Urgh.There were too many questions, which were just generating more. I needed to get back there ASAP.
Evira:Good idea to wait. And yeah, I’m on my way back now.
Zayn:How did it go with your dad? Is everything okay? Do you need me? I can meet you outside the gates or something?
I smiled to myself. He was so sweet.
Evira:All good. I’m gonna fly back. Meet you in Vaxan’s dorm?
Zayn:Will do. See you soon, baby. Miss you.
Evira:Miss you, too. XOXO.
I stuffed my phone back into my pocket, then strode on out of the chamber, fighting against every impulse in my body not to burst through the palace like a fucking maniac.
That would alert everyone to something being wrong—obviously the last thing that could be made apparent with Winter being a factor.
What the fuck was going on?
2
~Remnant~
“My son! My blood! My boy! No! No!”
Sylas’ roars thundered through the area.
The wrath of his magic shook the very ground beneath our feet.
Violent eruptions of crimson power raged outward from his position one hundred feet away, lightning sparking, pulses radiating out, death magic tainting the surroundings.
Necromantic fury bleeding out.
Ketheron stood beside me grimacing, emotion welling in his eyes as he tugged at his T-shirt. Despite his upset and to his utmost credit, he had made a sound tactical decision earlier in snatching up Sylas and Ambrose from the beach, and bringing them here to this pocket dimension.
And then contacting me.
No one else.
The more people who were made aware of this, the more likely things would escalate beyond repair.
The more likely the situation would hit critical threshold.
If that came to pass, it could become something none of us would walk away from.
Winter being abducted by a True Celestial wielding a perversion of Celestial magic and possessing a twisted gift for ultimate corruption was no small thing.
Winter Nox was the only truly everlasting being in existence.
Beyond the immortality of magic-wielders, of vampires. Even myself as an Ancient. Even Ariana Martel and Ketheron could technically be killed. Winter, however, was a subversion of the balance of nature.
So if he was turned, the world would be confronted with a perilously formidable enemy who could never truly fall. A being who had the ability to decimate this plane, all others, even the Valley of the Dead itself if he was fully unleashed—especially without conscience and forethought.
Winter wasn’t aware of this as our family had shielded him from it, but he had been monitored by the higher echelons of the supernatural world since the moment of his birth.
There were contingencies in place should he ever take a dark or dangerous turn.
Contingencies that, if activated, would destroy us all by extension and destabilize so much.
