Still, I’m thankful that he has agreed to let us pass.
I’m just about to exhale with relief when Haldi points at Roman. “Of course, before we assist you in crossing the lake, we will require the return of Angelus Lux.”
My brow furrows. “Angelus what?”
“The Angels’ Light,” she says, her voice hardening. “The weapon Lord Rune carries.”
At Haldi’s declaration, Roman grips the weapon—Angelus Lux—more tightly, and a sense of anxiety fills me. It’s our only way home.
To my surprise, his grip quickly eases, and he holds Angelus Lux out to Haldi like an offering.
She glides up to him while my demon wolves growl from behind Roman, and my sisters and Koda watch on with what I expect is the same look of dismay I’m wearing now.
Before Haldi can take the weapon, Roman speaks, his voice as smooth as honey. “This weapon was once used against me. Its fate and mine are intertwined. You may keep it safe while we’re here, but you will return it to me.”
Haldi blinks at him before she gives her head a little shake. “Your power of persuasion won’t work on me, Lord Rune,” she says before her fingers close over the weapon. “Angelus Lux could never belong to a demon.”
Roman lets it go with a smile that’s nothing short of dangerous. “We’ll see.”
My anxiety continues to grow as Haldi glides back to her brethren. She slips Angelus Lux into a loop at her waist, where it hangs like a sword.
I nearly step toward her in protest, but Roman gives me a small shake of his head and, once again, I trust him. He’s proven to me that he will guard my heart, my body, and my mind. I have to believe he knows what he’s doing right now.
Haldi swings back to us, expressionless once more. “We will take you to the Demon King. It is safe to pass now.”
The ice at my feet doesn’t feel any different and it’s difficult to believe that it’s truly safe to move. With a warning glance back at my pack, I slide my foot forward to test Haldi’s claim.
The ice remains solid. No cracks.
Up ahead, Malia is watching me carefully, her magic still dancing around her fingertips. Her back is turned to Adriel now, but she brushes the side of her neck and turns her head to conceal the movement of her lips.
Her voice sounds through the communicator rune behind my left ear. We weren’t able to use the rune while my sisters were in prison and I’ve learned to manage without it, but now Malia’s message reassures me.
“The ice is safe, Nova,” she says. “I can sense it.”
I’m not even surprised that she has such an affinity for this place. Malia was always the one of us who was filled with light. The calm, gentle one. While the rest of us… Well, we certainly aren’t light-footed.
I keep Roman and my pack in my sights as we make our way carefully and cautiously across the lake.
Adriel strides ahead of us, leading the way with Haldi and Galvin close on his heels. The two male angels step off the frozen surface first, but Haldi remains at the edge, waiting for us to pass.
I exhale my relief as soon as I step onto the cerulean blue grass covering the wide walkway at the forest’s edge. Immediately, I sense the darkness of my demon power return and I call on it instinctively, relieved at the hint of smoky swirls around my fingertips before I quickly shut it down again.
Stepping back, I make way for Roman, Malia, and then my wolves, who bound after us and spread out around us on the stretch of grass. I’m grateful that their growls keep the line of watching angels at bay. We appear to have reached a truce with the people of this world, but I’ve been burned by illusions before.
Roman rolls his shoulders and his chest rises with deeply indrawn breaths as he steps off the lake, as if he, too, felt the loss of his power like chains around himself and he’s now shaking them off.
Taniya and Koda are the last to join us and I’m about to turn away, relieved that they’re stepping off the ice, when there’s a distinctcrack.
It’s so loud that it sounds like the surface of the lake fractured across its entire width.
I swing back with a gasp.
Haldi has dropped into a crouch at the edge of the lake, her fingertips brushing its surface, her mauve eyes gleaming as she focuses on Koda.
“Not you, demon,” Haldi says, a shimmer racing from her fingertips to Koda’s location. “For your sins against my brethren on Terra-Centrum, I’m afraid you must perish.”
Koda has tensed where he stands, one foot on the grassy edge and one still on the lake. He attempts to lift his back leg, but it appears to be stuck.
