Slowly, he pushed the list back towards me and crossed his arms. “You good?”
It was probably the only concern he’d shown anyone other than Ivy. And it was concern I didn’t feel I deserved. “Yeah. Fine. Good,” I said. There were probably more locations I could add, even if I never went to those parties. By the time I stopped entertaining him, his parties had shifted into something else, anyway. Something darker.
But that hadn’t meant he still didn’t try to get me back to his side. He’d invited me along to more parties, desperate to have me rejoin him. I couldn’t remember the number of times he’d tried to get me back.
“Your heart is racing, and your scent turned bitter,” Elias said, taking me by surprise. “You aren’t fine. You’re falling apart.”
The pen in my hand clattered to the table. “Wouldn’t you, if you were responsible for our mate being kidnapped?” I asked honestly, glaring up at him.
Elias was quiet for a moment before taking a step back. “We all played a part in what happened to Ivy. All we can do now is find her. And wallowing in shame and guilt won’t do that. You’re taking a step towards helping her but focus now on what will actually help. We can all do better.”
I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and watched as his gaze dropped to the list again. “Think about whether he ever specifically brought up Luna. Then get that list to the Wrath Generals and have them send scouts to check there specifically. It might be a good start for their search.”
With that, he turned sharply on his heel and stalked out ofthe room. I didn’t bother watching him leave, instead refocusing on the list. He had a point, even if I hated to admit it. It probably wouldn’t mean much now to locate the ruins Dante had been to years ago—he’d probably stripped them of anything useful by now.
But with Elias’s departure, I couldn’t help but feel unsettled. Adrift. His words replayed through my mind as I dropped my head into my hands, a growl of frustration bursting free. In the back of my head, I felt a brief, sharp pain. Like a nail entering my brain, only to be removed a moment later.
The suddenness of it had me gasping for breath. My eyes flew open, hand moving to the back of my head. But the pain hadn’t been physical. Probably not even real.
And yet, I felt the dull reminder of it thrumming in the back of my skull, as well as the tickle of something else. Somethingwrong.
Shaking my head, I grabbed my lists, spared a look around the war room, and left. The halls of the Elysian Palace were eerily quiet, though that wasn’t surprising anymore. Rhadamanthus had ordered anyone unnecessary to leave, and only those fully vetted and trusted remained.
A short walk down the dark hallway brought me to a locked room, one I opened with a small wave of my magic. A different kind of guilt washed through me as I entered.
The only light came from a small window above the bed, the room otherwise bare except for it and a trunk. No other doors lined the walls except for the one I’d entered through.
But asleep in the centre of the bed was Orion Black, body unmoving, unchanged. Weaker, though. Not quite whole without Ivy.
I stopped at the trunk and sat slowly, my eyes locked on his still form. If it weren’t for Rhadamanthus’s claims, we would have thought him dead. He’d be with a necromancer now being prepared for burial. But the demon king said Orion’s soul was still there, only his body wasn’t quitealive.
The only thing we could think of was somehow—in some way—Ivy’s magic kept his body alive, and soul tethered to it.Nothing else could explain the male lying like death in the centre of the bed. Even now, I sensed no sign of his magic. Not a hint of Luna or Dream, the two courts he belonged to, in this room.
It was hard to believe he was alive, but it was a hope I held tight to.
In the silence his room offered, I went back to my lists. I did what Elias instructed and focused my energy on the Luna Court. Listed whatever I knew that could tie into Dante’s plans. And prayed to Nyx that maybe, just maybe, we would rescue our mate before Dante destroyed us all.
5
Rowan
Aweek of research, and nothing.
Not a single book referenced God Magic. Not a single tome about God Runes or the skulls that supposedly held the magic of their God.
Nothing. Not a fucking thing.
I slammed the cover of another book and slid it down the table to the old vampire-demon scholar who’d been sent to help me. The great, formidable demon library, which held records and information that predated the war and rise of Avalon, had nothing so far that could help us.
And the demon king had assured us he’d opened every library, every secret and secure part of his collection. He gave me access to anything I needed, but it wasn’t enough.
That included a very small research team bound by demon deals to keep their mouths shut. Otherwise, they were going to have to deal with a really pissed off king.
The scholar aiding me specifically sighed and took the book back to the pile of duds while I ran my hands through my hair. Exhaustion weighed heavily in the back of my mind, but I couldn’t risk falling into the unwelcome hands of sleep.
Unlike the others, I didn’t have nightmares. My dreams weren’t plagued with the dark, terrible reminder of losing Ivy.
My nights were filled with memories of her; thefirst time I saw her, dressed in her tight pencil skirt and blouse, hair pulled back in a neat bun, with that gorgeous smile she’d only reserved for her best friend, Thea; then there was our first kiss, when we recognised the bond; the moment we completed the bond and I told her I loved her; the Nyx ball while we danced despite knowing it could be the beginning of the end.
