Page 28

POLARIS

M y bedroom reappears, and although I sag with relief to be back on familiar turf, I feel like a piece of me is still there, hurting, grieving the pain I could feel.

With my hand clutched against my chest, I stumble toward my bed, sitting with a sigh. I don’t look up from my feet, aware the guys are here with me, but I need a moment to compose myself.

“What the fuck was that?” Lincoln grunts, and I sense him starting to pace, but I’m still trying to gather my thoughts.

“That was…” Asher starts, but his words swiftly trail off when he realizes there’s no describing what that was.

“It was sad as fuck,” Wylder grunts, and I finally lift my gaze to nod in agreement.

“Heartbreaking,” I murmur, palm still pressed against my chest as my heart thunders wildly.

“There’s a lot to unpack,” Tatum adds, sitting beside me on the bed, and I nod again.

“It’s sad that their love, their pain, and their everything created such a powerful curse that continues to hurt so many afterward, yet we hardly discuss their names.

They died because of love, cursed us for it as well, and most people here wouldn’t even recognize a single name,” I murmur, my chest tightening with the truth of his words.

“I’ll be sure to honor them when I kill my blood kin,” Lincoln replies with an eye roll, and I glare into the back of his head as he continues to pace.

Asshole.

“The coins,” Tatum starts, and I reluctantly pull my stare from the irritating Alpha. “Each coin seems to represent one of the men, symbolizing their love for their woman.”

“Their center,” Asher corrects, reminding us all of one huge factor. The originals, the purpose of the curse, weren’t just in love; they were magically connected as a coven, too.

“I didn’t think it would be possible for covens to operate with multiple factions,” Wylder states, and I offer him a tight smile.

“How do we dissect all of this so it helps us figure out how to bring it all to an end?” Lincoln asks, wiping a hand down his face, and I shrug helplessly.

“So if Bracken was a wolf, do you think that’s where your coin came from?” I ask, glancing at Tatum, and he nods.

“Potentially. It makes the most sense, at least. And if Blaze has one, his could have descended from Timothe or Felix,” he adds, but as his brows furrow, I know he’s confused. “What I can’t figure out is if Belladora had her own. If not, do you have the one that belonged to Octantis?”

“Do you think there would be a way for us to find out?” I ask, and Asher sighs.

“To figure that out, I get the feeling we would need all of them, and between us, we only have three of them, including Blaze’s.”

“Jonah was the human, right?” Wylder calls out, and I nod.

“And the fifth one would belong to another vampire?” he clarifies, recalling each supernatural in Belladora’s coven, and I nod, my lips setting into a thin line.

“Assuming you have Octantis’s then there would only be two remaining,” he states hopefully, but Lincoln’s scoff quickly disregards any progress we may or may not be making.

“There may only be two, but finding them isn’t going to be easy when they could be anywhere in the world.”

“Where’s yours?” Tatum asks, and I point to my nightstand.

“In there.”

He places his hand on my thigh. “Bring it with you today so we can compare,” he states, and I nod.

“I take it everywhere anyway, so it’s not an issue,” I explain, and he frowns, a hint of surprise flickering in his eyes.

“You do? Don’t you want to keep it safe?” he asks, and I shrug.

“That thing keeps me safe,” I insist, and he nods, although I can tell by the look in his eyes that he doesn’t really understand how. Neither do I, really; I just know it has the ability to keep me grounded and fill me with strength, just by the feel of it against my palm.

“So what do we do now? If—” Lincoln is cut off by a knock coming from my bedroom door, and the five of us all turn toward it warily.

No one makes a move, each of us fixated on the wood separating us when another knock sounds. “Come on, assholes. Not you, Polaris, but I know you’re all in there,” Minnie sings from the other side, and before I can stand, Lincoln is by the door, opening it for her to enter.

“Is everything okay with Bryony?” I ask as she comes into view, remembering the concern I felt earlier before we were swept into a memory.

“She’s doing okay. They gave her some herbs and she seems much more stable. She was going to come back here with me, but it didn’t make sense to bypass the main academy building to go all the way back there again,” she explains. I frown, confused as to why that matters.

“We can go for dinner soon, Minnie. We were just?—”

“Dinner? What are you talking about?”

“What are you talking about?” he retorts, eyebrows furrowing as he takes in his sister, and she meets him with a matching glare.

“Lincoln, I’ve been at the medical center all night with Bryony. I’m exhausted. I don’t have time for this,” she grumbles as confused looks travel between the five of us.

“So it’s not dinner time?” Wylder asks, and Minnie gives him a pointed look.

“No, Dufus. If we had time, it would be for breakfast, but the assembly is about to begin, so there’s no time to eat first,” she explains, still not actually clearing the air for us.

“Assembly?” I murmur, and she nods, her facial features softening as she turns to me.

“Yes. The students that were mentioned previously are set to have their blood kins announced today.”

“Today?” I repeat, lurching to my feet in panic. I’m more stressed out about that than the fact that it seems we lost an entire night to the chalice.

“Today. This morning. Right now. The blood kins are about to be announced, and we need to get moving so we’re there to observe.”