I clenched my jaw, swarming his flames with my shadows and squeezing them. He resisted, our powers battling against each other. The pet was strong, but he didn’t realize he’d just ignited my praesidium by strangling and knocking out the other half of my soul. The feeling pounding through my blood wasn’t the surly bastard MJ had called Knox’s. It was a soulless predator. It felt as if the frigid lands of Hell sluiced through my veins, humming a song of unforgiving death—no mercy, no pity. Thepet would suffer.
I exerted more pressure, tightening my shadows. His flaming barrier shrank. Someone shouted something at me, but it didn’t register. I had one goal. My head whipped to the side, and slowly, pain crept into my cheek.
MJ blocked my view. “The Nephilim is next to the bed. If you compress it any more, the prince’s flames will kill him!”
Part of me didn’t care. The pet would have to let go of his power if he wanted to take Lucille to Lilith. Maybe Oliver’s life would be worth the sacrifice.
MJ backhanded me, then ripped my head back by my hair. “She willneverforgive you if you don’t snap out of this. I promise you we will get her out, but you need to take back control.”
Her words sank through the ice, warming me and bringing back a semblance of reason. I pulled back my shadows and placed them around my mind, creating a wall between me and her emotions. They revealed the blue Seraphim flames, and I almost lost my hold on my praesidium when I saw her limp body. I could feel she was alive, but it did little to appease my barely restrained wrath.
The pet stared at me through his flames, something passing through his gaze. It looked knowing, like he’d figured something out. A red light flickered on his wrists.
“What is that?” Alexei asked.
“Hell Runes,” I replied. Lucille was right. The pet was being controlled, and that slight flickering I saw was him trying to break free. But he had two. It took me witnessing the death of my best friend to pull free of one. The only person I bet he cared about was Lucille, and I would lay waste to this entire kingdom before I let her die.
The pet stood with Lucille in his arms. He gave Oliver a long look before releasing him to us and shrinking the barrier to cover just them. Then he opened the door, destroying the wood and metal with a single touch.
“I’ll see you in the throne room, shadow-wielder. But take your time.” He smirked, his wrist flashing. “Your arrival will be asurpriseto the queen.”
Something in the way he said that made me pause. The queen didn’t know the rest of us were here. And by the sound of it, the pet wasn’t going to tell her. But why? Or better yet—how?
Against the rioting shadows whirling chaotically around my body, I let them leave. Everything in me revolted against my choice. All my muscles were one rigid, shaking line holding my feet in place. I vibrated with the need to follow them. But didn’t. I had no idea what was about to happen to her, and I fucking let her go. Why? Because there would be more casualties if we fought. And we came here to save him for her, and to steal back my feather. We needed to figure out a better plan before we stormed after them.
“Why is the prince helping us?” Alexei asked.
“Because he’s fighting his Hell Runes.” Oliver frowned. “He told me to remember his fear, and Lucy told me to let her go, like she had some plan.”
“What kind of plan?” I demanded.
Oliver shook his head. “Hard to tell when her evil lover is choking her.”
Alexei dropped his dagger. “Excuse me? Did I hear you right? The prince and Lucille? But—” He questioned me with his eyes, and I answered him with a tightgrimace.
Yes, I was aware of their relationship. No, I didn’t want to spend a second thinking about it.
“Explain what he meant about his fear.”
Oliver glanced at the charred door, looking just as eager to go after Lucille as I felt. “In Elora, I accidentally forced him into his worst fear and made him remember his mother’s murder. But it was a fail-safe. It triggered his rune, weakening him and turning him into what he is now. So, I’m not sure why he’d tell me to remember it. Lucille is the only one who could kind of bring him back to himself.”
That reminded me of my time with Gabriel. But she couldn’t be—no. I pushed that thought away.
“Was he in pain when the rune weakened him?” I asked.
Oliver nodded. “Yes.”
Alexei retrieved his dagger from the floor. “What are you thinking, Ronen?”
“The Hell Rune is designed to suppress everything but commands. You don’t feel, you barely think, and your memories are hidden out of reach. I broke free of mine when I witnessed a tragedy. My grief and rage swallowed the numbness of the rune and rendered it inactive. But it fought back, and breaking free was excruciating.”
“But remembering his mom’s murder didn’t allow him to break free. It made him worse,” Oliver reiterated.
“Did herememberit, though?” I asked.
Oliver opened his mouth, then closed it, thinking. “No. He thought it was an illusion.”
I nodded. “There’s a chance his breakthrough is on the other side of his fear.”
