Imagine a wall around your mind, but especially where thatpath is. Before you can successfully block him, you need to destroy that pathway. Just putting up a wall won’t help long term. If you are weakened again, he will be able to break through that barrier. What you need to do is cut it down so he may never use that road again. Do you understand?Blythe asked, like she was standing at the edge of the path with me, looking down at it.
How do I destroy it?I turned to her, confusion swelling within me.What do I need to do?
You need to cut yourself off from him,she replied.Imagine yourself severing any ties you might have with him. He is no longer your brother. No longer a friend. He cannot be anything. He must be removed from your emotions completely.
I wasn’t sure how I could do that. There was a part of me, a small, terrified piece that still looked at him like the older brother he once was. Yeah, there were moments that I understood better now that were…off. Moments I’d explained away as Dante being Dante but realised later were signs of how twisted and cruel he could be.
I couldn’t use the justification of him being mybrotheranymore to explain his cruelty away. No more looking at my memories of him with rose tinted glasses.
I expected to feel some sort of sadness about having to let him go, but I didn’t. Everything he’d done flashed through my mind; his promise to feed mychildto his army, shooting my mate, taking her captive and putting a collar around her throat, imprisoning shifters and forcing them to remain in their animal forms. Killing ourmother, and all the justifications he tried to make for it.
Overthrowing Ivy, destroying our home, taking over the minds of innocents.
It was easy enough to let go of any good memories I had left of him when I remembered all of that.
Ahead, the path started to crumble. The darkness shifted as I let it go.
Good. Now, place the walls,Blythe instructed, fading into darkness.My power is yours.
From the darkness, a wall rose. Taller than anything I’d everseen before, it cut through what was left of the path, tearing it apart until there was nothing but the whisper of his control over me. And finally, I felt his presence snap away completely.
When I opened my eyes again, and the cell came into focus, I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. Not because I would miss him, but because I finally felt free.
“It’s done?” Maeve asked, taking a step towards me.
The chains trapping me to the chair fell away. “Dante is gone. There’s no part of him left in Adrian’s mind,” Blythe said quietly. “And no chance he’ll be back. Adrian cut off any way for Dante to come back.”
I couldn’t hold myself up anymore. I fell from the chair to the cold stone ground and gasped for breath. Tears blurred my vision, but I felt Maeve’s hand on my back, her fingers cool, comforting.
“You did it,” she murmured, her voice soft.
I sucked in a breath and met her stare. “Ivy is pregnant,” I said, swallowing hard. “That’s what Sable was hiding. We need to go to Luna, find her when she escapes. Because if Dante finds her first?—”
Rage darkened Maeve’s eyes, and when she rose, I couldn’t help but watch the fury explode from within her.
“Go find the search partynowand tell them there is no time to wait. Get Cyrus from his cell andmake himtell us where she’ll be. I want healers and guards on standby. Go!” As soon as the orders left her lips, the cell emptied; Windermere looked shocked, but she said nothing as she disappeared, calling for someone, and the two witch guards were gone with simple bows.
Blythe was the only one left, but Maeve wasn’t done with her. “Go to Orion. Make sure his mind is free of Dante. I want him ready to move.”
“Move where?” I asked, struggling to my feet. My vision blurred, stomach churning. “What are you planning?”
Maeve shot me a look. “I’m taking her somewhere he won’t find her. Not again.”
47
Maeve
Everything else was shoved into the back of my mind. My only focus became Ivy and ensuring she came out of this alive.
Adrian followed as I stormed into the cell next to his. Hyperion didn’t look surprised to see me, though his eyes flashed with a fear I’d come to know all too well during our time together.
“Tunnels beneath Dante’s compound. Where do they lead?” I demanded, coming to a stop in front of him.
The bastard lifted his chin, though there was a slight tremble to the movement. “What tunnels?” he spat, lips bloody.
“The ones that run beneath what you call the Pit,” Adrian replied from behind me. “You know, under the prison of cages where the shifters are kept.”
Hyperion’s gaze snapped to Adrian. “How do you know about the Pit?” he asked, a tremor in his voice. “How do you?—”
