Page 16

Adrian

I vy’s words from the deck replayed through my head as I watched her sleep, curled into Rowan’s side.

The phrasing she’d used tickled at a memory buried deep in the recesses of my memories, ones I hadn’t thought about in years.

My time at Oberon Academy, walking the same halls—taking the same classes as my mate.

She was clearly the better student, because I’d all but forgotten that particular class.

Rowan glanced up at me, his fingers tangled in her hair. “I’m sorry,” he said, keeping his voice low. “About…”

A lump formed in my throat. Shaking my head, I sat back and scrubbed a hand over my face. “I think she knew. My mother. That this would kill her. She wouldn’t have—she wouldn’t have given up her power to Ivy otherwise. ”

My hand strayed to the newly forming charm in my belt. I’d started it as soon as we’d gotten our gear while waiting for the ship. A spell to stop Dante—and protect Ivy from the future my best friend saw for her in his visions.

My friend nodded and looked down at our mate. “She feels so much guilt over not doing anything.”

I stiffened, releasing a slow breath. “There’s nothing she could have done.

” And I believed that, with everything in me.

No part of me could blame Ivy for not doing enough.

Because if she had tried to fight Dante more than she had, the outcome would have been worse.

He’d gotten a good shot at her; I’d seen the blood.

The white of her face when the Luna Prince finally got us out of the back room.

I didn’t want to imagine what it would have been like if she’d fought him and gotten captured. Maybe holding back had been enough to warn off Rowan’s premonitions.

The door to the small cabin we’d taken over to get Ivy to sleep opened; Rowan and I tensed as a looming figure stood in the doorway, but I sighed. “Nash.”

The half-Fae team leader had his eyes on Ivy, but when I spoke, he shot me a look. “Kingsley.”

“To what do we owe the pleasure?” Rowan asked, smirking up at Hawk. “Something you need?”

“I just wanted to check on her,” he replied stiffly, nodding to Ivy.

Out of all the assholes we could be stuck with for the next five-hundred years, I supposed Nash wasn’t the worst. At least I liked him more than Orion—that was a male I would have to hold back from killing.

But Nash wasn’t someone I saw as an enemy—maybe a pain in the ass, but he was just as enamoured as the rest of us.

Maybe had been from the moment he saw her outside the safe house in the mortal world .

Rowan and I shared a glance. “She finally fell asleep about an hour ago,” I replied, looking back at the Fae. “She’s anxious about reaching the Underworld.”

Nash nodded, and slipped into the room, closing the door behind him. It wasn’t a large cabin; it barely fit three of us, let alone four, but it was the easiest to ward from not only prying ears, but for safety measures.

“That’s what I wanted to talk about,” he said, folding his arms over his chest. There was blood on his fingers, but it looked as though he’d tried to wipe it away before coming here. Likely from dealing with the prisoner.

“Preferably with her,” he continued, eyes blank, “but you can relay the message.”

“Or you could just wait until she wakes, and tell her yourself,” Rowan offered, frowning. “You know she doesn’t bite, right? You can talk to her.”

His eyes darkened, and he shook his head. “You wouldn’t understand. You wanted a bond with her, I didn’t.”

I never expected to feel such rage at a comment.

Maybe it was the with her part of the statement; the idea that he would be okay with a bond from anyone else but Ivy, that she wasn’t good enough for him , really picked at something within me.

I could understand if he hadn’t wanted a mate at all—he wouldn’t be the first to come out and claim that.

But I couldn’t ignore the fact that he’d said that about Ivy. The woman I loved. Our future Queen.

Shaking my head, I slowly rose from where I sat by the far wall. “Get out.”

The half-Fae male swallowed, throat bobbing, and he sighed. “Look?—”

“I don’t care who you think you are. I don’t care what it is you have to tell her, or that you even have a claim to a bond with her.

But you will not stand there and disrespect her to our faces,” I said, pointing a finger in his direction.

“If you think you can just come in here and tell us something like that and think we’ll accept you—that she will—then you would be wrong. ”

Nash eyed me for a long moment before looking back down at Ivy’s still form. Through the bond, I picked up on the fact that she wasn’t sleeping anymore. She kept her eyes closed though, not moving from her position in Rowan’s arms. But she’d heard everything.

Her blocks were good, but I could still identify the barest impression of disappointment and sadness from his revelation. It only made me angrier.

“It’s time for you to leave,” Rowan said, voice dark with warning. “We can prepare Ivy for the Underworld. Your help isn’t needed.”

Hawk clenched his jaw and gave Ro a firm nod. “Understood.”

And yet he still spared Ivy a glance, even as he left. A look that revealed just how much his words had been a lie. I had no idea why he was so determined to push her away, but he was going to succeed.

“He can have his own opinion,” Ivy said, sparing me a glance as she brought the spoon to her lips. “It took me a while to even grasp the concept of mates and bonds. And I definitely didn’t want them.”

Rowan rolled his eyes before kissing her shoulder. “Yeah, sure.”

I brought a small portion of the beef stew to my lips and grimaced before saying, “You can say that until you’re blue in the face, Sweetheart. But we know better. ”

Ivy’s garnet-brown eyes narrowed, but she didn’t respond as she stuck the spoon in her mouth and threw up a new block in her mind to keep me away from her emotions.

Good try, Sweetheart, I said, winking. That won’t keep me out for long .

She rolled her eyes. “As much as I appreciate you two standing up for me, you don’t need to. Hawk will…figure his shit out on his own.”

“What he said was entirely out of line, though,” Rowan replied. Our eyes met from where he lay sprawled out behind her. He wrapped an arm around her middle with a sigh. “We love you too much to let that kind of shit go unchecked.”

Ivy’s cheeks reddened, and she ducked her head.

