Page 44

Ivy

D amon’s shadows spat us out in a warm, humid chamber. Adrian managed to keep me from falling on my ass by wrapping an arm around me, as the others formed a protective circle with me at the centre.

I took in the dark room; the walls were a harsh stone, sconces barely giving off enough light to see by.

It took me a little longer to realise we were in a long hallway of sorts.

Not the same as the ones we’d walked yesterday that looked purposefully carved out of the mountain.

This hall was actually the opposite. Like a real cavern, natural.

“Where are you, Elysian King?” Maeve growled. From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of her claws ripping through her nail beds. Normally, they would disappear, but she kept them out this time .

I swallowed hard. I tried to look further into the darkness, but I was framed by enough tall bodies that it made seeing anything hard.

A dark chuckle sounded from somewhere in the distance. “Okay. Enough toying with us, Damon,” I said, ignoring the way the hairs on my arms rose. “I take it this is step one of our jumps to the Old World?”

From the darkness to our left, a tall, imposing figure appeared. The seven-foot demon king had put away his finery. It wasn’t exactly gear he wore, but something similar. No suits for the Old World.

The horns were gone, too, same with the diadem.

His black hair was mussed, eyes a glowing shade of red.

He wore a long-sleeved black shirt similar to our gear, but his had designs sewn into the arms. Designs that almost mimicked his tattoos.

The pants he wore were like cargo pants, but where we had belts for all our extra little things, he had nothing.

Though, I doubted a male like him would be going in without a plan of some sort.

“Where are we?” I asked, crossing my arms as he stopped in front of our group. Despite being so much larger than us, none of my mates backed down—or really seemed to care. Maeve and I being the shortest of the bunch had to really look up, but otherwise, no one appeared to be put off by his size.

“We are on the outskirts of Elysian,” he said, hands behind his back as he addressed me. “From here, we will need to travel to the borders of House of Wrath. They sit closest to the barrier between the Underworld and the Old World.”

“And from there?” Though my magic didn’t deem him untrustworthy, I still felt the rest of the team’s unease. And I understood why .

“From there, we must pass through the Rift. Shadow jumping is not an exact science. I cannot dictate where the shadows will take us once we reach the Old World. I can only ask them to take us safely into the unknown.” He brought his hands together, the clap loud and startling.

Adrian’s arm tightened around me, pulling me further into his side. At my other, Ry moved in closer. He remained a breath away, almost close enough to touch, but somehow always keeping enough distance between us that we wouldn’t meet.

Another thing I definitely did not have time to think about. Something I tucked away for another time.

The torches on the walls flared with a brighter light, giving us more to see.

And I wish they hadn’t.

There was blood on the floor. Splattered across the walls. Bile rose in my throat as I quickly looked away from the substance. I expected to smell the coppery scent, but when I breathed in, I thankfully only got the smell of honey.

Why honey, I wasn’t sure.

Elias, who stood in front of me, growled. And the male who had my back moved in closer. Hawk’s presence brought my magic to the surface, part to protect us, and in part out of need.

A need to claim him. Mate him. Make him mine.

I shoved those familiar feelings down and locked them away with everything Ry related. Two things so not important right now.

“Where have you brought us?” Elias barked, his hand straying to his belt.

Damon’s lip curled as he took in the blood.

“Appears hellhounds were down here,” he muttered in disgust. Something I never thought I’d hear about again.

The dreadful beasts that introduced me to the supernatural world.

Thankfully, I hadn’t run into any while here or in Avalon.

Though they might have looked like dogs, they weren’t nearly as friendly.

“Don’t worry about them. They won’t be a bother. ”

Leave it alone , I told Elias, reaching for him calmly through the bond. It’s not worth it. We need to start moving.

He spared me a quick glance over his shoulder. His jaw was clenched, and his eyes glowed softly with the presence of his wolf. I hadn’t felt my own since the shift, but fear kept me from trying to bring her to the surface. For now, I would keep her down until I needed her again.

Elias didn’t fight me. Instead, he sighed, turning back to Damon.

Before anyone could get another word in, the shadows around us darkened, whipping up a storm. I shuddered as a tendril of shadow gently caressed my thigh, where the second deal tattoo lived on my flesh.

My breath left me as the shadows ripped us from the cavern and spat us out somewhere entirely different.

Here, the sky was blood red, and there was nothing but dead trees for as far as I could see.

It was different from the landscape I’d first found.

At some point, this land could have been alive.

Thriving. The trees, however, were barren.

Their skeletal limbs reached for nothing, their height going towards the sky before warping down on themselves.

It looked like some of them were growing together, having met in the sky before winding and curling in on one another.

It was weird. Maybe kind of cool.

But very weird.

“A field of death,” Damon said, as if sensing my thoughts. I glanced away from the trees to find him leaning against one. The others were still in a tight formation around me. “Here are the souls who do not get to pass on to the Elysian Fields. I leave them for Wrath to deal with.”

