Page 2 of Ignited Spirits (Haunted Magic #3)

IZZY

S ound comes rushing back before I can see anything. A cacophony of shouting, barked orders, and general chaos is overwhelming after the total darkness and silence of the rift.

As I step through fully, I glance around. The good news is that I’m in Hades’s throne room. The bad news is that I’m completely surrounded by hostile guards pointing their weapons or magic at me.

Sighing, because I would like something about this day to go right, I open my mouth to ask for Hades when one of the guards yells, “Halt!” He isn’t super intimidating when his hands shake as he holds his magic out to me.

Any other time, I’d grin about how much I’m intimidating these guards. But, right now, all I can focus on are my injured mates.

“I don’t have time for this,” I growl. “Where the fuck is Hades?”

“I’m right here, earthling. No need to get testy. You are the one who showed up unannounced, after all. How did you even get in here?” Hades strolls over to me, and his eyes widen when he gets a good look at me and what’s clutched in my hand. “Why in fate’s name are you holding a crushed heart?”

I wish he wouldn’t remind me. The blood is rapidly cooling and congealing in my palm, making the whole holding-an-organ thing even worse.

“I have no idea how I got here. I opened a rift, hoped it was the right place, and walked out to your overdramatic welcoming party. And it’s a gift from your certifiable off-her-rocker mother. As much as I would love to chitchat, I need water from the Styx. Now.”

Hades’s face turns serious when he hears the desperation in my voice.

His eyes widen at something behind me before fury darkens his expression.

“What happened to my brother? I swear to fucking fates, if that’s his heart, I will hunt down my mother and murder her with my bare hands, even if it kills me. ”

My mates must’ve made it through the rift okay if Hades can see Levi is knocked out.

“Levi’s okay. At least, I think so.” I turn to look at him. My lips twitch down when I see that Levi is still unconscious where he’s draped over Cain’s shoulder. “He passed out when Lua broke his shield. And it’s not his heart. It’s Archer’s.”

Hades briefly closes his eyes before opening them and letting me see past the mask he normally wears. Understanding and sorrow soften his harsh features for a moment before he shutters it.

“Fuck. I’m sorry. I assume you’re going to try to heal him with the waters of the Styx and put his soul back?

” Hades waits for my nod before he scrubs a hand over his face.

“I can’t say that I would make a different decision if I were in your shoes, but this has never been tested on a human before.

Your mate will come back different afterward. It’s not a question of if, but how .”

I swallow hard before dipping my chin. “I know. Cerberus told me that his magic will change, but I think it’s worth the risk.”

“If it’s only going to be impacting his magic, then it absolutely is,” Luca agrees from behind me, his voice rough.

I turn to look at him in surprise, not expecting him to agree with me for some reason.

It makes me feel a little more like I’m doing the right thing to have Luca’s approval.

He sees my expression and sighs. “None of this is your fault, wildcat.”

I’m not sure I agree with him, but I nod anyway before turning back to Hades.

“Other than the psychological trauma of getting murdered, yes, his magic should be the only thing affected.” Hades glances around the guards assembled behind him before pointing at a skinny dude with purple hair. “You over there! Go get water from the Styx! Quickly!”

The guard jumps in surprise and looks behind him. When he realizes that Hades is talking to him, the guy cowers. “M-m-me?” he squeaks.

Hades rolls his eyes at the terrified soldier. “Yes, you. Now, go before I lose what little patience I have. Trust me, you don’t want to see what happens when I’m feeling peeved.” Letting his eyes turn fully blood red, Hades stares down the guard until the guy scrambles away.

The poor dude looks like he’s about to pass out, he’s so scared, but I don’t have it in me to care right now.

I look at Hades expectantly. “What exactly am I supposed to do to heal Archer?”

Shaking his head, Hades shoots me an apologetic look. “I’m not exactly sure. Perhaps Cerberus has more helpful suggestions. But a good start is laying both Leviathan and your other mate on the ground. That will make healing them easier.”

“Why Levi?” I ask. As far as I know, Levi just needs time to wake up. I didn’t think it was serious enough to require any treatment.

I mutely watch Cain and Luca carefully place them on the floor. I have to look away from the torn-up expanse of Archer’s chest before I break down in front of Hades and his guards.

Kneeling by Levi, Hades distractedly explains, “The waters will also heal my brother of what is ailing him, whatever that is. Your hound does not want to be carrying him when he wakes up, because he’ll probably thrash around.”

Leaning down, Hades listens to Levi’s pulse, checks his breathing, and inspects him for any visible injuries.

When he doesn’t find anything, he sits back on his heels and scans the room with a frown.

He opens his mouth to bark something but snaps it closed when the harried-looking guard runs into the room.

The soldier skids to a stop in front of Hades. He quickly drops to his knees and bows his head. Holding up a black stone jar that’s hopefully filled with river water, he waits for Hades to take the jug. Then he surges to his feet and rushes away, hiding behind some of the other guys.

“Good. Now get out of my sight.” When no one moves a muscle, Hades bellows, “All of you! Now!”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen people move as fast as the guards do.

They sprint out of the throne room, some of them knocking others over in their haste.

The ones who fall scramble to their feet and trip over themselves to leave.

I breathe a sigh of relief when we’re no longer surrounded by a bunch of unknowns.

“Why, exactly, are your guards so afraid of you?” I mutter as I drop down beside Archer, my focus not really on my question.

