Hearing Veld's voice for the first time puts my teeth on edge. Fear for Heidi's welfare continues to pound through me, making my head and heart both ache in the worst fucking way.
I look at Kaenon. "Translate."
"Veld is asking Nivarrah what game this is and wants to know where she has moved his…toy," he translates the last word with a snarl. "I will not repeat his true word choice."
"The important thing is, Veld no longer has Heidi. Nivarrah does," I mutter, starting to hone in on where I'm sensing her magic coming from.
One of the mirrors beside us seems to flip and change—and for a fraction of a second, I glimpse Heidi, unconscious on the ground.
At least, IthinkI see Heidi.
Illusory magic isn't commonplace anymore, but I've heard the stories. Tricking every single sense, it's a deceptive mindfuck that people used to pay good money for as an intense form of entertainment, long ago. It was eventually outlawed worldwide because of how easily illusory magic could be used to confuse people into doing horrible things, confessing dark secrets, and, in general, completely losing their sense of what is reality and what isn't.
Before Kaenon or Zak can make a move toward the blurred image of Heidi, there's a sharp cry of pain from somewhere in this room. A moment later, Ian swears somewhere.
Veld laughs again."Faich uthoir leat confunde, iast cuir imi. Barradh da mihi recipere, unum fatis.”
Kaenon translates immediately. "He says,see how you confuse them, this pleases me. Yet you will please me far more by returning her to me, fated one."
"Does this shithead really think Nivarrah will give our girl back just so he can use her to taunt him?" Zak scoffs. "He's fucking insane."
It does sound insane.
But from Kaenon's description of Nivarrah and Veld, I've seen something like this before. I watched my mom's toxic, complicated, abusive relationship with my father for years. When I was young, I was so furious at her for not leaving him—for not saving herself. Because he did things like this. Broke her in so many ways, she couldn't even see how shattered she was.
It took time for me to understand how complex my mom's dark world was. Her worldview was centered on winning my father back in a way I'll never understand. To her, every exit was a battle in a war she'd already lost. To her, the only person who could piece her jagged edges back together again was the same person who shattered her, over and over.
All this to say, Nivarrah is in a fucked-up situation. She can't be thinking clearly.
Not waiting to find out whether this ancient fae caster will decide to kill Veld or try to win him back by sacrificing the love of my life, I focus again on where I'm sensing her from. Signaling to the others to follow, I creep cautiously through the maze of mirrors.
Now and then, everything morphs around us, trying to block our path. Various smells fill the air, matching whatever images flicker around us—flowers, smoke, vomit, ash, sage, the salty spray of the ocean. Sometimes, it's a mind trip because it looks like I'm going the wrong direction.
I grip one of Zak's arms and one of Kaenon's. They don't put up a fight as I follow my sixth sense, drawing us closer to where Nivarrah truly is.
When we walk through another wall of fake mirrors, I halt in my tracks when I see Crypt on the ground, soaked in blood. Ian is crouched over him.
Shit. Is this real?
Ian spots our reflection in another set of mirrors and squints over his shoulder at us. Blood stains his chin and the neck of his shirt. It's clear he fed on the incubus.
Unless this is just all in my head. I can't fucking trust anything.
I wonder if this is how that damn blood fae necromancer felt when he lost his mind.
"If you're real, prove it," Ian says.
I pinch his arm hard because Nivarrah can mess with a lot of senses, but she must not have physical touch down, or she would be fucking with our minds even more than she already is.
"We're real." I glance down at Crypt, both relieved and disappointed when I see his chest rising and falling. "It would crush the Amato quintet if he died, and they would probably try to avenge him, but I'll be honest. I wish you had just killed him. Fucking bastard."
"Still can," Zak points out, also vindictive.
Ian stands, wiping more blood off his chin. "I didn't know it was Crypt. The bitch in here made me think it was Veld I was killing."
Shit. If Nivarrah had him attack Crypt, it means she's flighty and didn't trust the Nightmare Prince, even though he brought her here to off Veld like she wanted. That also means her mind isn't made up about what to do, so we're more or less at her mercy in here.
"Nivarrah has Heidi," Kaenon says, looking around this confusing maze again. He sniffs the air and then scowls. "I keep catching her scent, but then it changes."
