“Do you think I don’t know loss?” Cassandra rose, walking toward me. “Do you think I haven’t felt my soul ripping apart for a thousand years because of what I did to my mate?” She shook her finger in my face, and Storm moved toward me. “I lost my sister, the only friends I ever had, and my mate. He may be evil, but you speak of cruelty? Imagine your soul bound to Thames.” She pulled back, brushing her hands down her dress. “I understand the loss you feel, Illiana. But we walk a delicate line. One wrong move and we lose this world forever.”
I swallowed, allowing her words to hit as she intended. Knowing how entwined my being was with Kade’s, I didn’t know how she still stood after a thousand years without her mate. His destructive choices didn’t eliminate their bond. I couldn’t even imagine the torment that must cause her.
I bowed my head in submission. The light inside me slithered away, reducing to a more manageable simmer as I took a deep breath.
“Illiana, darling.” Vivienne’s voice floated in my ear, more soothing than I’d ever heard her speak before. “I’ve watched you grow up over the years, and you have become a breathtaking woman. But when the Fates speak, we must do as they say. It’s how their magic works. We cannot go against it, or it canhave dire consequences. I know none of this helps you, and you believe we are out to purposefully make things harder.” She pushed a strand of hair out of my eyes. “You aren’t the only one hurting. We must follow what the Fates have foretold if we have any hope of saving this world.”
Lucien trotted through the door, immediately making his way to my side and nuzzling my leg. He always knew when I needed strength. I reached down, scratching under his chin.
“We know where the troops are,” Vivienne casually stated.
All our heads snapped to look at her.
“And?” Jax asked.
“Thames has called all of his dark ones to Firestone.”
“Why?” I asked, my brow furrowing at the same time Ian asked, “What is Firestone?”
Jax and Raya exchanged a look before groaning in unison.
“Why do we keep getting dragged to the worst places in our world?” Jax whined.
“How are you an elite Guardian when you’re scared of everywhere, Jax?” Kalliah snorted. “Are you really a big bad warrior, or are you just a scaredy cat?”
Jax stuck out his tongue at Kalliah. “You loved my cat last?—”
Storm cleared his throat. “Firestone is a volcano,” he interrupted, answering Ian’s question.
Ian’s eyes widened. “Well, that’s a first. I should probably stop assuming things in books are make believe.”
“If he’s calling troops there, do we think the weapon might be there?” I asked out loud as I processed the revelations.
Cassandra nodded. “It’s our assumption. The dark ones you captured weren’t clear why they were going, they just knew they’d been called back.”
“When did this happen?”
“It’s why we were late. We were pushed in another direction from Ellevail.”
I stared at the two women, my eyes darting back and forth between them. I had to accept there was much I’d never know about them, but one thing I needed to remember was not to underestimate them.
“How are we possibly going to get to Firestone?” Raya asked. “That is days of riding at best. At worst, a week or more depending on if we encounter any trouble along the way.”
Ian frowned and paced back and forth. Storm ran his hand along the side of his face, both men looking like their brains were going a hundred miles per hour trying to figure out any way to get there faster.
“I could fly there and scope it out. It would only take me a few days,” Ian suggested. “I would just need some sort of map to get me through Mysthaven.”
“You’ve never even been to Mysthaven,” Raya reminded him. “It’s a terrible idea. You don’t know what you are getting yourself into. If anyone were to shift and travel to determine what’s there, it would be Jax. But even then, it would take him too long to get there.”
I raked my hand through my hair, trying to run through scenarios in my head. We didn’t know if we had days or weeks to travel, spy, and return home to plan. If there was no other way, then we didn’t have a choice. We couldn’t enter this battle blind, fighting some mysterious weapon, and hope to face Thames, and live to tell the tale.
I inhaled, closing my eyes as I held by breath for a few seconds, then released it.Focus.We would make it work.
Cassandra coughed, focusing my attention back on her. “Illiana, all you need to do is ask that pet of yours. I’m sure he’d be happy to oblige.”
What?
We all looked at each other, confused. How could Lucien help us? He was a pugron for Fates’ sake.
