Page 52

Ivy

T he shadows dropped us in what appeared to be more ruins.

My nose crinkled as I breathed in stale air. It was almost like no one had set foot in this particular place since it’d been abandoned.

I glanced around, eyes sharpening as they got used to the darkness.

Based on the decaying metal and the old charms woven into what looked like bars, we were in what might have been a dungeon.

There were, thankfully, no giant zombie-rats here, though it might have been too soon to make that judgement.

There was something about the space that felt oddly familiar, though I couldn’t place why.

Orion moved out of the formation first, shadow-daggers palmed. He nodded to Hawk, who moved to stand beside him .

I’m going to see if we are alone down here, Ry said, his eyes flickering to mine briefly.

I pressed my lips together. Although I didn’t like the idea of being split up, technically, they weren’t alone if they were going together.

Ugh. I nodded to him, sparing the half-Fae male a glance. He didn’t look at me, though. Instead, he had his own daggers palmed, wings freed, and a look of concentration on his face.

I sighed through my nose and watched as they left the room.

Do you think we’re alone? I asked Maeve, turning to her.

Since leaving the palace ruins, her features had returned to normal, her eyes blue again. She had her team-leader mask in place as she surveyed the room, though when our gazes met, she nodded.

I don’t sense anyone else, but that does not mean they aren’t hidden, she replied.

A shudder rolled down my spine, but instead of responding, I wrapped my arms around myself.

Hawk and Orion returned with matching grim expressions.

“All clear,” Hawk said, though he only sheathed one of his daggers, keeping the other loosely in his hand.

It was a wonder he hadn’t reached for the gun at his side, though I had a feeling the sound would be a clear indicator where we were to anyone hunting us.

“Then why do you look like someone pissed in your cereal?” Rowan asked, crossing his arms. “What’s out there, assholes?”

I spared Rowan a sharp look, though if he noticed, he didn’t appear to care.

Hawk’s lip curled in a sneer, whereas Orion rolled his eyes. “Vampire crypt. We think. There’s a room full of skeletons, but they look to be old. ”

Maeve moved to stand in front of me. “What makes you think vampire crypt?” she asked, hands on her lips.

“There are five sarcophagi in a room. Dusty as fuck, so it looks like they haven’t been touched since the war,” Hawk replied.

“It was believed that some vampire families chose to stay,” Adrian said.

“At least, that’s what my dad always told me.

He’d studied some of the records from the war and movement to Avalon.

There were some who didn’t want to leave the land at all.

But specifically, there were vampires who believed if they waited, Nyx would reward them with a new world just for them. ”

My skin prickled, and I couldn’t help but grimace as I looked from Adrian to the others. “That sounds like something we shouldn’t touch…”

Rowan turned to me, brows raised. “Aren’t you the least bit curious to see if there really are thousand-year-old vampires sleeping in the crypt?”

A small—very tiny—piece of me was. But when I checked in with Maeve, I could tell that was the last thing she wanted.

It must have triggered something about her brother—the male turned by her sire and groomed into becoming a danger to Avalon.

Maeve had told me his punishment for siding with their Sire was a sleep stasis.

I’ll tell them to leave it alone , I told her. You don’t have to do anything you’re uncomfortable with.

Maeve’s bond warmed. This is not like what is happening with him. I know that, deep down. But it is…hard. Knowing that whoever these vampires were chose this when it was punishment for him .

Slowly, I moved to her side and took her hand. “Let’s keep moving,” I said, looking around the team. Elias had his arms crossed, though when our eyes met, he gave me a single nod. “Figure out where we are. And then I need to find out where we need to go next.”

There were stairs leading above ground that we took carefully. Though the dungeon itself had been dry, the stone of the staircase was slick with rain, and we had no idea how dangerous they were. It was pure luck they didn’t crumble as we made our way to the surface.

However, when we did reach the landing, there was nothing but forest around us. Other than two walls that were mostly covered in moss, the rest of the structure was pretty much gone, and in its place were tall trees and misty rain.

We were caged in by large mountain ranges thick with low-lying clouds. The trees themselves were so tall, they disappeared into the clouds.

