Page 53

~Nyx~

Kai was playing a dangerous game.

Although, honestly, I’d seen it firsthand the other day—he’d had to.

Those were the stakes we were working with.

I mean, I’d almost been taken out in a brutal attack by Puritas.

There was a True Celestial on the mortal plane because it had been revealed that Ariana was bound to a duty she’d had no say in.

Vorzyr had been revealed to not only have special Celestial-related abilities, but to have been the product of Malrik and Draco corrupting his bloodline.

There was a threat out there who was believed to be yet another True Celestial, one who hadn’t revealed themselves yet, but who could very well be in possession of Draco’s sword—a sword that wielded fucking Hellfire, of all things.

There was a lot.

But, once again, through it all, Kai had been able to see the forest through the trees.

And there I had been damn well discounting that.

Failing him.

I hadn’t trusted him with his Cassius plan.

I came to a jarring stop as I walked into his cave lab to find tons of papers, books, grimoires, and ancient volumes covering pretty much every available surface.

Oh no.

I knew he was extra stressed out because Ariana had begun her training with Cassius and she’d been taking off to be with him for the last few days.

To be with him just from a learning standpoint, the gathering of knowledge.

Not that me reiterating that to Vorzyr had helped any. It was the animal in him, that territorial and protective instinct rising up in regard to our Halo.

Kai was also feeling something similar, but his was rooted a lot more in concern than territorial instincts, because I knew he was now at ease with where we all stood with Ariana.

He felt her with him, with us. I’d seen it in him.

And while Vorzyr had been responding with agitation, being in a piss-poor mood, and also earning a warning from Professor Halloway for bursts of aggression during his class, Kai had been expressing his uncomfortableness with the whole Cassius-Ariana training thing through entering one of his obsessive states.

“Yes. Right there. More,” I heard him uttering from around the corner. “Don’t stop, V.”

The tone he was using really didn’t seem to match his words.

What was going on?

I found out for myself the moment I rounded the corner and saw him and Vorzyr standing near the corner.

Kai was floating some white magic infused with blood, while Vorzyr’s red magical flame was attacking it.

The blood was bubbling while the magic was dissipating, being basically annihilated by Vorzyr’s power.

“Wow, you’re doing it. So well,” I exclaimed.

Vorzyr maintained his streaming, while turning to give me a wink, then uttering, “Yeah, Kai being a relentless shit these last few days with his teachings finally paid off. Who knew?”

“Please,” Kai said. “We all know that me being a relentless shit has benefitted all four of us several times over.”

Vorzyr and I chuckled.

Kai eyed me. “I’m glad you’re back from Crossborn. You can resume working on the Celestial ward spell.”

Yeah, the former cloaking spell that we’d been trying to develop to keep Ariana off the radar of the Celestial Plane had now morphed to attempting to create a special ward that could repel both Celestial Plane interference and keep actual True Celestials from breaching it.

Things had shifted now that we knew Cassius wasn’t the threat, and that there was very likely another True Celestial somewhere on this plane instead wielding Draco’s sword.

According to Ariana’s intel that she’d obtained from Cassius, that monstrosity of a thing was actually called Valkrith.

Now we had Cassius’ blood—and yeah, Kai had actually stolen some of his magic in the process too—Kai believed it was more possible than ever to create the ward.

It would just take a lot of trial and error, and a lot of finicky work that he didn’t have time to attend to, as he was working on so much else.

Training Vorzyr to wield his Primal Celestial Resonance properly and trying to unlock its full potential, determining how that Hellfire bomb device that had also been able to knock out the magic of everyone in its vicinity had been made, trying to create a failsafe weapon that could blow back any True Celestial except for Ariana, and also trying to figure out what that manufactured Celestial magic that Ariana had mentioned could truly be, how it could be. ”

He spun his right hand, his magic briefly sparking, and a glass vial materialized. He levitated it to Vorzyr. “Fill this up with the essence of your Primal Celestial Resonance in its active state.”

“What? How do I do that?”

“Exactly as you are now, just without Cassius’ blood and power to fight and dominate.”

“All right,” Vorzyr said, shifting his weight, then beginning the process.

As he did, Kai strode to his large stone worktable where my equipment was laid out.