“Interesting,” I muttered, trying to shift my feet. But my boots clung to the wet earth beneath me. I tore my eyes from his to stare down at the mud, but when I tried to lift my foot again, the strong scent of old blood hit me.

I really couldn’t help the gag that left my lips. Ripping my hand away from Adrian’s, I quickly covered my mouth to stop the smell from filling my lungs further. It was worse because I was accidentally tapping into Maeve and Elias’s powers. Their heightened senses were going to be the death of me.

“Alright, we need to move it along.” Maeve glanced back at me with a look of concern. “The killing fields could have been avoided, demon.”

“Like I already explained,” he replied carefully, “the shadows work on their own.”

“Well,” I cut in, voice muffled, “can the shadows just move us on? I’d like to not lose last night’s meal.”

Damon pushed off the tree. Instead of amusement in his red eyes, there might have been real concern darkening his irises. But without a word, he let the shadows break free. They wrapped around us, curling around our group with a different energy this time.

When the shadows spat us out the third time, we weren’t in a dark cave or a field of death. There were no warped trees or bloody walls. And when I lifted my feet, they weren’t glued to the ground by old blood.

“Welcome to the space between worlds,” Damon said.

Wind howled around us, lifting my hair and whipping it around my face. This time when the males either side of me closed in, I didn’t think much of it .

Dark clouds filled the sky. As soon as the words left Damon’s lips, the sky opened up with rain.

We stood somewhere familiar this time, though.

I recognised the landscape. Dark rock from the volcano spread out around us.

When I looked over my shoulder, I caught sight of its dark silhouette against the grey sky.

To our right was the ocean, waves crashing against the rocky shore with a vengeance.

I wrapped my arms around myself as the rain ripped into me. Each drop was hard against my skin, almost cutting through the fabric of my gear like glass.

Damon stood at the front of our group. For the first time, I noticed a hint of exhaustion on his features.

The rain should have been enough for me not to be able to see him at all.

It came down hard and fast, crashing into us.

In the distance, thunder rumbled and lightning—violet like my magic—cracked across the black sky.

The demon king met my stare. “I’ll need you for this next jump,” he said. No amusement, no exaggeration. Just a simple statement.

My heart rate picked up as he held out his hand. Warnings came from all my bonds. Elias and Maeve wanted to keep me from taking his hand. Adrian tightened his hold on me as Rowan moved in closer behind me with Hawk.

“You said you could get us there,” I said, raising my voice to be heard over the pounding rain and the howling wind. “Why do you need me?”

“You are the key to enter the Old World, my Queen,” he replied. “The balance between all the worlds. Not just Avalon, Faery, and the Underworld. But the Old World only opens to you. It was your magic that closed the doorway. It must be your magic that opens it again. ”

Then how the hell is Dante going to enter?

I thought, looking away. I glanced at the raging ocean with a frown.

If I was the only person with the power to open the doorway, then how was he supposed to be getting in?

I doubted Damon was wrong. The demon was over three thousand years old and remembered a time before there was even a Queen of Nyx.

He’d outlived everyone but the Goddess Herself.

So, he couldn’t be wrong about this.

Turning back to him, I tried to get a feel for what my magic wanted. But it agreed with him. It knew what he said was the truth.

A cold chill ran down my spine.

Dante can reach the Old World because he has a fraction of my magic. The realisation hit me hard. The mage. He’d admitted as much in the club. I shot Damon a wide-eyed look.

“He used the training room explosion,” Orion said, glancing at me sharply from where he stood beside me. “That was why he and my father were planning it. Why they were unconcerned until I mentioned him. ” He pointed behind me at Hawk, who stiffened.

“What’s wrong?” Elias growled, turning to face me. “What is it?”

“If Damon is right, I’m supposed to be the only person able to enter the Old Word,” I whispered. “But then why am I so worried about Dante?”

“Because he has a part of you that can also enter,” Maeve replied, looking from me to Orion. “And you didn’t know?”

The Fae male beside me shook his head. “No.”

I glanced back at Damon, who pursed his lips. He still had his hand outstretched. “You’re absolutely sure?” I asked, mind racing. I hadn’t paid much attention to it before, to what the mage told me, because it hadn’t made much sense then.

But now it did.

He was planning for this all along.

“Yes,” he said simply.

“Then I trust you.” There was no fight from the others as I moved to stand in front of the demon. They followed close behind me, keeping to my back.

I held my breath as I placed my hand in his. The tattoo binding us glowed as it formed between us.

The shadows rose, larger and darker, to wrap around our group.

And this time, when the darkness consumed us, I thought about the connection my magic had with the different realms under Nyx. The death and demons of the Underworld. The life and magic of Avalon. Even the ancient power that came from Faery.

I pulled all of that into me as I thought about the one land I never thought I would see.

The place where my magic had been born. Where the rift formed, and Nyx chose her first Queen.

My eyes closed, and in the darkness of my mind, I saw it. The land of my magic.

The Old World.