Page 47

Hawk

I vy’s words echoed through my head as we entered the cave. The tension returned almost immediately with her declaration.

Fucking Dante. That damned traitor.

I should have known he’d been planning something when I’d taken her into that training room. Fuck. Worse, how the hell had Sable not known? She’d given me a few protections, but claimed they were for Ivy’s magic. Not for him .

I couldn’t even ask Archer if he knew anything. They weren’t allowed to know that I’d been working with Sable the last several years.

Years that felt like a waste now.

Not only had Dante found us, but we’d failed.

I pulled a witch light from my belt and flicked it on.

Grey and I walked in front of the team, with Kingsley and Black at the rear.

I felt the imposing, dark presence of the demon king at my back, a threat I really didn’t know how to handle.

Ivy and Beckham were behind him, but I wished she were nearer.

But I couldn’t accept her bond yet. Couldn’t be the mate she needed. Not until I’d fulfilled Sable’s plans.

Even if that went against everything my own magic was telling me. Went against my own heart.

Selfish , I thought, the word echoing in my head. Or practical? Sable had me on a path, told me I needed to follow it—no deviation. Ivy would be a distraction. I knew that before, at the academy, and I had to remind myself of that now.

Swinging the witch light around the cavern, I followed the path upwards. Dry, unused stairs rose into the cliff ahead of us. Grey pulled her own witch light free and let the light of it shift upwards into the darkness above us.

Nothing stared down at us from above. There was only rock and what might have once been the remnants of old witch lights that hadn’t been activated in over a thousand years.

“No skeletons yet,” the demon king muttered.

“Don’t even start,” Ivy snapped. “Let’s just keep moving?—”

As soon as the words left her lips, the magic that opened the stairwell disappeared, submerging us in darkness. Even with the witch light, the darkness here was so thick the light barely cut through it. Ivy let out a squeak as the sound of rocks tumbling echoed through the cave.

“That’s not good,” she whispered.

I wouldn’t disagree with her .

“Let’s keep moving,” Grey said. “Keep our lights up, and weapons at the ready.”

No one said a word after that. The stone steps were coated in sand, like whoever had been last to use them came from the beach.

The dark substance even pooled in the corners of the stairs.

I eyed it warily but kept moving. There was no other sound of rocks tumbling, and no sign of the initial sound as we climbed.

I let the light of my witch light swing over the stairs, taking stock of anything that might be out of place.

We climbed silently for nearly fifteen minutes when we finally hit a landing. I blew out a breath as we came face to face with three new tunnels, three openings just as dark and uncertain as the last.

Grey moved to the one right of us first and let the torchlight fill the space.

“What. The. Fuck.” Ivy breathed deeply as she and Beckham hit the landing. Her chest rose and fell with sharp breaths. As I swung my light over her and the three males at her back, I took in her flushed cheeks and sweaty brow.

She wiped a hand over her forehead with a frown. Shit. Had we been moving too fast for her?

Kingsley pulled a water bottle from his belt and offered it to her, which she took with a grateful smile.

Grey moved from the right tunnel to the centre one. “Stairs, from what I can tell. Perhaps leading to different wings of the palace.”

Ivy lowered the bottle of water from her lips and glanced at each of the new tunnels. “Would it matter which one we picked? Unless this is some sort of test.”

My gut tightened at the idea. There were whispers that the Avalon palace had a network of tunnels beneath the palace itself that lead into the mountain. A labyrinth to confuse invaders and enemies—a precaution because of the war that took the Old World.

“What does your magic tell you?” Grey asked as she scoped out the final tunnel. I let my own witch light shine into the centre staircase, watching as the shadows within scattered to reveal more sand. I frowned.

“It doesn’t care,” she replied. “I mean, it does. But it’s not telling me anything about the options. I think it believes any are safe.”

I gritted my teeth and moved my light to the right staircase.

No sand. “I think we should take the centre one,” I said, stopping anyone else from speaking up.

“There’s no sand in the left or right tunnels.

” With that last statement, I moved my light into the left tunnel and found nothing within. Clean stairs with no sand.

“How can you be sure?” Ivy asked, though there was nothing accusatory in her tone. She’d handed the bottle back to Kingsley and now had her arms crossed.

I pointed towards the stairs behind her. “There was sand all over them. And up there—” I motioned to the centre opening, “—more sand. Pretty simple deduction, Princess.”

I didn’t even need to look at her to know she rolled her eyes.

Grey moved to the centre opening again and flashed her light within. From the corner of my eye, I watched Kingsley approach the left tunnel. He didn’t fully enter it, instead pulling out his own witch light and turning it on. He eyed the stairwell before shaking his head.

“We should be way closer to the top based on the incline. And my light doesn’t reach anything but darkness,” he said, turning it away.

“I see something,” Grey announced. “We may have an exit ahead. ”

Ivy released a heavy breath of relief, but tension still coiled tightly around us, so thick it suffocated me.

Black moved to the right tunnel and flashed a light within. “I don’t know, but this looks like a possible exit, too.”

I stiffened, moving to the Fae male’s side. I stopped in the archway, following his line of sight upwards into the darkness. Above, there was an outline of some sort, a break in the darkness that looked almost like a hatch. As I swung the light over it, the beam hit something else unusual.

A lantern, made from metal, if I had to guess.

The smell of oil was barely there, but after so many years of being burned, residue still clung to the air.