All I wanted to do was to reach out and pull her into my arms. Maybe lock her away in this little room and have my way with her for the rest of the night, reminding her of how much she is worthy of our love, our adoration.

She didn’t need to be understanding in this situation, especially knowing she needed him and the power his bond would offer her.

“I don’t want him to be my mate just because of the power,” Ivy murmured, looking down at her stew, stirring her spoon around the thick gravy. “That would be totally unfair to him—to all of you.”

My throat tightened; gently, I reached for her hand and interlocked our fingers. “I would never imply that, Sweetheart. But this isn’t just about us—this is about our entire world.”

Her eyes flickered up to meet mine, and she swallowed. “I know. I—” She stopped, pressing her lips into a firm line as she shook her head. “What a way to complicate everything. ”

“It’s not complicated though,” Rowan replied, sitting up and dropping a kiss to her shoulder. “He’s being a selfish prick. That’s all.”

Ivy tore her gaze from mine to look over her shoulder at Ro. “We don’t know why he’s like this. I won’t pass judgement until I have a conversation with him.”

“For now, it’s not something you need to worry about,” I said. “You have enough on your plate. In a couple of days, we’ll be in the Underworld.”

Her thoughts turned anxious, though I didn’t need the bond to know that. She visibly shuddered as she turned to meet my stare. “I didn’t interact with the demons much at Oberon,” she admitted. “So, how bad will it be?”

“Not nearly as bad as you’re projecting,” I replied, offering her a reassuring smile. “The demons are perhaps the most loyal to Nyx. They had to be, when their king stepped down and essentially handed her the crown.”

There was a reason my mother’s mate, Lazarus, considered himself the most loyal of her mate circle.

He and Onyx, both demons—though of different houses—were fierce in their devotion to my mother because of the way they’d been raised in the Underworld.

Back then, there had been more separation between the three primary realms of creatures.

Maybe that was why I trusted Griffon so much with Thea and the children’s safety.

He was his father’s son, and with that came loyalty to Nyx and her Queens.

I used to roll my eyes at Lazarus, thinking he was a dramatic asshole, but now I thanked him silently and promised to find him and the rest of them. Because if there was anyone who was going to be loyal to my girl, it was going to be them .

I swallowed hard; Ivy’s eyes softened, her fingers tightening around mine. “We’re going to rescue them.”

“That’s if they’re not dead already,” I replied quietly. “But that’s the last thing we need to worry about.”

Based on her expression, she didn’t believe me. Her dark eyes searched mine, the purse of her lips revealing that she wasn’t just worried about them—she was worried about me, too.

“I’m okay,” I murmured, cupping her cheek with my free hand. “I promise.” My heart warmed at her concern, at the love radiating through our bond. I loved her more than I’d ever loved anyone, and feeling that same emotion from her settled some of the fear within me.

“I love you,” she said, bringing her hand up to cover mine. “So much. You’re allowed to worry about them, Adrian. They’re still your family.”

It was hard, reconciling the idea of the family I’d had growing up with the one I had now. Ivy, our mate circle—they were the family I prioritised. But I was still loyal to the one I once resented, too.

Which was why I had to find a way to stop Dante. He might have been my brother—one of the few people I’d ever trusted—but I vowed to be the one who took him down.

Rowan cleared his throat, drawing the attention to him in a way only he could achieve. Ivy rolled her eyes as she leaned into his touch. “Something wrong?”

“Never,” he replied, lightly kissing her cheek. “But it was getting pretty heavy in here. Oh, and you didn’t tell me you loved me, too, so…”

Shaking my head, I chose to ignore him and instead took the bowls of forgotten stew and teleported them back to the kitchen.

The anticipation of reaching the Underworld felt like a high that was now coming to a low, one that left me more than just exhausted.

Even though I desperately wanted to close my eyes for even just a few hours, my mind was too awake to let me sleep.

From the small bed, Ivy stretched her arms over her head and yawned. “Do I really need to stay cooped up in here?” she asked, looking between Ro and me.

He and I shared a look. There was a deep understanding between us, one that I could trust, even when I wasn’t in the greatest mindset. And we wanted to keep her safe—even if that meant cooping her up in this cabin.

Rowan nipped her earlobe, smirking. “I can think of a few things that might keep your mind off of what’s going on above our heads.”

Ivy stiffened in his arms, eyes widening as they found mine. “What?”

I crossed my arms and shrugged. “You haven’t given your magic a chance to recharge.”

The realisation of what we were insinuating hit her, and her cheeks turned a dark shade of crimson as she ducked her head. “I don’t really know if I feel comfortable having sex here. You know, where anyone could hear us.”

“One charm could solve that,” I replied, as Rowan skimmed his fingers over the swells of her breasts. Her breath hitched. “Another could keep the door locked. And the others will understand what it is we’re doing.”

Rowan cupped one of her breasts in his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Come on, let us take care of you.”

“You already are,” she whispered, though she arched into his touch. “Guys?—”

I prowled towards her and cupped her cheeks. “Just for tonight. Let us take care of you, and then you can worry about everything else. Okay?”

Her eyes shone with uncertainty; she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and chewed on it for a long moment, before sighing. “Okay,” she breathed, covering my hand with hers. “I’m all yours.”

That was all it took. Rowan’s magic rose in the air as he took away her gear, leaving her naked in his arms. Ivy sucked in a sharp breath, dropping my hand.

My eyes roamed her delicious body, from the peaks of her hardened nipples all the way down to her thighs, which she pressed together. I couldn’t decide which part of her I wanted first: her mouth or her pussy.

When I swept my gaze up to meet hers, her eyes darkened, and she licked her lips. “Is this what you meant about sharing?”

I smirked. “Absolutely.”

Rowan and I shared a look.

Tonight, she was ours.