I peered into the pool’s opaque surface again. “Any leads on the Angel of Earth?”
She shook her head. “Unfortunately, no. From what I gleaned when I was captured, I don’t think Chthonia has any either, though.”
“That’s good.” I wiggled my toes beneath the warm silky surface. “Are they looking for her, then?”
“Hard to tell exactly what their next move was going to be. Between the threats and the blindfold and whatever they slipped me, I was pretty disoriented.” Olivia shuddered. I wanted to reach for her hand, to tell her I was sorry again. “They’ll start soon if they haven’t already. In order to bridge the realms, they need her—they need you. They need the Watchers’ Source.”
My fingers grazed my lips, and I chomped at the nails. “The queen promised to take me to Gaia’s lair in the fjords after I completed her silly little task, but she kind of just bowed out.”
“Jarðarbæli, right? The few other Nephilim I spoke to in Reykjavík made it sound like an abandoned tourist attraction. Said no one’s been there in a decade.” She frowned. “That the cave was cursed and the highlands make the journey impassable, anyway, and to not waste my time.”
My ears perked. “The highlands, you said?” Flóki had mentioned he was stationed out there.
Olivia nodded.
Tendrils of unease curled in my gut. “Something here is off.”
“Agreed. I can’t put my finger on it, but the Galdur almost seems…” She gently kicked her feet, stirring the water. “Restricted?”
“Right? Like, why did Hildur need me to clear the moat? Why couldn’t she do it?”
Dropping her voice so the swish of the lagoon masked her words, she whispered, “Something is definitely up.”
“What do we do?”
“When do you see the queen next?”
“Tomorrow, I’m assuming?” I shrugged. “She didn’t give me a clear answer.”
“Okay.” She rose to her feet. “Since there are no other Nephilim here, I’m going to the archives to see what I can find out about Jarðarbæli. It’ll look too suspicious if we both go there now—she has Eyes everywhere.”
The birds, the wind, even the hills have eyes for their queen, Hildur had told me.
I craned my neck so my gaze roved across the ceiling, the stalactites, all the nooks and crannies, for a flicker of movement, for a spy.
“What about Akosua?” I said suddenly, softly—a question I’d cycled through endlessly in my mind. “She left Empyrea too, not unlike my mom. Worse, actually. She betrayed them.”
“I—” Olivia sucked in a breath. “I know. My captors mentioned her.”
I picked and pulled at my cuticles until the skin was tender and bright. “I know she was disappointed about my mom’s decision. Hurt. Angry. But what I don’t understand is…” I tore at the jagged tip of a nail. “How she could do that. Side with the enemy. Go against everything she stood for. And for what? Revenge? A change of heart?”
“Grief changes people,” she said, and if anyone understood that it was me. “Eternity is a long time to mourn. Imagine the stress of trying to protect a realm on top of that, and with only a fraction of the strength you once had.”
Blood welled on my nail bed. I tucked it under my thumb, putting pressure on it.
A shadow passed over Olivia’s face. “Who knows what Akosua’s breaking point was? Maybe she was desperate. Maybe she felt betrayed. Maybe she thought she had no other choice.”
“Desperation, betrayal…” Grief, I wanted to add, but couldn’t find it in me to say. “It can eat you up inside.”
My eyes fluttered, thoughts a flurry of Javi’s stark white hospital room, and the smeared blood at Crescent Rock, and the cemetery that held Olivia’s grave.
A gentle hand cupped my shoulder. “Let’s touch base tomorrow. Are you going to hang out here?”
“Actually,” I pushed myself off the ground, Source and adrenaline shooting through my veins, “do you know where the sparring ring is?”
Chapter 21
The training grounds took my breath away—or maybe that was the lack of oxygen.
