Page 45

Ivy

T he salty smell of the ocean filled my lungs as the shadows retreated. I kept my eyes closed, tipping my face towards the sky. The rain stopped, and in its place, a cool breeze chilled my damp skin.

My feet sunk into the earth, but I felt no panic as the substance crunched beneath my boots. No. It wasn’t earth. It was sand .

I breathed in deeply, filling my lungs with air that didn’t quite feel like normal air.

Not like the Underworld, where the sweet odour of death clung to each breath.

Not Avalon, where the air was touched by modern scents.

Not like the world I once called home, where each breath was heavy, changed by humanity.

No, each breath I took brought me back to something old and powerful within me. My magic rose sharply, purring with a joy I’d never felt before .

It recognised the smell of this ocean. The feel of this sand.

It knew this world intimately.

It was home .

Tears formed in the corners of my eyes as they opened to take in the world.

My throat tightened with emotion influenced by my magic, which burned across my skin.

I glance down at the hand not holding Damon’s, at the light dancing between my fingertips.

At the violet shapes appearing across my flesh in response to our location.

“Welcome home, my Queen,” the demon said, his voice soft with awe. “Welcome to the Old World.”

The dark sanded beach we’d landed on felt familiar in a way I knew couldn’t be nostalgia from my own memories. I’d never seen black and silver sand that reflected the night sky. Maybe in photos of Iceland, once, but certainly not this beach itself.

We were surrounded by tall, dark cliffs, the tops of which were blanketed in a thick, grey fog.

I wasn’t sure how high it was, but I couldn’t see anything beyond endless grey.

The ocean was much the same; dark blue surrounded by more fog.

The natural enchantments to keep anyone from entering the unstable land.

I hadn’t gotten to attend a History of the Old World class while at Oberon.

What little I knew came from my lessons with Greer, and she hadn’t really gotten to the parts about the Queen who had been forced to move the hundreds of thousands of creatures from here to the new land of Avalon.

Or the downfall that had caused it all .

Dread and devastation burned through me as I took everything in. There were skeletal remains of ships barely hidden by the calm water; decks became clear when the waves receded, with old, rotting masts claimed by the waves peeking through the surface.

Fifteen hundred years, and it looked like the war that destroyed the world had happened only a hundred years ago.

“How do we get from here,” –Adrian pointed up to the cliffs with narrowed eyes— “to up there?”

Damon pushed off a rock, which he’d been resting on since the last shadow jump. We’d gathered near the wall of the cliff, far enough from the rising ocean to stay safe should the tide change, but also gave us a vantage point of the surrounding water in case Dante and his army appeared.

We had no idea where he planned on entering the Old World. He could have a dozen ships in with him, all imbued with shards of my magic to help them breach the barrier. We didn’t know how much he’d taken during the academy attack, and weren’t certain of how he could use it with an army.

“We may have to climb,” the demon king said, which had my heart dropping into my stomach, “but I think the shadows will grant me some grace and take us topside. Unless your winged mate wants to go up first.”

I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms tightly over my chest. “We are not splitting up, Damon. Ever. Not while we’re here.”

The demon king raised a brow. “Oh, wife, I thought you didn’t like me that way.”

I grimaced in his general direction before glancing at the others. “We should make a plan as to where we go next. ”

“Do you feel anything now that you’re here?” Elias asked, brows furrowed. “Any kind of hint from the Goddess where you need to look?”

Despite the constant feeling of familiarity, I hadn’t. We’d been here an hour, and my magic hadn’t given me anything.

“This is the beach where it all happened,” Damon said, and I turned to him with a sharp look, which he raised a brow at. “What?”

“Where what happened, demon?” Maeve asked.

A smirk curled his lips, and he pointed into the distance, where the fog was so thick we couldn’t see the horizon.

“Out there, the rift between worlds was born. An amalgamation of all the magic Nyx poured into creating this land. It was unstable, dangerous. A nuclear bomb waiting to go off.” He walked towards the water, but stopped halfway to turn back to us.

“This is where Nyx dragged our first Queen, Pandora, to take her rightful place as the first Daughter of Nyx. Gave her the power to stabilise the realm’s magic.