I wasn’t the brightest with history, but from what I knew, they didn’t use these in the Old World.

Here, they’d relied on the natural and witch-made light.

Not lanterns with oil.

I stepped back with a frown, Black moving away too. The rest of the group moved to stand between the tunnels.

From the middle of the team, Ivy made a sound of frustration. “This is ridiculous. We don’t have time for this.”

“One could lead us into the palace, Princess,” I replied, “the other into certain death.”

“ Or ,” she snapped, “they both lead into the palace. My magic doesn’t feel weird about either. So let’s go .”

Her royal pain-in-my-ass pushed her way towards the centre staircase without another look back. Grey glanced at me, then back at the Queen. “You wanted the middle one.”

I blew out a frustrated breath. “Whatever.”

Archer took great amusement from that, and so did the demon king.

I bristled under their stare, shaking my head as we returned to our earlier formation, keeping Ivy at the centre, protected on all sides.

As we moved to the stairs again, magic from the others strengthened.

Even if it was a safe way out, they were going to do whatever they could to keep any potential threats at bay.

And with my unclaimed mate so close, my own power, without my permission, rose to the surface with the need to protect.

The urge to claim her, to make her mine permanently, had been temporarily pushed to the back of my mind so I could focus on the mission.

Keep my head where it was needed and not in the dreams plaguing me since seeing her in that tiny green dress. But not anymore.

Fuck . Power I’d learned to hold back pulled sharply at the binds I kept it in.

Aither was my preferred magic source. My wings, and the magic that came from being from the court of air and sky, favoured.

But the side of me that was demon, that came from the Underworld, wanted out.

It wanted to play with my mate’s magic. To protect her in the same way the others did.

The magic of House Pride was nothing to be proud of. Pride was dark, dangerous, bloodthirsty. It did not care who it took or what it took, only that it siphoned magic from those weaker. It was a worthwhile skill to have, especially in certain situations, but I couldn’t let it out.

I gritted my teeth, shoving the magic back down where it wouldn’t cause harm to any of the creatures around me. They all surpassed me in power now—either mated to Ivy or as the fucking king of hell— but I wouldn’t take the risk of being an enemy to them.

Grey stiffened beside me, her chin lifting as she scented the air. That was the only hint she gave that something was wrong.

The stairs ended abruptly; Grey and I had to crouch as we came to a stop at the top, where a wooden trap door was locked above our heads.

Despite the thousand or so years, the wood was still intact thanks to whatever wards had been left in place.

The latch, however, was rusted with age and from the salty sea air.

Grey and I shared a look. I was the closest to the latch. But even I knew it was stupid to try and test the lock when we had our own charm magic to undo the wards.

“Adrian, we need you to unravel the charms on this door,” Grey commanded, her voice tight. “Be careful. They are still powerful.”

From the back of the pack, Kingsley grunted. “I’ve got it.”

“Be careful,” Ivy replied quietly, her voice soft. “Seriously. We don’t know what to expect.”

My gut twisted, but I drowned out his response. Instead, I focused on the dull ache in my shoulder blades. Once we made it into the palace ruins, I’d let my wings out. By then, at least, we’d need someone in the sky to scout for Dante.

Kingsley appeared between Grey and me. He skimmed his fingers over the knots in the old, weathered wood with furrowed brows.

“I recognise two different magical signatures in this,” he said, shaking his head slowly.

“One is definitely from a Queen. I feel Ivy’s magic—or, well, Nyx’s.

” He looked back at her then with soft eyes. “The other is different. Strange.”

From his other side, Grey shifted. “Dante strange? Or different strange?”

This time, when Kingsley shook his head, it was more forceful. “Definitely not Dante. It’s not corrupted like his followers. This is…” He stopped and pulled back. “I don’t really know how to explain what this is.”

“But can you unravel it?” I asked, gritting my teeth.

The prince glared at me. He was not going to forget what I said. And I didn’t blame him. Despite being the truth, when the words had left my lips, I’d regretted them.

But Kingsley didn’t say a word as he pressed his palm into the door.

His eyes closed, bowing his head. Magic rose from him to fill the space, lifting the hairs on my arms. When Ivy had come into her full power, so had he.

It was clear in the way it filled the space, how it lifted the hairs on my arms and stirred my demonic power—power that wanted to take it for its own use.

And just like that, the magic disappeared. He pulled back, opening his eyes on a sharp inhale. “Done.”

Grey raised a brow. “Good work.”

He didn’t bother looking at me as he pushed himself backwards and re-entered the formation. “The strange wards were easy to undo. The old Queen’s…not so much, but Ivy helped there.”

I forced myself not to look back at her.

But I couldn’t help the small swell of pride within me.

I’d barely even noticed her magic, and yet as everything settled, there was a small hint of it in the air.

That familiar touch of it that teased my own power.

It tingled lightly across my skin, caressing me, and deep down, I wanted more of it.

I wanted more of her.

I drew in a deep breath, grabbed a dagger from my belt, and shared a look with Grey. “I’ll go first.”

Her eyes narrowed, but she gave me a short nod. “Shields up. We don’t know what is waiting for us beyond.”

I felt no fear as I steeled myself for what was to come. It didn’t matter if it was giant spiders or monsters. I knew my duty. And I would protect Ivy, even if I wasn’t worthy of anything else.

The lock broke beneath my hand, crumbling like dirt, and hinges whined as I pushed the door open to darkness and starlight.