There were remnants of what the structure might have been all those years ago. I had to assume some kind of castle, based on the dungeon. Maybe a manor of sorts. There was still a lot of dark stone hidden beneath moss and wet leaves. And not far from us, a pool of murky water.

I sucked in a deep breath, my heightened senses kicking in. I waited for that disgusting stench of death to tickle my nose, or worse—Dante and his army—but the only scent on the air was rain and mud.

“We should set up a temporary camp,” Elias said, moving to stand beside me.

“I think we might be in what was known as the vampire territory,” Adrian said, walking ahead with his charmed dagger. “The old maps showed an area surrounded by mountains. And the mountains had caves for the feral ones. ”

“Feral?” I asked, glancing at him, then back at the mountains. They were thick with forestry, and nothing about them screamed danger.

“My father really liked to talk about the Old World,” Adrian replied, scratching the back of his neck. Through the bond, though, I caught his sadness over thinking about Sir Theon.

“We should pick a more secluded space. Somewhere we can watch.” Hawk stalked through the underbrush, head swivelling as he eyed the area. “And then we make a plan.”

With those final words, all eyes fell on me. I stiffened under the weight of their gazes, of their clear expectations of me to figure out where the hell the stupid crown was.

“I think I’m going to need to fall asleep,” I admitted. “Nyx comes to me in my dreams. If I can just reach her and get some information, then I should be able to find it.”

I could tell immediately that wasn’t the answer they wanted. And I got it.

We were here because the Goddess warned me about the crown. That if Dante got to it first, we were doomed. I had no idea how he intended to find it, but he had a plan.

And this was my only task. The one thing I should have known before crossing realms.

I had a little bit of hope that Dante being here meant he wasn’t causing total destruction back home.

That his presence here gave our allies in Avalon a chance to rally themselves for the inevitable war.

It probably didn’t even matter if I got the crown first. Dante would fight regardless of whether he had it or not.

He would destroy everything to ensure his chance at being king.

“No fires,” Maeve said, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Nothing to let them know where we are. We likely have two different enemies hunting us. We do not need to make it easy for them.”

A shiver rolled down my spine. Though the air had a slight chill to it, I didn’t necessarily feel it as badly as I might have before. I could tell it was thanks to my access to Maeve and Elias’s magic. The gear helped, too.

Our group moved without another word. I couldn’t help but take them in; Adrian still had an air of exhaustion surrounding him that had me worried. Rowan was tense, though through the bond, I couldn’t really tell where it stemmed from.

Hawk led the group through the trees with Elias beside him. My wolf shifter wore his tension like armour, hands fisted at his sides. I could tell he was one wrong sound away from shifting and allowing his wolf to take over. Hawk, on the other hand, I couldn’t read at all.

Then there was the demon king himself. I couldn’t read him, either. I doubted I would even want to. His soul continued to stain centre of my palm, like a drop of ink. The only thing I didn’t do was touch it. I had no idea what that would do to Damon, and honestly, I didn’t want to find out.

Orion, however, had me blocked. Not in the same way as before he revealed himself.

Maybe it was subconscious, or maybe he hadn’t let his barriers down after leaving the Underworld and just didn’t notice.

Either way, I felt the chasm between us.

It was an ever-growing pit, and my magic was dealing with the effects.

I just couldn’t bring myself to trust him openly again, even though I knew I needed to. And I knew that distrust, especially regarding Damon, had put a strain on whatever progress we’d made.

A complicated mess, I thought, hiding it from my bonds. I released another sigh .

Hawk and Elias led us to a formation of rock that might have once been the corner of a room.

The rock wall was taller than Damon, so it offered some privacy and protected us from one side of the forest and mountain.

Debris and slick leaves covered the ground, so if there was a stone ground beneath us, I couldn’t tell.

The only problem was the rain. It fell like mist here, so it wasn’t necessarily bad. But it made for an uncomfortable time.

“This should be fine,” Elias said, turning in a slow circle. “We can set up a rotational watch.”

“A few hours, at least until the sun rises,” Maeve said. “Then, we need to move.”

“I can shadow jump us out of here in less than one,” Damon offered. He leaned against the thick base of a tree, arms crossed. His demon form was completely gone, and he looked like he could pass as normal—except for the eyes, of course. “That is, if you want that, wife.”