“Because they know I will execute anyone who steps out of line.” Hades flashes me a savage grin that would definitely chill someone with fewer problems to the bone. “Watching me brutally murder their colleagues seems to leave a lasting impression on cura . Who’d a thunk?”

I just nod but don’t say anything, because what is there really to say to that? Hades’s life is steeped in violence, some of his own choosing but most of necessity, based on what Levi said. I feel a tiny bit of pity for Hades and how he has to live his life creep up.

Now that we have all the necessary ingredients, I glance between Archer’s body, his soul, his heart, and the waters of the Styx, wondering what on earth I’m supposed to do with all of this.

Cerberus stalks over and plops their butt down next to me. It’s Bear who instructs me. “You need to put his heart back where it belongs. Then pour the waters of the river over the wound until it is completely healed.”

“What do I do after?” I follow their instructions and carefully place the mess of Archer’s heart back in the gaping hole in his chest. I know this is an image that’s going to haunt my nightmares for a long time, but I can’t look away while I’m trying to heal him.

Grabbing the jar of swirling purple and black water, I hesitantly start pouring it onto Archer’s wound. When it sizzles on contact, I jerk my hand back and turn wide eyes on Cerberus.

Seeing the panic on my face, Russ hurries to reassure me. “That’s supposed to happen, don’t worry! The sizzling is the water coming in contact with the injury, cleaning it so that the wound can be healed! After his body is fixed, you’ll have to reverse the damage to his soul.”

Well, at least I know how to heal spirits.

Biting my lip nervously, I hope Cerberus is right as I start pouring the water on Archer again. I wince as his skin and muscle sizzle. Fortunately, it only lasts a minute at most before his wound starts knitting together before my eyes.

I watch in gruesome fascination as bone, muscle, and skin regrow until Archer’s chest is perfectly smooth once again. The only sign that something happened is the hole in his teal shirt and the blood staining his tanned skin and clothes.

Archer still has the stomach wound from Lua. Not wanting to use more of the Styx on him than I have to, I turn to Hades. “Can you heal a human? I don’t know how much magic bringing him back will take, and I don’t want to run out.”

While I’m more powerful than the average mage, I don’t have infinite magic.

My magic will eventually run dry, just like everyone else, and I can’t afford for that to happen in the middle of healing Archer’s spirit.

Not only will I die if that happens, but Archer will be stuck as a messed-up soul for eternity.

Hades turns his head and blinks at me a few times before rolling his eyes. “You have the Styx right here, earthling. If you’re low on magic, all you have to do is drink the waters. That’ll refill your cura magic almost instantly. I will heal your mate if that makes you feel better.”

I grimace, not particularly wanting the mildly psychopathic King of Hell to be in charge of healing my mate. “Honestly, I’d rather heal him if I’m not going to run out of magic.”

Directing my power to Archer’s remaining injuries, I heal his physical wounds quickly.

Blowing out a shaky breath, I then let my magic flow into Archer’s spirit. While I’ve healed thousands of spirits over the years, his spirit is by far the highest-stakes one yet. I can’t mess this up.

Hades looks at my face and barks out a laugh tinged with genuine humor. “Touché, earthling, touché. For the record, however, I would never hurt you or your mates. You’re important to Seph and Levi, so you’re important to me.”

That was weirdly heartwarming.

“Thanks. I won’t hurt you, either,” I respond awkwardly, not really knowing how to deal with Hades being kind.

He gives me an amused smile before taking the jug from me and gently opening Levi’s mouth. Pouring some water down Levi’s throat, Hades sits back on his heels and intently watches his brother with a frown.

Focusing back on Archer, I’m trying hard not to worry about how long it’s taking to heal his soul. Every spirit requires a different amount of magic to heal, but Archer’s ghost is needing more magic than average.

“Isabel!” Levi shouts, startling me from my intense focus on Archer. I turn toward him as he bolts upright. His wild eyes dart around the room frantically before landing on me. He scrambles over to me and scoops me up in a desperate hug. “You’re okay.”

“Yeah,” I whisper as I wrap my arms around him. I fist his shirt, needing something to ground me. The lump in my throat that I’m the one who’s unharmed makes it hard to get more than a few words out, even though I’m so relieved that he’s awake.

He plants a kiss on the top of my head and pulls back to look at me. “What happened, little raven?”

I close my eyes, not wanting to relive everything with Lua again, but Levi needs to know. I fill him in, glossing over the more graphic parts for my own sanity. My eyes flick back to Archer’s mostly healed body as I talk, still not really believing that he’s physically healed.

When I’m done telling him the whole fucked-up story, Levi hugs me tighter to him. He then pulls back to look at my face and Archer behind me. His lips pull down as he realizes what I’m doing. “You’re healing him.”

“Yeah. I’m trying to, at least. I got distracted by you waking up, but I just need to pour more magic into Archer’s soul.”

Levi clenches his jaw. “Are you going to have enough magic to heal all that damage?”

“I guess we’re gonna find out,” I mutter as I increase the amount of magic I’m directing to Archer’s spirit.

In all the chaos, I had somehow forgotten that I was going to have to experience my heart getting ripped out of me. That’s a small price to pay, though.

It takes another minute or two of my funneling everything I have into Archer before he stops rocking back and forth. He lifts his head and looks around with clear and alert eyes. When his gaze lands on his body, he scrambles back in surprise.

Glancing up, his confused gaze collides with mine. “Sunshine? What’s goin’ on?”