“What happens if they kill you?”
He didn’t know, did he? He concentrated. Closed his eyes and tried to put himself back there. The sizzle of fire scorching earth. The roar of the beasts in the dark jungle. If they were caught… If they were killed… His stomach twisted, and he ran a hand over the symbols. There were thirteen and they repeated but some more frequently than others. The U-shaped symbol repeated the least.
His eyes popped open, and he focused on her. “If you get killed, you have to start back at the beginning.”
Raven went absolutely still. “Goddess, that’s it!” She stood and paced around the symbol again. “That devious bitch!”
“Who are we talking about?”
“Eleanor! Your wicked mother.” Raven turned the emerald ring on her finger. “When I brought Gabriel back from the dead, he hadn’t been gone long. He described the place where he was and that he had a strong feeling that had he wanted to, he could have moved on for good. Our bond is what held him to that place, and when I brought him back, I did it using his own magic. I’d had his tooth, and I’d absorbed dragon magic right before he died. It was my blood that brought him back.”
“Do you think that’s why he doesn’t have a symbol in his skin?”
She nodded. “I think there’s more to it than that.” She pointed at the first dimension in the stack. “When Avery died, she saw the same thing that Gabriel did. Bright, warm light. It’s the hallmark of the dimension represented by the spiral, the symbol tattooed on her arm. I used Charlie’s blood to bring her back. The same blood I used on you.”
“So it is Charlie’s blood that causes the symbols?”
Raven shook her head. “No. Not directly. Marius, we’ve established your skin is a stamped passport. Those symbols designate every time you passed from one dimension to the next. I think Gabriel doesn’t have one because the stubborn bastard never actually moved on. Our bond was so strong, so magically tight, his soul never passed into that next dimension. And we were on Earth when he died, so our position with the underworld was different.” She sighed. “But you and Avery both died here. She can’t take Xavier’s tooth, so while they are mated, she doesn’t have the same magical link to him as I have to Gabriel. Her soul passed into this first dimension. We pulled her back.”
“The spiral.” Marius’s eyes narrowed. They were on the edge of something. He could see Raven working it out in her head. “If she’d moved on to the next dimension, she’d have had two symbols when you pulled her back.”
Raven shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Hmm?”
“I think normally a soul sees one dimension. Which of the thirteen you visit likely depends on the circumstances of your death. Normally that first stop is a place for the soul to find its peace before it passes, permanently, into the beyond—that place we all go when we die. Under normal circumstances, a soul would never see a second dimension.”
“But I didn’t move on.”
“You couldn’t. Eleanor bound your soul to your physical heart, and she kept control of it. Your soul kept trying to move on. That’s why you needed to find the temple. I think it was a metaphor for transcending. Don’t you see, Marius? You were trying to free yourself from purgatory by finding the temple and moving on, but because of Eleanor’s spell, you couldn’t. For three hundred years, you fought your way through dimension after dimension, trying to get out, and there was nowhere to go but to start over.”
A chill ran the length of his spine. He knew she was right. It made sense now. He ran a hand down his chest. “Why won’t they leave me alone?”
Raven’s lips pressed together, and she stared at him, concentrating. “When you told me about trying to reach the temple, you said you had to lead them. Who is them?”
He was sure he’d told Raven this before. Then again, maybe not the specifics. “Killian and Brynhoff. I never knew if it was them or just a mental construct of them, but Killian has appeared to me— Why are you looking at me like that?”
Raven had paled. She looked like she’d seen a ghost. “They’re still trapped.”
“Hmm?”
“Eleanor did the same thing to Killian and Brynhoff as she did to you.”
“But she’s dead. The spell should be broken. Wouldn’t they have moved on by now?”
Raven shook her head. “A dragon’s heart is a self-contained power. I pulled the golden grimoire out of Tavyss’s heart long after his death and the death of the witch, Medea, who put it there. Marius, I think the reason for your nightmares is that your father and your uncle are still trapped within these dimensions and they’re using their connection to you to ask for your help.”
“How? Why?”
“You said you were their leader. Now you’re gone. They still need you. You must have formed a bond over your time together.”
“Where are their hearts? Can you bring them back as you did me?”
Raven frowned and shook her head. “Resurrection after being dead so long is not a good idea. That type of blood magic has a price. You must understand that what happened with you was a side effect of us using your heart to resurrect the goddess. We never intended to bring you back as well. We never knew we could.”
He buried his face in his hands. Resurrection had a price. His was an accident, but he was pretty sure he was paying the dues anyway.
“That doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do. If I can find their hearts, I can break the spells on them and allow their souls to move on. That should break the connection between you and them and end your nightmares.”