“Did you obtain any intel from Velra regarding Sorin? Now we know he’s her older brother, thanks to what Ariana overheard, Velra is a fount of information that could help us to track that motherfucker down and figure out how the shit Ariana’s coercion magic was able to be drawn from him and used on Caius. ”

“As I told you, she’s my friend. I’m not going to extract intel from a friend, Kai.”

“You could do it in whatever way you like, but it needs to be done.”

“With Crossborn being relocated to the Chief Sanctuary Zone within the ward that Ariana put up, there’s not a lot of room. We’re all in close quarters with supernatural hearing in play.”

“What about at least reading her?”

“I couldn’t.”

“What?”

“I can’t read her anymore. She’s… blank. Something’s obviously shifted, some sort of side effect from Cassius healing her. Besides, we know from Ariana that Cassius is going to deal with Sorin for Velra.”

“And you think relying on somebody we barely know, somebody who’s only just been ruled out as a severe threat to Ariana, should be trusted with this?”

“Hell, no,” Vorzyr called over from what he was doing.

“I think that we need to draw on whatever resources we can right now.”

Kai scrubbed his hand over his face, then set about finagling my equipment into a tidier arrangement.

“It’s been days, Kai, and we still haven’t talked about it.”

“Talked about what?” he asked, distractedly, concentrating on the equipment.

“What happened when you went after Cassius… my reaction to it.”

He waved his hand dismissively. “There’s no need.”

He went to walk away, to leave me to get to work, and for him to head back to his books all over the place.

But I stepped into his personal space. “Kai, I’ve seen you evolving, seen how you’re opening up, becoming more accommodating, showing more care, and settling into a team dynamic with all of us.

But with what’s been happening, you seeing all these huge power players impacting things…

one of your major fears… I thought you might have been heading for a backslide.

That’s what I figured your attack on Cassius was going to be rooted in.

But it wasn’t. You’re staying strong to that evolving track.

And I’m so sorry, Kai. I didn’t trust in it. I didn’t trust in you.”

He laid his hand on my shoulder and told me benevolently, “You just recently endured a traumatic experience with the Guardian Compound attack. Emotions have been incredibly high and overwhelming lately as well. Forget it.”

As he went to turn away, I snatched his hand. “You know it’s not just something I can forget. And I don’t believe for a moment that it didn’t impact you. I didn’t trust you, Kai. You.”

He stared at me for a moment, before he had me confused as fuck when he smiled.

Giving my hand a squeeze, he told me, “It wasn’t that you didn’t trust me.

You were afraid that I’d regress. And you like how I’ve evolved , as you put it.

And you also know that it’s the only version of me that can coexist within our foursome, that how I was before would cause fractures in our bond.

You can’t stand the thought of it, because what the four of us have now means everything to you.

It’s the family you’ve always yearned for.

Your reaction of not supporting my plan was a response to it hitting you—just how much it means to you, and how much you can’t bear the notion of losing it. ”

“No, that’s not— I’m the one who perceives these things, this sort of…”

“Not always when it comes to your own emotional state and processing. And me realizing this isn’t because I can interpret emotions like you can. It’s because I know you.”

That was… wow.

“Then…”

“Then, we’re fine, Nyx. Seriously. Better than fine. All right?”

“If we are, then what about you?”

“What about me?”

I gestured at the mess of his stuff all over. “ That.”

“I’m in research mode.”

Yeah, that was what he called his obsessive states.

Talk about downplaying it.

“Kai, you need help. As learned as you are, there are facets of this that will always be beyond you, because you aren’t one of them.

There’s knowledge that you can’t access without filling in that gap.

And to do that, you need Cornelius. Vorzyr said he already offered to teach you, that he didn’t react negatively to discovering that Vorzyr possesses Celestial power…

he’s the perfect person to go to about this. ”

“If I do that, it directly risks V. I can’t go empty-handed.

He’s given us time to allow V to process what he saw via the Stone of Recollection, but that’s coming to an end soon.

It definitely will if I go to him with this, and he’ll want us to pay up, basically.

We went there for him to give V answers in exchange for us revealing that the Primal Celestial Resonance from V was the key to enabling me to convert the Aetherbound Scepter into a failsafe.

