One by one, they crumpled. Eyes rolled back. Mouths twisted in silent screams as their minds were plunged into nightmares.
They hit the ground, writhing in a terror they couldn’t wake from. With the fall of the cultists, the fae traps finally ceased.
“Fuck, Reed, they’re all trapped in terror,” Skel muttered, his eyes glowing green as his tail flicked behind him. “You and I are a lot more alike than I thought power-wise.Great job.”
Reed sucked in a sharp breath, his body sagging against a nearby pillar as if he couldn’t hold his weight anymore.
The cultists were all screaming in their sleep.
All of them.
I stumbled toward him, ignoring the way my legs shook. When I reached him, I wrapped my arms around his waist, inhaling his cotton candy scent. “That was amazing, Reed. I didn’t know you could do that.”
“I didn’t know I could either.” His breath was ragged, and his skin cold from the magical energy he’d spent. His fingers trembled as he cupped my face. “I’d destroy the psyche of anyone if it meant you’d be safe,” he murmured. “I couldn’t get to you.”
“You made a way to get to her,” Bram praised him.
“You did,” Dex agreed. “That was cool as fuck.”
“All but five of them are dead,” Hunter called out, gesturing to the five remaining cultists trapped in their nightmares.
Jesper had ordered the agents to kill all but five of the sleeping cultists, and they had done so as I checked on Reed.
The five remaining souls, ripe with fear, were in a magical slumber and helpless.
I unwound from Reed and moved toward them. My dark smoke slithered out of me and into four of their bodies, devouring their souls from the inside with greed.
Their souls became fuel for my reserves, but there was one last cultist.
He was weak, trembling as the nightmare warred in his subconscious.
“I’m going to try to see into his memories,” I explained, letting my magic brush against his body, exploring his soul.
His breath hitched as my magic slithered around him, unraveling his memories like frayed thread.
His memories flooded me.
Sybil Shaw.
Her voice echoed in my mind, cool and sharp, dripping with authority as she spoke to the cult. Her plans were whispered in the shadows of a ritual steeped in dark magic and supremacy.
And Nebula.
She spoke of Nebula being her winning card—she boasted of keeping him as her power source. As long as he remained cursed, they would prevail.
I wanted to kill her for even saying it.
But then, she revealed another ace up her sleeve, and it made my blood run cold.
She had a bloodstone steeped in dark magic, but it wasn’t just any bloodstone. It was Grayson Haven’s—one of the villains of the Second War.
I ripped myself from his memories, gasping.
“What did you see?” Hunter asked, and all of my mates had surrounded me by the time I came to.
Blinking rapidly, I steadied myself, reaching out and grasping Reed and Bram’s arms. “Sybil Shaw has Grayson Haven’s bloodstone.”
The color drained from their faces, and my heart skipped a beat.
