Page 55

Maeve

T he guilt was all consuming, but I had not been able to get the thought of the crypt out of my head.

I would have to explain myself better to Ivy later. But it was like there was some kind of pull towards the sleeping creatures. A thread connecting me to them.

I was not a Born Vampire, so there was no chance I came from their long bloodline.

Unless my Sire had. I knew he was a Born vampire.

That he had lived at least two hundred years before he found me.

Could he have been a descendant of these vampires?

It was possible. There were very few bloodlines left from the Old World.

And for a long time, it never mattered to me to find out more about him.

All I’d known after I’d been saved was that he’d been banished from his coven.

They never wanted anything to do with his mistakes.

The witch light in my hand brightened as I stopped in the archway of the crypt.

Just as Nash and Black claimed. There were five stone tombs lined up in the middle of the room.

Dust coated them heavily, but there was an enchantment around the room, one that protected them, even after fifteen-hundred years.

“You know, you worry her with this,” the demon king said. His presence was heavy behind me, dark, imposing.

I stiffened, unable to take my eyes off the crypt. “And how would you know that?” It wasn’t a lie, though, and I had a feeling he had no reason to spin such tales. He was the damned Elysian King.

“I ensured that when I made the deal with her, I had a way of communicating with her should something happen.”

I spun on my heel to glare at him, but he simply shrugged.

“And did Ivy know of this?” He certainly hadn’t mentioned it when we pried him for information about the deal.

“Of course not,” he replied flippantly, arms crossed. “And she has no problem with it, vampire. But she does with you being down here.”

A growl rumbled through me. “You do not get to patronise me on what I do,” I said, gritting my teeth. “You are not part of this mate circle.”

I had a feeling, though, if any of the others were here, I would be having a similar conversation regardless.

But I would not take it from someone who was intent on…I wasn’t even sure what he was trying to do. Marrying Ivy, turning her into his wife in front of demons and creatures alike. Forming a delusional bond with her that mimicked the one she had with her actual mates.

I did not understand his obsession with her. That was the only way I could describe it. Like he so badly wanted to have what her mates had, that he formed a false bond like it could replicate the real thing .

Ivy trusted him, and thus far, he had not led us astray. But I still wanted to keep an eye on him. And keep him as far away from her as possible.

With a shake of my head, I turned back to the crypt, ignoring the tightening of his jaw and the darkening of his eyes. If those words hurt him, he didn’t let it show. But he needed to be reminded of his place. King or not, he was not her mate.

Around the crypt looked to be shelves. And on them were old trinkets, urns, and other things decayed by time or unprotected by spells.

As I crossed the threshold, a shiver rolled down my spine.

I had no interest in trying to open the tombs.

The vampires within could remain in their stasis.

If they were awoken, they might be dangerous.

The bloodlust would be insatiable after so much time, and we had no idea what they’d been like alive.

But they could also be nothing more than dust and bone now. That would be a mercy , I thought.

I knew what Rowan was doing on the surface. The ancient runes that marked Ivy in his visions were also a constant in the back of my mind.

Vampires, especially the older bloodlines, were known fondly as hoarders of ancient memories.

There was a reason why they usually cared for the histories of Nyx; they worked in our archives and were keepers of relics.

They had some of the longest lifespans, which allowed for a continuous record of what happened in our world.

That was the vampires who now resided in Nyx’s new world.

These vampires, however, were different.

Adrian was not the only one with facts about the Old World .

“There were vampires, Lords and Ladies, who were known for their ruthlessness,” I said softly as I stalked the perimeter of the crypt. “Did you spend much time around them?”

The demon king scoffed as he entered. “No. It was their bloodlust and treatment of mortals that had me unimpressed by them.” I met his eye at that. “They liked to keep Blood Whores . Mortals they promised they would turn but couldn’t.”

“Because vampires could not be changed until after the war, when Avalon was created.”

He nodded. “Still, after all these years, I do not understand what happened to have allowed for it. And mages.” He shook his head as he ran a finger over one of the crypts. “But that is what happens when magic is changed.”

A shudder rolled down my spine, the flesh of my arms prickling. “Were the vampires of that time like the ones of now?”

“Not at all.” He stepped away from the crypt, and I did the same. “They hoarded wealth and bodies, but not knowledge.” His eyes narrowed on me warily. “Why are you really down here?”

I pressed my lips together and looked down at my hands. Guilt filled me again, tightening around my slow-beating heart. It was too tempting to tell him, and I did not like it. Not when I knew this was something I should have shared with Ivy. She was my mate, but I still had the urge to sneak away.

A breath escaped my lips as a sigh. “Ivy is in more danger than she told you,” I warned, peering up at him.

Anger flashed across his sharp features, darkening his red eyes. “What kind of danger? ”

It was clear he was trying to hide his true emotions. But why? He had only known Ivy a few days. Had he developed actual feelings for her?