He’ll want me to come with his blood and magic so we can work that now. ”

“That’s fine,” Vorzyr spoke, now coming over, the vial Kai had given him filled all the way to the brim.

“V—”

“It’s time, Kai. We went to Cornelius for two purposes.

One hasn’t been fulfilled yet, and with everything that’s happened, it really fucking needs to be.

” He handed Kai the vial. “So, take this to him and work with him on the failsafe.” He grinned.

“And, also, do your usual thing of absorbing whatever else you can like a sponge.”

“Exactly,” I said. “Combine your research and investigations. It’s time to pool our resources. We know Ariana’s got the Cassius angle, but bringing another Celestial into it is really fucking needed right now.”

Kai finally gave a nod. “I’ll go to Cornelius.” He eyed Vorzyr. “I’ll take the vials of blood that you gave me as well.”

“Fine by me. Do what you need to,” Vorzyr told him. “Meanwhile Nyx and I will be here—him working on the Celestial ward, and me practicing my Primal Celestial Resonance and—”

His words were cut off as he suddenly clutched at his dragon’s head pendant resting over his white tee.

It was glowing with a red magical flame.

In the next second, a magical hologram shot forth that had me staggering back in surprise, and Kai calling his power and holding it at the ready.

We watched as the hologram took the form of a levitating fearsome crimson dragon with black markings.

Mutterings came from him—dragon speak—mixed in with a whole lot of growling and snarling.

Vorzyr choked, his eyes wide.

Another snarl, this one more vicious, rang out.

“Yes,” Vorzyr responded. “I’ll leave now.” He repeated it in dragon speak.

And then the hologram dissipated, the pendant’s glow going out, and it returned to its normal state.

Kai called his magic back. “Zepharion Titanus in dragon form, yes? Your father?”

“That’s right.”

“What happened?” I asked. “He sure didn’t sound happy.”

“That’s how he usually interacts with me.”

“Wow, that’s… disturbing.”

“Yeah, well, our parents aren’t always who we want them to be.” He added forlornly, “Or who we need them to be.”

“Is your mother like that, too?” I asked.

“They’re both the fucking same, honestly.

” He pinched the bridge of his nose and looked between me and Kai.

“He’s summoned me home. Apparently speed is of the essence.

He has some sort of announcement that he wishes to make to the kingdom, which I need to be made aware of beforehand.

” He grimaced, regret all over him. “I’m sorry.

It’s not something I can simply refuse.”

“We get it,” I assured him.

“Do what you need to,” Kai actually agreed. “It could prove helpful to be back there again after what you just discovered about Malrik.”

“Maybe.” He came to me and told Kai over his shoulder, “Let Nyx out of the lab a bit, all right?” He reached out and ran his fingers over my Soulweld Ring. “Let him enjoy the peace and freedom that this brings him.”

“I already have been,” I assured him. “Every moment of it.”

He smiled and brushed his lips over my cheek, before he stepped back and eyed Kai.

“I’ll be back within the day. I want to say goodbye to Ariana, but interrupting her sessions with Cassius isn’t a good idea.

She’s been making amazing headway, something that’s really fucking needed with what might be coming sooner than we think. ”

“We’ll explain it to her, but hopefully you’ll be back before we even need to.”

“Believe me, that’s definitely my intention. I don’t want to be there any longer than I need to be. Not with the secret my parents kept, not now knowing the fucked-up truth or why they really sent me here and cast me out.”

Kai laid his hand on his shoulder. “You need anything, reach out via our mind-link. I’ll be there.”

Vorzyr chuckled. “I appreciate it, Kai, but I’ll be fine. Besides, you can’t just breach the Dracoryn Realm gates.”

“I. Will. Be. There.”

I frowned. Kai had a way to breach those formidable gates and the draconic magic protecting the realm? That was… insanely major.

Unfortunately, before more could be spoken about it, Vorzyr’s necklace flamed and he stumbled, grunting in pain. “Fucking bastard is definitely persistent. He wants me at the gates ASAP.” He stared out at us, his reluctance to leave us clear.

But he had little choice.

In the next moment, he was dissipating in a red cloud of teleportation.

His words whispered through the magic, enveloping Kai and me.

“You three are my true family now.”