The cheers turned to a dull hum in my ears as I took in the female. She turned her back on Watcher, eyes wide and full of fear.
“Only one will survive!” Watcher finished with a flourish, sounding proud. “Put your bets in, boys. Who will it be? Until then, the fun starts now!”
Guards swarmed the cages. Beasts fell silent as they were pricked with the Fae thorn to stay quiet, while others were placed in chains.
It took all my control not to fight the guards who came for me. To not tear them apart to reach the female. Guards went to her, too. Locked cuffs around her arms and tied chains to the collar around her throat before dragging her from the cage. My beast wanted to fight back, to slaughter those who put their hands on her. But her eyes flickered to mine, dark with resolve. And for some reason, that quietened the rage.
A collar like hers went around my throat, went around the throat of the other world beast.
And to the Pit we went.
27
Orion
The Seer and the Goddess appeared to me under a cloak of darkness. They were not unfamiliar in the dreamscape, though I wished for my mate’s presence more than theirs.
The Seer moved first, her hands outstretched, a gentle smile curling her lips. “How’re you holding up?” she asked, taking my hands—gloved for them—in hers. “I know it’s tough.”
I grunted, though I didn’t pull away from her immediately. The disgust and fear that came from touching others was only faint in the dreamscape. Perhaps in the waking world, I would not have allowed her to approach me like she did. But I found a small amount of comfort in the witch.
“Being trapped here without seeing my mate is excruciating,” I replied. “I want to see her. Not just in dreams where she thinks I’m not real.”
“In time,” the Goddess replied. “Your death serves a purpose we didn’t anticipate.”
I glanced up at the fabled creature. The Goddess Nyx Herself. She wore her cowl, hiding her face from my sight. There was no crown atop her head, so knowing it meant Dante had already stolen it made my stomach sink.
“What purpose does my death grant you?” I asked, looking between the pair. “Other than destroying Ivy.”
The sympathetic smile dropped into a frown on the Seer’s face. “With his ability to hide from our view, there were things we couldn’t foretell. Like a new mate rising from the inside of Dante’s compound. She needed to find him.”
“But now, Dante has her,” I snapped, pulling my hands away.
“If the false king believes you are dead, then that serves us in ways not even he will understand. Your supposed death will be his ruin,” the Goddess said. “With it, he should fail.”
“Should?” I took a step back from the pair, my dreamscape slipping into something dark and treacherous. For Ivy, I kept it calm. Peaceful. An escape from the hell she was living being trapped in one of Dante’s cages. “And what happens if it doesn’t?”
The Goddess didn’t move. But her cowl disappeared to show her face; warped skin revealed half of her skull, a skull that made my breath catch in my throat. It was a gruesome sight, but I’d also seen worse.
“We do not know,” she replied, perhaps honest for the first time since she made herself known to not only me, but to Ivy. “There is no precedent.”
“Because the last time someone tried to use the skull to steal your power, he died at the hands of his nephew,” I said, crossing my arms. “He never got the chance.”
“No, Emris didn’t. But his Order tried many times to find the skull and use it against my Queens. And they failed every time, because my own Order rose in response.” The Goddess replaced the cowl over her face, allowing me to finally breathe again. “Ivy never completed her bonds. Therefore, her power is not complete.”
Before I could respond, the Goddess disappeared in a strike of lightning. I flinched from the boom of thunder that followed.
“She can be a little dramatic,” Sable said, clapping her hands together.
I stared at her in disbelief, before shaking my head. “Why are you still here then, Seer?”
She cocked her head, the charms in her hair clinking together. “It won’t be long now before your girl comes back to wake you up,” she said, taking a step back. Shadows formed at her feet, curling up her calves. “You know what you need to do.”
“Reform our bond,” I replied with a nod. “I understand that.”
The smile turned wicked as the darkness continued to creep up her body. “This is going to be a catch twenty-two situation. We think he can’t take her power because she’s not completed her bonds. However, to win this war, she’ll need you—needs all of you—to do it.”
If she completed her bonds, she would be strong enough to go against him and most certainly win. But, if she came into her full power, then she put herself at risk of having it all taken from her.
