The woman stops trembling, focused on Roman’s voice. “I will take your message to my mistress,” she says, her eyes slightly vacant now.
Roman makes a soothing sound in his throat. “Go now.”
When we turn back toward the prison, he murmurs, “Her Mistress is a demon named Giltha, who is in Arga’s inner circle. The message will get right back to Crone.” He glances around. “It will also spread throughout the city. Crone will either look like a liar or it will seem that her power was too weak to find you.”
The shiny street has quickly emptied of demons and the path ahead is clear. Examining the prison as we get closer, I note that the structure’s appearance has changed on the outside. It’s now oblong-shaped, with pentagon wings high up on the east and west sides.
As we step through the stone wall at the side of the footpath that leads directly to the prison door, the prison’s dark energy strikes me so hard that I flinch, and even Roman grunts as if he’s been struck.
I’m suddenly even more wary of the prison’s power.
“It’s stronger,” I say to Roman. “It didn’t feel like this last time.”
Roman’s brow furrows as he approaches the front wall, holding his palm out, although he’s careful not to touch the surface.
“It’s changed,” he says. “I’m sensing the outer perimeter is holding a lot more energy, which might mean the prison has less control inside.”
The possibility that my sisters are in danger jolts me forward.
Last time, the door opened of its own accord at this exact spot as soon as we approached.
Now, there’s nothing but a shiny blank wall.
I wait a beat, but nothing happens.
Unlike Roman, I don’t hesitate to press both of my palms against the location where the door opened last time, a new panic building inside me and my smoky power leaking around my fingertips.
“Let me inside,” I command, frustration and anxiety warring within me.
My demon wolves respond to my emotions. On my right, Temple lifts her front paws up to scrape at the wall with her lethal claws. On my left, Ace and Blitz do the same, while Luca edges closer with Roman.
Dammit.Nothing works.
“Nova.” Roman’s voice sounds quietly beside me. “Let me try.”
He told me that his power is too great for the prison—that if he touched it or stepped inside it, he could destroy the prison and everyone inside. “No.”
He grips my shoulder. “The power in this outer wall is so great right now that it equals mine. I need you to trust my judgement that my power won’t endanger your sisters. Not in the prison’s current state.”
I take a deep breath and give him a sharp nod.
“To be sure, I’m going to place my hand over yours,” he says.
He sounds so cautious that I eye him. “It’s going to hurt, isn’t it?”
“It could.”
We’re here because Roman wanted me to see my sisters again before the next trial. Now, it feels incredibly lucky. For all I know, they could be dying inside. I need to get to them as fast as possible.
I don’t hesitate. “Do it.”
As soon as I speak, my demon wolves back off.
Slowly and carefully, Roman presses his palm over the top of mine.
I brace, hoping and praying that Roman’s judgement is sound.
A jolt of power shoots through my hand—from the prison or from Roman, I’m not sure which, but it feels like a flame igniting beneath my skin.
