Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dianthe fidget with her hair, her eyes darting toward the sky as if this wasn’t exactly news to her. He narrowed his eyes on Raven. “What kind of information?”
Avery cleared her throat. “Aborella seemed to think that part of the tanglewood tree remains somewhere in our parents’ bar—the Three Sisters—in the Earth realm.”
“Do you mean to tell me that, where you are from, your parents own a tavern called the Three Sisters?” Sylas grimaced, a low growl rumbling from his chest. “Prophetic, wouldn’t you say? Why didn’t you mention this last night? We were under the impression we’d have to find a way to do this without the book. Why would you hide something like this?”
“Easy, Sylas.” Colin placed a hand on his twin’s chest, although he could understand his brother’s unease. When Sylas and his mate had returned from their journey to find the orbs and Dianthe and Avery had shared how Aborella had died at Avery’s hand, they were all led to believe that all hope of translating the scroll was likely lost, burned with the tanglewood tree. This news meant that someone was holding back information during their debrief—information that could change everything.
“I needed time to process what she told me. It didn’t exactly make sense,” Avery said defensively.
Sidling up to her sister, Clarissa shot Sylas a look hard enough to have been a physical push. “Let’s not get our hopes up, okay? Aborella wasn’t always honest, and even if what she said is true, if any part of the tree is there, it will be complicated for us to find.”
“What’s so complicated about it?” Colin had a bad feeling about this.
“We know for sure that most of the tree was used as fuel to burn my ancestor, Circe—Medea’s sister—at the stake,” Raven said. “Aborella wasn’t specific about what she saw. If any part of the tree survived, it’s been hidden for over three hundred years. For all we know, it could be sealed into a wall or rotting under the floorboards. It won’t be easy to find, and it means returning to New Orleans, where we’re vulnerable. The entire reason we came here to Aeaea was to escape the possibility that Hera or Eleanor was tracking us. She did once with Scoria. She can do it again.”
Gabriel’s eyes blazed red with his suspicion. “Could be a trap. Aborella was bound to Eleanor. This all might be a ploy to lure us off the island.”
Avery dug her toe in the sand. “I don’t think it was a ploy. I can’t prove it, but if you were there—”
“I agree with Avery,” Dianthe said. “I think Aborella was telling the truth.”
Colin bristled. His siblings and their mates had fled Earth for good reason. Eleanor could track them if they left Aeaea where Circe’s celestial protection shielded them from Eleanor’s blood magic. Eleanor wanted Charlie dead. The prophecy said that the child would be her undoing and the end of Paragon as they knew it. The empress had broken through Nathaniel’s strongest wards to try to murder the babe. If it weren’t for Aborella’s warning, the child might not have made it out alive.
“Ye won’t be goin’ alone, that’s fir sure,” Xavier said, crossing his arms over his bare chest and staring at Avery as if willing her to fight him on that point.
Nathaniel seemed equally peeved by the idea. He reached a hand toward his hip, most likely reaching for his pipe, then seemed to realize he wasn’t wearing his usual suit and crossed his arms, echoing Xavier’s stance. “Definitely not going alone,” he said, his British accent growing stronger with his anger. “You’ll need my magic to travel safely to New Orleans. Public transportation would be suicide.”
Gabriel grunted. “Our home in New Orleans has the strongest blood ward I’ve ever encountered, thanks to Raven. We’ll be safe, at least while we are within its walls.”
Contemplating the news, Colin ran a hand along his scarred arm, hating that there wasn’t a better alternative. As the leader of the Defenders of the Goddess, he knew the others were waiting for his blessing, but it was risky sending the three sisters back into the earthly realm. Strategically, the resistance needed their magic if they were to have any hope of defeating Eleanor, and personally, he would never forgive himself if something happened to one of his siblings or their mates. But the promise of the grimoire was enough bait to get him to bite. It was their best and truest hope of salvation.
“If there’s a chance the key to finding the grimoire is on Earth, we have to try,” he said. “Raven, Avery, Clarissa, Gabriel, Xavier, and Nathaniel will go. Between the six of you, you should be strong enough to keep one another safe.”
“Seven,” Raven said. “We’re not going anywhere without Charlie.”
Colin growled. “It isn’t safe—”
Raven’s eyes flared, and the ground rumbled beneath his feet. “She’s safe where her mother and father are.”
He wasn’t going to fight with that. Coming between a witch and her daughter was far beyond his pay grade. A quick glance at Gabriel confirmed he didn’t have a problem with it. If his brother thought the best course of action was taking the child, Colin wouldn’t force the issue. “Fine. The seven of you will go, find the piece of the tree, and return here.”
A murmur passed through the others.
Raven gave him a curt nod. “We’ll try our best to be quick about it.”
“Excellent.” Colin knew he was being hopelessly optimistic, but he felt good about this move. “With any luck, you’ll find the tree and we’ll have the enchantment on that scroll cracked before things heat up any more on Ouros. We need to know the content of Medea’s message.”
The group dispersed, and Colin allowed himself the pleasure of glancing in Leena’s direction, but she wasn’t there. He caught the back of her dark copper braid as she disappeared into the jungle in the direction of her tent.Odd.Almost like she was running away.
Chapter Three
Leena hadn’t come to dinner, and Colin was tempted to go find her.
Funny thing, temptation. As the youngest heir to the throne of Paragon, Colin had plenty of experience with itandthe disappointment that followed when acting on that temptation led to disaster.
When he was seven, he’d been tempted to skip lessons and play in the garden with the cook’s son. How he loved their games. It was the most fun he’d ever had until they were caught.
That was his first lesson that having a royal title wouldn’t buy him an ounce of sympathy. They’d both been returned to the palace, where he was whipped by his father, Killian. Dragons were immortal and healed quickly, but a switch against one’s backside hurt, nonetheless. The sting was permanently branded on his memory.
