He was quiet for a time. “He will be dead.”
“He will.” What kind of mother was I? I’d sacrificed a family member. Where did I draw the line in this? I couldn’t even kill him myself, or Carmine would sense my magic.
I would speak with my grandfather once more, if he was in any state to hear me. I owed him that.
Adeuto exhaled. “I wish he wasn’t going, Mama.”
“Me too, my love,” I whispered.
He curled into my side, and soon his breaths evened out. When his hand slipped off my cheek, I tucked it under the blankets and eased out of the small nook.
Athira was sitting in the dark. “Does he sleep deeply?”
“Yes, though he has not had a day like today. He may have nightmares. We should go now.”
“With no one to protect him?”
“Neti is outside.” That might be the oddest thing I’d ever said, but the white-scaled demon animal was here to protect Adeuto. After today, I had no doubts on that front.
She shook her head, then opened a portal. “Follow me.”
The portal led directly into the dungeon, and after stepping through, my gut immediately flared at the presence of the barrier three feet in front. I gasped against the strength of the warning. Nice to know it still worked—though not when Carmine’s mother was attacking my son. I scowled.
Though… Athira hadn’t attacked in the end. In fact, I was nowpotentiallyin a far stronger position. Perhaps feeling betrayed that my gut hadn’t warned me was premature.
Athira took my hand and pushed her magic up my arm and over my body. “You should be fine to walk through.”
“Should be?” I asked.
“Your mating is incomplete. But I believe from the way your smoke doesn’t hurt my son, that his will not hurt you either.”
I looked at the barrier, a few feet in front. “Will he feel me going through?”
“He will not know until he next visits the dungeons, and Carmine does not like to do that, as you might imagine. Right now he is otherwise occupied at the demon gates.”
I glanced at her in the dark. “What’s happening?”
“He’s attacking the coven tonight.”
I released an exhale. “Shit.”
“His focus will be elsewhere, and so will the focus of his army. This is the best time for your sister to escape.”
It really could be. If Athira wasn’t lying her ass off.
I stepped through the barrier and didn’t evaporate to dust. I glanced back. “Phew. You coming?”
“If he does come here, he will sense that we passed together.”
“How convenient for you.”
She smirked.
“Do you know that with my divination magic, I can summon echoes of the past?” I said to her. “That means I can show Carmine this entire exchange. Which I would do, if my life was ever on the line from your… blurred loyalties.”
Athira dipped her head. “Noted. And my interest will not blur. Go now. The next set of guards will be here in ten minutes.”
I hurried down the passage. Tempest hadn’t been far away from the barrier. I careened around the corner, then slowed my steps as the space opened into a circular room. Ten iron doors branched off the circle. Dungeon cells, I assumed.
