Page 81

Ivy

W hen the diversion teams went their respective ways, I forced the panic and fear down and summoned my magic to the surface.

Closing my eyes, I brought the image of the crown into my mind.

Rather than red crystal, I imagined it the same colour as my magic: a vibrant purple, like how it manifested across my skin, like the lightning that struck the sky when I tunnelled into my power.

The crown had bone, too, around where it sat upon my head. I’d never gotten a close look at it before, but now it was clear in my mind, clearer than it ever had been before.

Find it , I thought, letting my magic flow out of me in search of that final, missing piece. Find the crown. Find Nyx’s skull .

A shiver rolled down my spine as my magic sparked, unfurling from my chest and out of my body. I didn’t resist it, letting it show me, rather than trying to control it.

That’s what it had been doing all along. Showing me the way, guiding me to what I really needed.

My magic carved a path through the darkness of my mind, and when I opened my eyes, I gasped. The path that had been imprinted behind my eyes with purple light appeared before me, cutting through the road and into the village.

“Fuck,” Adrian breathed, stepping up beside me. He gently took my hand, entwining our fingers. “I can see it.”

“I cannot,” Damon muttered, sounding particularly disappointed. “Though that might be for the best.”

“Hopefully that means anyone who isn’t mated to me can’t see it,” I whispered. “But I don’t know how long it’s going to last, so we need to move.”

Adrian took a step forward, keeping me behind him as he scanned the brightening sky.

On one side of the village, where Elias, Maeve, and the shifter had gone, the sun rose, peaking over the mountain ranges that once made this dragon territory.

In that direction, a wind blew the stench of the zombie-rats into the ruins.

On the other side, fire licked the sky, a long wall of it cutting off half the army from the ruins. There was anarchy, the sound of gunfire and shouts carrying from the flames.

I tried not to think about Hawk and our last moment together. The kiss. The promise to break our bond once we got out of here. I temporarily shoved all thoughts of him and the pain that came with him down, locking it away where it wouldn’t distract me .

I might have been stupid going to him last night, expecting something—answers, respect, anything —but I couldn’t let him win now.

After this, he would get what he wanted.

I wasn’t entirely sure we would make it without being noticed, but soon, the zombie-rats would take over the left side of the village, holding off the army as a distraction for us to make our way through.

I held my breath as I waited for the enemy to redirect their attention to the zombie-rats.

Damon pressed into my side, tingles shooting up my arm as he brushed his fingers against mine, where our marks matched.

I couldn’t bring myself to look at him, or Adrian, who glanced at me over his shoulder with worry.

It was only when the whines of the first zombie-rats sounded not too far from where we stood, and the gunfire shifted, that I released my breath. “ Now .”

The males standing either side of me didn’t need to be told twice.

With my eyes locked on the path of magic, I ran into the village.

Damon became a weapon, drawing twin swords from nothing and using them to slice through anyone who got in our way.

He was so elegant in the way he swiped the long blades through the bodies of soldiers and shifters; quick enough that no one knew he was coming, and lethal enough that when he struck, the one on the other end of the blade did not rise again.

Adrian had his gun out, but he didn’t need to use it, at least for now.

I’d chosen no physical weapon, though in the distance, the smell of rain caught the breeze, the wind picking up with the ferocity of an oncoming storm.

The sunlight that breached the mountain ranges slowly disappeared as dark, thunderous clouds rolled over the horizon .

The path of my magic wound around old buildings and into what had once been a stone square. It was a large, open, flat piece of land with buildings, and what once used to be a temple, surrounding it. I felt a flash of familiarity, like I’d seen it before.

But I didn’t have time to dwell on it. A male with long red hair and sharp, fox-like features threw himself at us, lips pulled in a snarl.

It took only one shot from Adrian and a swipe of Damon’s swords to cut the male down.

He fell in a heap at our feet, bleeding from a bullet-wound to the head, his innards spilling out from a cut through his gut.

Bile rose in my throat, but I forced myself to take his features in. To me, he was a nameless soldier, a traitor to Nyx and her Queens. He could have been anyone, but he’d unfortunately fallen for whatever story Dante spun about power, or worse, had been mentally manipulated by Dante’s magic.

