“Rae!”
Piper and Aiden called out in unison. He could hear the urgency in their tone, but he wasn’t willing to let Auraelia go. Not until he was sure she was breathing steadily, and he was sure she would be able to handle whatever problem lay beyond that door.
“Rae, I don’t care if he’s balls deep, Iwillcome in there! I will scar myself for life if I have to!” Piper yelled from right on the other side of the door, her tone an octave higher than usual.
“Fuck off, give us a second.Goddess,” Daemon hollered before taking a deep breath to calm the irritation that had begun to swirl in his chest. “Are you ready?” he whispered, tilting Auraelia’s face up to his.
The panic had ebbed, but worry was still present in her gaze when she laced her fingers with his and nodded.
“Okay.” He gave her a small smile, then pressed a kiss to her brow before guiding her to the door. When he pushed it open, Piper and Aiden were pacing the floor.
“What the fuck is going on?” he growled.
“It’s your Dad,” Aiden began.
“Pearl is on the move, Daemon. You need to go,” Piper finished, sympathy filling her gaze as it flicked between him and her best friend.
“What did you see, Piper?” The strength had come back to Auraelia’s voice, her spine ramrod straight as she honed in on her friend.
There’s my girl.One corner of Daemon’s lips lifted as he looked down at her. Despite her fear of what the day would bring, he knew she wouldn’t let it hold her back. Wouldn’t let it overwhelm her. He knew she was strong, but seeing her step into her strength when she looked like she would break just moments ago was a sight that would never cease to awe and impress him.
“I can show you.” Piper’s gaze shifted from Auraelia to him.
“Me?” he questioned, his eyes wide as they met the clairvoyant’s all-seeing gaze.
“I mean…I can show Auraelia, but it would be faster and more beneficial to just show you directly.” Urgency bled into every word, but there was also hesitancy there. Like she wasn’t sure about this idea either. When he didn’t respond, she rolled her eyes and closed the distance between them, holding out her hand for his. “Just breathe, okay? It’s the fastest way.”
Before he could even respond, Piper seized his hand, and it immediately felt like he was being held underwater. Like he was drowning, his lungs constricting in his chest from the onslaught of Piper’s power running through his system. Auraelia’s voice filtered into his mind, urging him to breathe, and he had to force his lungs to draw in air.
White swirls of fog spilled across his vision for a moment before it cleared away to show the bloodbath that was to befall his father’s troops. The Court of Pearl had moved sooner than they’d anticipated, catching the Court of Opal and his father’s soldiers unaware, ending the lives of so many good men and women. Though as quickly as that vision had appeared, it was replaced with another. One where he was on the field, fighting alongside his people with victory within their grasp as Pearl’s forces fell and retreated around them. The differences between the two were drastic.
One led to catastrophic losses, the other—possible victory.
As the fog began to roll across his vision once more, Piper removed her hand, and he had to blink a few times for his vision to clear.
“Why were there two?” he demanded.
“Because you haven’t decided.” Her voice was low but sure as if she’d seen his question coming—and when he thought about it, she probably had. After taking a deep breath, she continued. “The future… it’s not set in stone. It’s constantly changing. But one thing is certain; if you do not go to their aid, theywillfall.”
“Daemon,” Auraelia breathed, her gaze shooting to his, panic once again swimming in her eyes.
“Can you two give us a moment?” he asked, not bothering to look Piper and Aiden’s way. When the door was closed behind them, Daemon tried to speak, but Auraelia cut him off.
“You have to go.”
“Auraelia—”
“No, Daemon. This isn’t a discussion that we should be having. It’syour father! Your people! What about them? What about Yvaine? Sariah? You can’t leave them to do this alone.”
Daemon gently cradled her face in his hands, pleading with her to see reason even when he knew she was right. “Please, don’t do this. We’re supposed to do this together. We have to bring her downtogether.”
“Daemon, my love. I don’t want you to go, but youhaveto. They need you.”
“Youneed me.” Anguish filled every word, his heart cleaving in two at the path that Dalia was forcing them to walk.
Tears welled in her eyes, turning them a bright shade of aquamarine that made her look so much like Astraea at that moment that Daemon’s breath caught in his throat.
“They need you more.” Her lip trembled as she held his gaze, her voice wavering as she spoke. “I–I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to your family. Neither could you.”
