Jann nodded once, but his jaw got tight. “I couldn’t intervene, Melek. I never imagined it would go so far—I thought Lucifer just wanted to humble him. By the time I realized, it was too late.”
“I know.” I made myself say the words, because I believed they were true. But flames of anger flickered in my chest.
Yilan’s hand flattened at my back. She knew too.
“We need to get them both out of his grip. Together,” I muttered.
Jann nodded once, but then looked away. Even in the dark I could see how pale he was. And when he lifted a hand to push his hair back off his face, it trembled. “The problem is, I think… I think Lucifer holds Istral in some place that’s… outside time. I don’t know how to explain it better. But I don’t think it’s in this realm. He took us there once, and when we returned it was as if time hadn’t moved since we left. One moment we were in a room, the next in a dark space that looked similar, but too many shadows and no noise from the outside, and—”
“Like me, in the tent when he warned me,” Yilan breathed at my back.
I’d forgotten. She’d described that when Lucifer took her after our battle at the edge of the Shadows of Shade, it was as if the rest of the world disappeared. As if she’d been separated from reality. She couldn’t explain it.
“We can’t reach her when she’s there,” Jann whispered. “We can’t even find her unless he takes us there.”
“That makes sense,” I said. Yilan stiffened.
“Wait, you said he took you there—when?”
Jann went still. “At the beginning. And again tonight.”
“You didn’t tell us that’s where you thought he had her?” Yilan hissed.
“I didn’t know. The only reason I believe it now is because when he gathered us tonight, when he stepped away and disappeared… I would have sworn I saw light, and a room…” He grimaced. “I’m still not sure, but it tracks. Why we can never find her unless she’s with Gall and—”
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner!”
“Because I didn’t know!”
“You knew about the space, you said he took you!”
“You’ll forgive me if I’m not at my best right now, Yilan. There have beenseveralmore important details to navigate than where I had a fucking meeting!”
I raised my hands as Yilan sucked in a breath to answer, and they both went still and looked at me.
“Let’s just be glad we have gained a clearer picture. We need to know if you know where Gall and Istral areright now?If you’ve learned anything more than what we saw in the Coliseum?”
Jann slumped again, shaking his head. “Lucifer took them from us, and sent us back here. I couldn’t find any believable reason to ask for his time before they disappeared, plus the others were there… I have to be careful.”
I nodded, but I could feel Yilan’s unease through the bond.
“Did you get a chance to speak with Gall at all? Are we… are we sure it’s him?” I made myself ask.
Jann met my eyes, his face tight. “I know for certain the man who attended the Coliseum was the Gall of old, and after… that seemed like him as well. He was confused, and overly-relieved when someone else provided an answer. Istral clung to him, and I think she’d know if he was… off.”
Yilan nodded. “She said it’s him. She said he was healed. She said…” Yilan gulped. “She thinks Lucifer gave her power to save him.”
My stomach flipped. When Yilan told me that, we’d both been sickened by it.
Jann’s jaw went tight. “Of course he did. He was proving himself. I don’t know why he bothers putting Gall and Istral between him and the Neph. He’s clearly showingallof us that it’s onlyhispower that we follow.”
I looked at him sharply, but Yilan stepped past me and stood facing Jann with her hands fisted at her sides—which meantshe’d secreted the blade she pulled. A signal that she trusted him? Or that she didn’t want him to know she was armed?
“First of all,wedon’t follow him. Let’s all agree that Lucifer doesn’t save lives, unless it benefits him and his…darkness,”Yilan hissed.
Jann met her accusing gaze. “You know what I meant.”
“Do I?”
