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“If it helps,” the demon king said from across the fire, “I do not recall anything that might help with the future…predicament.” He had his eyes on the fire, and they darkened as he shook his head.

“Over three thousand years as king of the Elysian Fields. One would think that I would have come across such runes. I have one of the oldest libraries in all the realms. Knowledge that would have been lost in the war. But I recall nothing about runes that could strip the Daughter of Nyx of her power.”

From the corner of my eye, I watched Ivy drop her head. She tried to hide her fear, but not even her blocks could stop me from feeling it. She was terrified of the future my vision gave us. And I couldn’t blame her.

“Do we have a plan? Somewhere to go next?” Elias asked. He sat behind Ivy, holding her up as he leaned against another tree.

“When I meet with Nyx, I’m always in the same place.

A dark forest with twisted trees. Not like this valley, but like…

” She shook her head. “I don’t really know how to describe it.

But there’s always a path through the trees.

A road, actually. With cart marks in the ground.

I’ve never actually followed it before, but I did in the last dream.

I found an old cottage at the end. But there’s not much else I know. ”

“Nyx didn’t give you any answers?” I asked.

She shrugged hopelessly and slumped into Elias’s chest. “Not really. She claims my magic is guiding me, but…”

“It could be,” the demon said. “My shadows work differently to those of a regular demon. Your magic could very well be influencing these jumps.”

“How can you be certain?” Maeve asked from her position beside him. They hadn’t found anything in the old crypt, either. The vampires of the Old World were really the stuff of human legend, it turned out.

The demon king’s lips turned in a half-smile, one that made my gut twist. Damn, I did not like his presence here. At least everyone here had an actual connection to Ivy—even if I wished a couple didn’t. Black was her first mate, useless as he was. And Hawk Nash…

I had no idea what the point of him was. Nyx totally screwed up when giving him a bond with Ivy. He was going to make this difficult, and his presence very obviously hurt her.

“You might not feel it,” he replied, “but there are remnants of energy here. I’d met Pandora’s mates. Asael was a demon of Elysian, and we leave traces, no matter how much time has passed. And he was here with her once. Before she became Queen.”

A chill ran down my spine, and without meaning to, I looked around the valley, like the ghosts of the first Queen and her mates might appear in the darkness between the trees .

“My theory is your magic truly is guiding us, but through me.” The demon king sounded far too proud of that.

“You sure you aren’t from House of Pride?” I asked, head cocked.

The demon didn’t look at me, though from the corner of my eye, I noticed Hawk stiffen.

Huh , I hit a nerve with him. But I supposed that answered what type of demon he was. Made sense, too. He was so buried in his own pride that he couldn’t see how his actions hurt his literal mate.

Rowan, Ivy warned.

I glanced at her and smiled. Don’t worry, there’s a reason why they were inside thoughts.

She rolled her eyes, but didn’t comment further on it.

“So, what, we let your shadows take us wherever, while hoping my magic is guiding them?” Ivy questioned. “I really don’t know about that. We have no idea where Dante is, or how close he is.”

“We know he had to be at one of the shores,” Adrian said. “He would have sailed in. And if he brought an army, then that would be his only way to arrive here with them safely.”

“We are at least a day’s ride from the nearest beach,” the demon said. “He would have to travel day in and out with his supposed army to find us and then breach the mountain range. There is a reason the vampires liked this place. We would, perhaps, have been better at the top of the mountain.”

“Why?” I asked, glancing towards one of the ranges.

“Other than the blood caves where they left their more…deranged friends, there were also outposts on the mountain. Ways to protect the valley should unwanted vi sitors find their way here. And within those outposts, I would assume dragon slayers.”

“Fuck,” Elias murmured. “I thought those had been banned before the war.”

“I still can’t believe dragons were a thing,” Ivy said, quietly. “That just feels like a thing outside of the realm of possibilities.”

“You shift into a wolf now,” I pointed out. “Can wield lightning, make charms, see the future. But dragons surprise you?”

Ivy’s cheeks darkened, and she ducked her head. “Well, yeah. I’ve seen all that other stuff. But dragons?” She shook her head. “I’ll have to see it to believe it.”

“There may be bones somewhere,” the demon king said, shrugging. “The largest predator in all the worlds, wiped out by?—”

“Alright, no need to scare her,” Adrian cut in.

Ivy hadn’t necessarily been scared, according to the bond, but she had been slightly horrified.

And anyway, there was only speculation about why the dragons died out.

Some claimed it was because they were ignoring their basic instincts and mate bonds, others said they were hunted down by an unknown enemy determined to end them.

Whatever the reason, there really wasn’t anything concrete, other than the hoard who had stayed behind and died with the Old World while everyone else fled.

Silence thickened the air between us, only broken by the soft crackling of the flames. It was Hawk who removed the roasted meat from the flames and set it between us, with the vegetables beside it, but no one made a move to eat.

I couldn’t blame them. My stomach was tightly knotted with everything we didn’t know.

My own issues were at the forefront of that, though. The only thing I was good at, and I was failing at it.

I made certain to block those thoughts from Ivy as I looked at her. Wolfy was feeding her some rabbit, which she picked at with a scrunched nose and little desire for.

Even if I was failing now, I wouldn’t keep it up. Not with Ivy’s life on the line.

Not when I knew now that my mother planned for all of this. Had known something like this would happen.

But how much had she known?