Page 26

Ivy

I wasn’t sure how long the darkness lasted. Moments? Hours? Days?

But it just continued. Worse than falling through Wonderland. At least Alice had something to look at.

It should have just spat me out. Taken me back to the mind of my wolf, where I was still trapped.

A passenger in a body that was mine but wasn’t.

What was going on with the white-furred beast anyway?

Was she awake, still wandering the lonely volcanic plains?

Or was she asleep, trapped in the darkness same as I was?

I couldn’t pull myself out. There were no threads to turn to, no clear paths out of the dark. But whose mind had I fallen into? Was I still with Orion, or had we been forcefully separated by whoever had been in his dream?

It’d been a demon, but what kind? Were there demons capable of that? Just like the Fae, there were so many different parts of the Underworld I didn’t understand, and Hell was a large realm I hadn’t worked with yet.

So, it was possible there were demons capable of entering dreams, just like the Fae. But whoever kicked me out had been powerful.

A flash of light struck the darkness, crossing the blackness like an ‘x’.

A twisted joke? Like ‘ x marks the spot ’ and you’ll find the buried treasure?

I hesitated where I—stood? Floated? Mind fuckery was not my greatest weapon, clearly.

One day, I prayed to Nyx, I would be given the chance to learn how to understand all that came with the dream walking.

Because even though I hesitated, I still reached for the light.

It disappeared before I could grab hold of it. I turned and waited to see if it would cross the darkness again. Had I lost my only way out? If I had, and I was trapped, then I was more than just screwed. But there had to be other ways to leave whatever this prison was.

Could the darkness be one of Blythe’s tricks? Something she planted in Orion’s mind at his request? It was possible. But I was more powerful than Blythe—hell, if it was the doing of a demon, then I was more powerful than them, too.

I was the fucking Queen of Nyx. Anchored by five mates. With the full power blessed by the Goddess Herself. And I could take care of myself.

The light struck again, and this time, I didn’t hesitate.

When I reached for it, I stumbled through the darkness into a blindingly white room. For a moment, there was nothing more than just light and the smell of honey. Almost as soon as the smell hit me, it was gone, and so was the white room.

Smoke, cloying and thick, hit me hard. I was back in a dark room, but not the endless darkness I’d started with. This was a murky darkness. Almost tinged red. And there was a strip of pinkish light at my feet.

I pushed through whatever room I was in and found myself stumbling free from a heavy curtain into a dimly lit bar.

I stopped, eyes narrowed. The sound of laughter and hushed voices filled my ears, and as my eyes adjusted, I realised I wasn’t alone.

There were demons—at least a couple dozen—seated at booths and around a bar.

It had the vibe of a vintage speakeasy, with the low light and smoke filling the air.

But there was a large stage in the back, the lights dimmed, and the curtains pulled back.

And there was someone on the stage, tied to a chair, their head bowed and a bag covering their face.

My stomach bottomed out. Ringing in my ears almost drowned out the chatter of the demons who gathered to look and point at the male strapped to the chair.

At first glance, I could tell it wasn’t one of my men.

Not Orion or Hawk or the rest of the team.

But the lighting was awful, and from what I could see, all I knew was that it had to be a male.

Demon, maybe. But I still wasn’t nearly as adept at identifying the creatures around me as I should have been, even with the new power from Greer—but especially because of the distance between me and the others.

I tried to take a step towards the stage, like an invisible rope was pulling me towards the male, but an arm locked around my waist, another around my shoulder.

I froze. There was only one person next to me.

I’d never experienced someone with multiple arms, but as I glanced at the demon beside me, it became clear they had four arms. After everything I’d witnessed, this somehow had to be the strangest. Maybe not the weirdest, though.

There were people with horns and tails, after all.

And in the crowd alone, there were demons with more than just horns and tails; some had wings like bats spreading from their backs.

Others had furry legs, like the demons of old myth. Some even had tusks.

The demon beside me, other than the four arms, looked oddly human otherwise.

“You cannot go up there dressed like that,” the demon hummed, voice light and airy. Silver hair fell in loose curls and tight braids down their back, framing their pixie-like face. “They will eat you alive.”

