The parchment vibrated with a power Dorian felt his own form tremble at. The moment his fingers touched it, flashes of scarlet moons and red clouds filled his mind. He winced at the abruptness of it and pulled back.
"This is the one the Infi were guarding?" he asked Reverie.
She nodded, rubbing the gash on her neck.
"And getting this one was when you were hurt?" he asked.
She nodded again but insisted, "I'm fine."
Dorian's fist curled in on itself as he stared. "There'd better be a grand fuck of a reason for you nearly dying retrieving this."
It was dark by the time they reached Dahrkenhill. Well past it. So far past it, Dorian was sure Hagen might already be home and in bed. But he didn't care if he caught him indisposed or naked— chained up while Katla had her way with him.
He wanted answers.
He wanted them now.
Hagen lived south of the Temple at the edge of town in a small home built into the mountain. The three only stopped to relieve the horses upon arrival. Dorian threw his own bags at the Temple door and didn't stop.
Corbin and Reverie did the same.
And they followed Dorian all the way to the edge of town where Hagen lived.
The door nearly broke beneath the weight of Dorian's fist when he knocked. Firelight flickered inside past the window. He swore he heard whispers but no footsteps.
"Dorian, it's late," Reverie said behind him. "He's probably—“
"I don't care."
Dorian railed into the door again.
"Fuck off—“ he heard Hagen shouting on the other side. "It's the middle of the fucking night.Idiots. What—“
The door flew back, and Hagen's words ceased. He held the sheet around his waist, mahogany hair down from the braid he usually had it in and falling over the left shaved side. His eyes darted between the three and then finally landed back on Dorian.
"That bad?" Hagen asked.
Dorian held up the Scroll, ignoring the turmoil in his core just from holding the parchment. "Tell me why Reverie nearly died retrieving this."
Hagen swallowed, a look coming across his features Dorian didn't know he possessed.
Fear.
"How many Scrolls?" he asked.
"Eleven."
"And how many Infi?"
Dorian stared at him. "Does the scar on my face not tell you that?"
Hagen's jaw tightened, and he opened the door further. "Get inside," he said as he turned on his heel. "Make yourselves at home while I change."
He disappeared down the hall, and Dorian pulled every Scroll they'd found from his bag, laying each one on the table. Reverie grabbed a glass from the cupboard and poured herself a whiskey as though she'd been there many times before and knew where things were.
Another voice added to Hagen's at the back of the house. Loud and annoyed. Hagen shouted something, and the other person quieted. It was a few more minutes before Hagen reappeared, pants thrown on him but no shirt, hair still down as though he'd just grabbed the first pair of trousers he'd found.
Katla strode down the hall behind him, wearing one of his shirts, arms folded over her chest.