I hated that I knew little about him. That the Elysian King was an enigma, an unknown.

The only people I could have pressed for information were captured by Dante.

Sir Lazarus and Sir Onyx would have known more about the ancient king across from me.

They were the ones who usually went with Queen Greer on her voyages to the Underworld.

The preparations for those journeys took weeks and would usually pull Sir Ya’Dahir away from Phoenix.

But during my years as a low agent, then as team leader, I’d never seen him leave on the journey with her.

Shaking my head, I tore my eyes away from the king and moved to an urn across the room. It was nothing special to look at, but I couldn’t stare at him any longer and wonder what his game was with Ivy.

“Rowan Archer is a Divination mage,” I said, without looking back at him.

“I’m aware,” he deadpanned. “I have had the pleasure of meeting his mother.”

My skin prickled, despite the crypt being moderate temperature. I glanced back with furrowed brows. “You have met Sable?”

The demon shrugged nonchalantly. “On more than one occasion. Usually with Queen Greer, though she has made visits on her own.”

“And you allowed it?” I quirked a brow, though my mind was reeling from the information. Why would Sable be meeting with him? It was not a coincidence. That witch knew something, I was certain of it. But what had her visions revealed? “Is she the reason why you are here? ”

She has had her hands in all of our lives.

Our team had been created by her on behalf of Nyx, in order to prepare Ivy for what was to come.

I knew she and Hawk Nash were working together in some way; they knew each other far too well for me to think otherwise.

And now she had a connection to the Elysian King.

I just didn’t know if she had anything to do with Orion Black, though my gut told me she did.

The demon king crossed his arms, expression unreadable. “She is a good poker player,” he said. “That is all.”

Yes , was what he didn’t say. Maybe he didn’t even realise she’d put him on the path to finding Ivy.

But why?

“Now, what danger is she in?” His voice took on a growl, though he maintained control over his power.

“Rowan has seen a future in which Dante takes Ivy,” I replied carefully. “One where he has stripped her of her power and holds her captive.”

His expression changed at that, transforming from one of anger to something else.

Defeated? But as soon as it appeared, it was gone, and his features smoothed out into a carefully placed mask of indifference.

Three thousand years, and he was no better at hiding his thoughts and emotions than the rest of us.

That was the power Ivy had over those of us in her orbit.

I cocked my head when he didn’t respond. “Within those visions, he saw runes. Ancient ones. Rowan has studied runes greatly, but he does not recognise the ones used against her. Which means Dante has either found a way to craft runes that none have ever seen before, or?—”

“Or he gained access to ones we lost two thousand years ago at the beginning of the war,” the demon king grumbled.

He didn’t look at me as he glanced around the crypt, though his eyes darkened with understanding.

“You will not find what you are seeking down here. The vampires of this time were notoriously bloodthirsty. They were eccentric and ruthless. They had no regard for mortal life. They took humans as blood slaves and promised them immortality before tearing their throats out.”

My stomach bottomed out from feeling as though we would not get close enough to finding answers before Dante caught us. If he truly had chains like the ones Rowan had seen, then it would not take much to capture Ivy.

My heart rate picked up out of fear, and there was nothing I could do to squash it.

“If there was a place,” I questioned, “to find these runes, where would one look?”

The demon king shook his head slowly. “I would assume the old universities. There were three that all creatures, and humans, could attend. But…” He sighed.

“I doubt you will find anything there. The war saw them turn to ash. The last of the dragons were asked to torch everything that couldn’t be loaded onto ships to build the new archives. ”

“Then how in Nyx’s name did Dante find any of this?” I asked quietly. “How did he even think of?—”

Something sounded in the hallway outside the crypt. The hairs on the back of my arms stood on end; I palmed a dagger in one hand, and I released the claws of my other. Shadows whipped around the Elysian King, curling around him like armour.

He and I shared a look. He was closest to the archway leading into the dimly lit hall.

Without a word, he sent a shadowy tendril into the dungeon.

I waited, my breath caught in the back of my throat, for another sound.

An indication that we were not alone. But even as I scented the air, it was still the same damp, stale air that had not been disturbed in years.

I caught the demon’s scent, but it was faint.

And the scents of our previous appearance within was barely there.

The demon’s shoulders loosened, the tension falling away after a moment. “It appears we are still alone,” he said without looking at me. “The shadows show me nothing.”

Despite his reassurance, I kept my dagger palmed, though the claws retracted. “Then perhaps that is our sign to leave,” I replied. “We do not know how unstable this space is.”

The demon king quirked a brow as he glanced around the crypt, though his eyes revealed nothing. “This was built to withstand the war,” he murmured. “We are nothing to the old magic carved into the stone.”

A shiver rolled down my spine, gaze straying to the five vampires. To their quiet, sleeping forms hidden within stone tombs.

I abandoned my curiosity and moved to the archway, sparing only one final glance at the crypt before leaving it—and its secrets—behind.