I shuddered, skin puckering as they tried to pull me away. “I’m not going anywhere with you,” I replied quietly. “I need to get out of here. I need to find?—”

Eyes like a snake met mine. They were the colour of cobalt, the iris slitted. “What you wish to find will only be presented if you play by the rules.”

If there was a time to play the ‘ I’m your future Queen ’ card, now would have been it.

But before the words could pass my lips, the demon pulled me into a different set of curtains.

I huffed at their strength, glancing over my shoulder to see the male on the stage again, but the curtains of the new room closed, trapping me within.

The smell of smoke was a lot thinner here, but perfume—sickly sweet and intoxicating—wafted through the air.

I coughed, lungs and throat tightening from the smell, but the demons around me giggled.

There were a few lights illuminating the dark room, a dressing room by the look of it.

There was a small table with a mirror, which the demon shoved me towards, and from the dark corners appeared two more demons .

These demons were more humanoid in appearance, though they wore no glamour to hide their other appendages. One had wings with feathers of dark brown and antlers, while the other smiled at me with pointed teeth. Both shared the same unnerving black eyes.

I held my tongue as the demon with the four arms appeared in the reflection behind me. They rested two hands on the back of the chair I’d been forced into, and smiled at me, the curve of their lips sly.

“Rule number one: Mistress does not like it when Phoenix Agents are in her club. You cannot wear that here.”

I tore my eyes from theirs and glanced down at my clothes.

I was, in fact, in the gear I’d fallen asleep in.

The black material clung to my body like a second skin, so light I hadn’t really noticed it.

And where I should have felt the remnants of sea water—like sand between my boobs or irritating me between my thighs—I felt oddly… clean.

I frowned, meeting their stare again. “I think I should speak with whoever your Mistress is, because?—”

They cut me off with a snap of their fingers, and suddenly, I was naked in the chair.

All my insecurities came rushing back as the two other demons assessed me.

I quickly covered myself as best I could, wrapping an arm around my chest, another over my stomach.

If I could have, I would have sunk to the floor to hide.

It was one thing, honing my body in front of my mates.

There was little to no shyness left with them.

But the three demons surrounding me were strangers. Dangerous strangers who were working for someone holding me trapped…here. Wherever here was.

And I had to bet it was the same person who had been in Orion’s head .

“Give. Me. My. Clothes,” I growled, glaring at the four-armed demon in the mirror. “I won’t ask again.”

“Rule number two: should you fight, Mistress will impart punishments upon the vampire, wolf shifter, divination mage, charm mage, Luna Fae, and Aither Fae in her possession.”

The colour drained from my face. My stomach bottomed out, and I sucked in a breath to control the panic and anger rising within me. I dropped their stare to the stupid table, where cosmetics appeared, scattered across the surface.

My mates were being held by some psycho demon chick with dream-walking abilities. Somehow, I knew I wasn’t asleep anymore. This felt too real to be a dream.

And I had to believe that my mates were likely being held in the same manner.

A lump formed in my throat. “Is she—are you working with the False king?”

There were gasps around me. I glanced up to take in the disgusted looks being shared between the three demons. “Goddess no,” the one with wings rasped.

“We would never betray Her,” the other growled.

The four-armed demon sneered, reaching for a brush left on the table in front of me. “Rule three: do not bring that irritating bastard up. He has been banned from Mistress’s club for a century. Nasty thing, he was.”

Dante, prince of parties, banned from whatever place this was? “What did he do?” I asked.

All three demons looked at me warily. I couldn’t tell if they trusted me or not.

Did they know who I was? I toyed with Maeve’s ring, the silver band with the red gem, still around my finger.

Was there a chance the charm that hid my power was still in effect?

I tried to remember when Adrian had last touched it up, but couldn’t.

But if it weren’t working, then surely the demons knew who I was. What I was.

The winged demon with the raspy voice grabbed something off a rack behind her. It appeared to be a silk dress. It looked almost similar to the one I’d worn when I’d completed the bond with Rowan. My heart twisted at the reminder that he, like the others, were still trapped somewhere.