Other academies have also reported an increase in attacks and so have Phoenix safe houses in the human world.
The academy in Pride is in dire need of aid, the pupils causing dissent. Aither’s prison has been compromised.
So far, no word from the warden on whether Dante’s forces have made it below.
We do not have the power to combat all these current challenges, and the people want to see their Queen. They want to know what she will do.
Sao.
I scrubbed a hand down my face as the vampire took the letter and read it to herself quietly, each word becoming more strained. If anger had a scent, it would be hers, because as soon as she finished, she slammed the paper down onto the desk and stalked into the centre of the small study, her hands resting on her hips.
“Ivy can’t face them, not yet,” she said without looking at me, her voice dark—lethal. “She isn’t safe anywhere.”
I sat back, teeth gritted and stared at the paper. “He’s purposefully dividing our soldiers. Forcing them to put out fires elsewhere, causing a distraction while he hunts her. We might not be protecting her well enough here.” I drummed myfingers on the old desk, heart rate picking up with that terrible rage again. “But we aren’t safe in the Underworld, either. One wrong move and one of his soldiers gets into the palace, or escapes their cell? And everything we have done to protect her would have been for nothing.”
There was no doubt in my mind that I would give into the terrible, terrible things my power could do if she were taken again. I should have let it out when they first took her. I should have depleted his army before they could get away the first time.
I should have never given them a chance to survive the first time.
The weather continuedto be as tumultuous as the emotions inside the manor.
The rush to learn everything they could about the God Runes and find a key to her collar became the only thing the mages focused on. Even the half-demon spent his time with them, trying—and failing—to unlock his memories of the few weeks he’d been one of the false king’s chosen soldiers.
Then there were the three shifters keeping our Queen company, following her quietly, likely the only ones keeping her from falling apart entirely. The vampire stayed close, but I could tell uncertainty weighed her down. She knew she could be doing more, whether that be seeking answers to the questions hanging over our heads like nooses, or going to her mate and comforting her.
And I was trapped in a war of my own making.
I should be locked away in my study with Sao’s communications as my only source of company, directing him through the battles being waged outside of our protective bubble. Yet I clung to the shadows and watched the female I knew I couldn’t have.
Her lips formed a soft frown as rain came down gently outside. A steaming mug of tea was clutched between herhands, though her gaze was on the darkness beyond the window.
“Is this sort of weather normal?” she asked no one in particular.
The bear shifter glanced at her. I’d noticed how enraptured he was by the changing weather. After a lifetime locked away and seeing the world for the first time, I couldn’t blame him.
“No,” the wolf said, glancing up from the file on his lap. “Usually, it’s a lot nicer here. Cold during this time of the year. Storms occasionally. But not to this extent.”
Even from my position in the shadows, I watched her shudder, hand moving to her stomach. “We’re running out of time, aren’t we?”
There was a tense, unfathomable silence that followed her words. We were running out of time, but no one wanted to admit it to her.
I left the tense silence, intending on returning to the books the Fae prince had left behind, when a warm hand caught my wrist, taking me by surprise.
I didn’t even have to look back to know who the hand belonged to. Not with the rush of electricity that raced up my arm from her touch, a feeling I only ever recalled in the deepest of sleep where her memory couldn’t be disturbed.
But now, as I turned to face my wife, all the emotions I’d been wrangling since I first saw her in the Underworld came flooding back. Everything I’d worked to bury during our journey through the Old World came back in an instant. Feelings I wanted to keep at bay reared their heads, and at the front of that crowd cameneed.
I was not a male who gave into the carnal sin of lust.
I was not tempted by desire.
And yet, something within me wanted her desperately, needed her more than I’d ever needed anything else.
But she was not mine to have or need. She could never bemine.
But I so desperately want her to be.
Ivy cleared her throat, pulling her hand away almost hesitantly. “Is everything okay?” she asked, cocking her head.
