty or so. Won’t take long at all, princess, and Lev will be right there with you to grab what we need while I take a little stroll through your past.”

I shot a look over at Lev, and he was already grinning. I hadn’t known him to be the vindictive type, but Silas certainly brought it out in my friend.

Go figure.

Sighing, I caught Silas’s face in one hand and growled, “You’ll be quick, or we’re leaving you behind. I mean it, asshole.”

His grin was distorted by the hold I had on his face. “Growl like that, and I’ll do whatever you want. You’ll get no cheek from me, love.”

I released his face with a click of my tongue, ignoring the kisses he dropped on my shoulder and neck. Lev stared at the journal sitting on the coffee table, and I snatched it up. Turning to the page I’d bookmarked, I showed it to Lev. His brows knitted together in confusion.

Right, no one but me could read it.

“My grandmother and mother wrote this journal. Dugan gave it to me when we went to meet him.” His eyebrow went up in question.

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you after, but this part specifically talks about how to form symbols.

It’s often used to cast what they call the old magic.

It’s magic we draw from the After. Not sure if that’s what she did to Rilas in the room with the box and at the cabin, but if you know the combination, this part tells me exactly how to do it. ”

Silas whistled as he leaned his head over my shoulder. “Is that what you were doing down here for four days?”

I scoffed, flipping through the pages. “What? Thought I was just reading for fun?”

“Didn’t see you casting any spells, did I?”

Lev was already closer and looking at the journal with interest. “This is what Dugan gave you? Why? How did he know you’d need it? How did your grandmother?”

I’d learned over the course of reading the journal that it wasn’t only my mother who had clairvoyance. Grandmother did too, though it wasn’t as powerful as Mother’s.

She created this journal and passed it on to my mother. It was everything I could ever want to know—my powers, our ancestry, what Soul Collectors were truly meant to do. The parts specifically addressed to me were areas both my grandmother and mother thought I might need eventually.

One such place was how to call on the magic lingering in the After.

They referred to it several times as the old magic.

I hadn’t attempted it yet, but I didn’t want to accidentally cast something I couldn’t reverse.

If we went after Rilas, I’d only get one shot at it.

I’d have to take the souls he collected first, then quickly expel him to the After if what Lev said was true.

“She had clairvoyance too, yeah?” Silas asked, peering at the journal despite being unable to read it.

Nodding, I closed it and escaped his lap. “Seems like it. Doesn’t really matter now. We’ll only get one chance at this, and I don’t want to be sitting on my hands for another few months.”

Silas was on his feet, hands on my shoulders as he stared at Lev. “We’ll be needing those texts first, I suppose. Then we’ll track that demonic brother of mine to wherever cowards go to hide and send him back to where he belongs.”

Lev stood from his seat, peppier than when he walked in. “It’s a plan, and a damn good one in my opinion.” He started to walk toward me. “Dinner?”

But I was already over Silas’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “She and I have important business to discuss. You understand, don’t you, lad?”

I slammed my elbow into the brute’s shoulder, annoyed he’d used his magic and strength to keep me from escaping.

“You can’t keep saying that like no one sees through your bullshit, asshole.

” I struggled, his magic weaving around my body to keep me from getting loose.

“You better hope I don’t get free, mercenary, because you’ll lose your favorite body part when I do. ”

Lev chuckled as I was kidnapped, no longer on my side. Damn traitor. “Have fun you two and, Niks, make sure to get some sleep after you’re done playing business partners , will you? You look like one of the undead you’re always talking to.”

“I hope you choke on your first bite,” I yelled out, already halfway up the stairs thanks to the large oaf and his floor-eating strides.

“Love you, too!” Lev called out before Silas strolled into our bedroom.

I blinked, standing in a field of grass.

The moon was beaming down as fog rolled in from all sides, obscuring most of the world around me.

Trees speared into the sky. The quiet was only broken by the sound of an angry wind.

I didn’t recognize this place, but it felt familiar somehow.

Why did it feel like I’d been called here?

Why did it feel important to be here? Who was I waiting for?

Hair danced around my face as I looked around in confusion, not sure how I’d come to this place or even for what reason. After a little sweep of my eyes, I caught sight of a humanoid shape. It loomed in the fog, unmoving, hair blowing with the wind, frozen and waiting.

I inhaled a sharp breath, but Silas was suddenly next to me, his sword out.

He was in his assassin outfit—cloak and mask—but he wasn’t looking at me.

He was glaring at the figure ahead. Whoever stood hundreds of feet in front of us, covered in fog, only his shape to distinguish him, Silas saw as our enemy.

Confused, I tried to walk forward, the scuff of dirt and dead leaves barely audible with the harsh wind in my ears.

A gloved hand wrapped around my arm and yanked me back.

Silas’s beautiful silver eyes greeted my next glance, his masked face hiding his expression, but his voice gave every bit of emotion away. It was dripping with hostility.

“Don’t, love.”

“Why?”

He put a finger to his mask to silence me and deftly swiveled his sword, preparing for a fight. “He’s a demon, little rebel. He can’t possibly be the Soul of Death you’ve claimed. He’s a bloody imposter, he is. You can’t trust him.”

“Who?”

He didn’t answer, just glared at the figure that never moved.

I wanted to venture closer to see who he meant.

Who was this person I’d called the Soul of Death?

Was it Rilas? But why would I ever willingly chase after Rilas?

What was this urge inside me that beckoned me forward?

Why did it feel like I should go to whoever stood in an obscure wall of fog?

“Silas—”

“You mustn’t go to him, little rebel.” My mercenary’s voice cut like a knife, demanding I stay.

I snatched my hand away, taking several steps back. The impression of his hand was still on my skin, blaring red. He’d hurt me? But Silas had never put a violent hand on me.

Never.

“What the fuck, Silas? Why are you acting like this?”

I rubbed my sore wrist and glared at him in accusation, but all the mercenary did was watch me retreat and cross his arms.

“Me? What about you, love? You haven’t made sense for days, going on and on about the Soul of Life and Death.

I was forced to follow you here when you said this was the only way to corrupt your gem and call on the darkness inside you.

That without him you couldn’t maintain balance.

It’s you who isn’t making any sense, yeah? ”

The whispers of the dead floated around my head—murmuring, calling, pleading. The volume overwhelmed me in an instant. I was weighed down by their outcry and desperation to reach me. To get me to listen.

I stumbled and swayed on my feet, trying to run toward the figure who hadn’t moved in all the time we argued, but Silas was already there, catching me by the shoulders.

“Leave him, love.”

“No!”

“You said so yourself, princess. It’s you who’s Death, not Rilas.

You might be hunted by darkness, but you don’t have to become it to win.

There has to be another way you can maintain the balance and send Rilas back,” Silas said in my ear, and despite never hearing the words before, it felt as if I knew them.

As if something inside me responded to them.