And eventually, this is the place where Pandora went to blow up. ”

My brows furrowed as I took in the unassuming beach. “Blow up because she had no anchors?”

“Yes,” Damon replied. “One moment, she was fine. But she’d been quietly deteriorating, the magic eating away at her bit by bit. Her lovers dragged her back to this beach so Nyx could save her. And the Goddess gave them a way to save their love.”

“And here, mate bonds were born,” Rowan muttered. “We know the story.”

Damon spared my mage an unimpressed glance.

“This beach saw the rise and fall of everything. It is where Queen Daphne rallied her people towards the new world. It is where the last dragon fell.” A shiver rolled down my spine, and for the first time, I saw something in the water that was decidedly not a shipwreck, but rather…

bones. Very large bones. “If the crown of Nyx were to be somewhere, I’d guess here. ”

I chewed the inside of my cheek as I looked around the stretch of beach again. “Greer never taught me how to summon the crown.”

“Then I guess we’re digging.”

It was my turn to shoot the demon an unimpressed look. “You really think the crown is buried ?”

He shrugged. “Either it’s here, or it’s in the ruins of the palace up there. ” He pointed upwards into the fog covering the cliffs.

I wasn’t sure what it was about it that made me suck in a sharp breath. I could almost see it in the back of my mind; the shape of the palace with its spires reaching into the sky, white stone bleached by the sun. Waves that crashed against the cliffs, and gulls weaving between flags and towers.

When I blinked, the image of the ruins was gone—or what they were before the desolation of the Old World. But it did dredge up something from before.

“There used to be buildings,” I said, pointing to the side of the cliff. “Beach access from the palace.”

Damon looked up, a different smile curving his lips. Elias pressed into my side, his confusion clear down the bond, and the others…

They weren’t entirely sure how to comment.

I didn’t blame them. I wasn’t even sure how I knew there was meant to be beach access.

Or what the palace had once looked like.

But my magic did. I even felt an impression of it still in this area.

Damon hadn’t been lying about this being a major place of power for me.

It was like my magic had buried memories in this part of the land.

Maybe the crown wasn’t here, but it was a good place to start.

“You knew there was a way to get up without your shadows,” Orion said accusingly, voice dark as he stalked up to the towering demon. “So, what the fuck was your plan? Dante and his followers could have found us. Found Ivy. ”

Damon stared down at him, head cocked, and brows furrowed. “He won’t make it here.”

“How the fuck can you be sure of that?” Orion snarled.

His own shadows rose to the surface, coiling around him in response to his anger. I moved without thinking to put myself between him and Damon. The demon I could deal with later. But I needed to have a word with my mate.

Orion’s hands formed fists, but he didn’t tear his eyes off Damon, even as I pushed my way between them. I made sure to keep space between Orion and me, to not touch him.

“Orion,” I said, voice hard. His jaw clenched, but he still didn’t look at me.

“He is not our enemy,” I said, lowering my voice. I tried to drown out my other mates, who were making their worry known through the bonds. “You have every right to be pissed off right now. But save that anger for later.”

Orion’s throat bobbed. Violet eyes found mine after a moment, dark and furious, filled to the brim with fear.

Fear over Dante finding us first. Through the bond, I knew it wasn’t just fear for me that swelled within him.

There was fear for himself, too. About what might happen should his father find us.

What might happen to him if Hyperion Black got his hands on him .

I’ll end him before he ever hurts you again, I said, watching as his eyes widened a fraction. I won’t ever let that man near you. He’ll be dead before he can lay a hand on you.

The Fae prince standing before me sucked in a breath, before releasing it slowly. His death is mine to claim, my flower.

I have your back either way, I promised silently.

Maybe I should have felt disgusted by that promise. Old Ivy would have. But when it came to my mates, I would do anything to protect them. Even if it meant killing again.

Orion spared Damon one last glance before shaking his head. “Stop putting my mate in danger,” he warned, taking a step away from me and the demon king still at my back. “I don’t care that you’re the King of the Elysian Fields. None of us do. You mean nothing to us if you hurt her.”