Steel ducks his head. “Of course. I’m sorry I allowed us to be distracted. Since it’s the entire reason we came to Iero in the first place. A battle is coming.”
I wait for more information, but when they remain silent, I sigh. “That’s about as clear as mud. Do you have any other details?”
“Umm…yes. Blaze? You were the one who dreamed of it. Tell them what you remember from it.”
“Sure.” There’s a moment of hesitation. “Does the name Renwick Vesperine mean anything to you?”
I suck in a breath that gets stuck in my chest as my vision grays around the edges.
Do not lose your shit, Dalia.
Just keep breathing.
It doesn’t matter what he has planned.
You got away from him once, so you can do it again.
You’ll never be his prisoner again.
“Dalia? Dalia!” Morrigan’s voice is troubled as she shakes me.
I blink at her, watching as the worry in her green eyes grows. I can feel Phoebe clinging to my hand, while Jaeden rumbles behind us.
I don’t even know why I’m reacting this badly. It’s not like I wasn’t thinking of the shadow demon myself before the riders appeared. It’s not even the first time I’ve heard his name said out loud since I escaped his grasp.
Maybe it’s because I know he’s been trying to contact me—something my sisters don’t know about. I didn’t think it was important enough to tell them.
After all, if he planned to come after me, wouldn’t he have done so before now?
It doesn’t make sense that he’d be coming after me now.
I don’t even know why I stole the mirror when I escaped, or why I kept it all these years. I buried it in a box of salt in the back of my closet, never telling either of my sisters about it.
Just like I didn’t tell them when I started feeling the buzzing sensation coming from it, sounding in my head, and reminding me we’d exchanged blood vows. He will always have a hold on me as long as he is alive.
But I’m strong enough to withstand it now, so I’ve been ignoring the summons—which was apparently the wrong thing to do.
Why now?
Why me?
“Focus on me, Dalia!” Morrigan snaps, shaking me again.
She’s right. I was losing my focus. I was slipping into memories of the years he held me captive—of the years I didn’t think I’d survive.
I suck in another breath, and something loosens in my chest.
So I take another and another until I no longer feel like I’m going to pass out.
“I’m going to go with it means something to you,” Blaze says, his voice tense.
I frown because it feels like something someone would say in jest, but he just sounds pissed.
“Yeah, it definitely means something,” I say with a sigh, leaning forward to rest my head on Morrigan’s shoulder—always the reliable one. The rock for me and Phoebe. “It means trouble.”
CHAPTER THREE
Steel