“Come on,” Adrian murmured, lowering the gun to his side. “There’s nothing we can do for him.”

I swallowed hard, burying the guilt down with everything else. “I know,” I replied, glancing at my mate. “It’s still sad, though.”

He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze before nodding to the magical path. “Let’s find the crown.”

Now, the zombie-rats fully infiltrated the camp, taking down unsuspecting soldiers.

They weren’t prepared for the living dead.

They’d been expecting us, were mentally and magically prepared for me and my mates.

Not huge rats with literal flesh sliding off their bones, with the ability to just keep moving.

It was eerie, and yet extremely helpful.

“They are a plight,” Damon murmured. “Unnatural. ”

I snorted, grimacing as the sweet, rotting smell that followed the creatures surrounded us. “Okay. We can’t keep standing out here in the open.”

As soon as the words left my lips, a tingle ran down my spine.

It felt like I was being watched. I looked over my shoulder, seeking out any unfamiliar gazes.

There were fights going on around us, mostly the invading army against the rats.

It didn’t seem like anyone had noted us standing in the middle of the open field.

But I couldn’t shake the feeling.

It wasn’t easy to brush off, and my hackles remained up as we started on our path through the village ruins again.

The light remained a fixture not just in my mind, but in my vision.

It wound through what might have once been side streets, over an old bridge with a creek that barely had any water to sustain it, and into open fields.

In the distance, I spied the ruins of a large, old building. Only the foundations remained. It sat against rolling hills and more fields, but beyond was another smaller structure.

My breath caught in my throat as I followed the winding, purple magic right up to the small building.

The cottage.

Right behind the old orphanage, where Pandora grew up.

My heart skipped a beat as I realised there was a tent not far from the orphanage. It was larger than the others, and there were four surrounding it. They were far enough away from the line of fire Rowan, Hawk, and Orion had set that they weren’t touched by the flames at all.

It probably wouldn’t take long for the zombie-rats to reach them, but there was something about the tents that had an aura of power surrounding them.

Adrian tugged me back into the shelter of a wall, his eyes wide as he stared in the same direction as me. Damon slipped in behind me, his presence like a hard barrier between me and the rest of the world.

“That’s Dante’s tent,” Adrian whispered. “I can sense his power. It’s different, but his signature is all over it.”

We have eyes on Dante’s tent, I directed down each bond. Hopefully, they’d relay the message on to the non-bonded mates. His magical signature is all over it. And he’s not far from the cottage.

It didn’t take long for the others to respond.

Don’t go anywhere near those tents, Maeve said. We’ll direct the thrax to them, and pray they draw Dante out and distract him. But do not enter his line of sight or fire.

I swallowed hard. I know, I won’t . Fear, unlike anything else I’d felt before flooded me. There were two possibilities: either he had chosen that location by chance, or he’d already found the crown—and the skull.

Fuck, I prayed for it to be the former. That he’d made a strategic guess that it was the most secure place to pitch his tent, and that he had no idea how close he was to the skull.

But I also knew it would be too good to be true if that was the case.

He’d figured everything else out first, had been several steps ahead of us since the very beginning.

He knew things not even Greer had known, and somehow, he’d been able to use that to his advantage—had been able to start a war with it.

Our luck wasn’t about to start now. I knew that, deep down. And yet I still hoped that maybe, just maybe, we had the upper hand.

Be careful, Rowan said down the bond. We’ve got Hyperion Black. Or, well, Orion does. They’re battling it out now, and I’m being very supportive. But I think you’ll find your mate is kicking his dad’s ass.

A small smile flickered across my lips. Be safe, I replied.

“We need to go to the cottage,” I whispered. “I want to believe he hasn’t found it, but the others don’t want us going anywhere near his tents.”

“Then we go around, close to the fire.” Damon reached over my shoulder to point out the direction we should be going in. It would take us the long way around the ruined orphanage, delivering us on the other side of the cottage.

Nodding, I cast the tents one final look. “We need to be prepared for anything. He’s probably already thought about what might happen if we come looking. There could be traps.”