“AGAIN?!” I whirl, lunging for him with bared teeth. Serena darts in front of me, attempting to shove me back.
“Why are you protecting him?!” I snarl, chest heaving. My claws threaten to poke right through the tips of my fingers, my spine seconds away from rearranging itself.
“Because he’s an idiot,clearly, and has no idea how to keep from running his mouth. I truly don’t think he can help it.”
“Well, he’d better learn fast.”
“Oh, relax, shifter,” he tuts, crossing his legs. “You and I are going to be great friends.”
The son of a bitch has the nerve towinkat me.
“Over my dead fucking body.” I yank on the hem of my jacket, snapping it smooth. Jace snickers from behind us.
“Kylian, how do you know there’s nothing we can do?” Serena keeps one hand on me, siphoning away my anger.
He sighs. “Unless you’ve been a secret starsmith this entire time, then what’s done is done. They are joined and cannot be un-joined by you or me or anyone else in this room.”
“So we’re just supposed to wait and do nothing while he could be out there?” Panic floods her sweet little voice. “I might have brought him back or let him in or I don’t even know what, but I can’t just do nothing after I caused all of this!”
“Hey, this is not your fault. Do you understand me?” I pull her face into my hands, smoothing her cheeks and earning her tearful gaze.
“Waiting is the best thing we can do. And you, darling, should lie as low as you possibly can. Limit using your power in showy displays, anything that might attract attention.” Kylian stands and walks toward her. “At least the star is in our possession.”
“Right. Which means he’ll be coming for it sooner or later,” Jace huffs.
“I hope that I am wrong about this. Truly,” Kylian says, all levity faded from his tone. “But I’m here. I am willing to do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”
I loathe him with every fiber of my being. But the way he’s looking at her, like he would leap in front of a bullet for her, is hard to deny.
“And what about your plans for world domination?” she murmurs, gazing up at him with a sliver of guarded hope.
He looks over Serena with hungry, faithful eyes.
“I’ve waited this long, haven’t I? What’s another minor delay at this point?”
EPILOGUE
Ilspeth Triori stepped out of the shadows and smoothed the crimson velvet pooling around her legs. Snow was drifting toward her in slow, white wisps that softly kissed the top of her raven hair. It was cold, she knew, but it had been years since Ilspeth had felt something as mundane as temperature.
Centuries, even.
Her heeled boots left prints in the snow as she made her way toward the mountain. Stopping before the massive gray boulder, she braced her hands on the cool, frosted rock, and with all of her strength, she pushed.
After a few moments, it finally gave way, clearing her path into the tomb.
A dark tunnel stretched before her—darker than night itself.
But she didn’t need light. Because she wasn’t afraid of the dark. She wasn’t afraid of anything.
To be afraid, you had to be able to feel. And Ilspeth Triori could feel nothing at all. In fact, she was even beginning to forgetwhyshe felt nothing.
And that was perfectly fine.
The shadows led the way, black on black, coiling around her andsweeping her deeper through the maze within the sacred mountain. With every step, she could feel the vibrations. The energy. The rumble of power so ancient it pre-dated this world.
She had felt the shift the moment it happened, all the way across the sea. And when she fastened her robe around her waist, climbed out of bed, and peered out the window, the constellation was closer to the earth than she’d ever seen. Like a string of jewels in a velvet bed of night.
She had come straightaway.
