My jaw clenches as I continue. “We go as ourselves. No subterfuge. We attack fast and without warning.” I take a breath, remembering my vow that I will never be the version of me that Lucian saw in the book. “Each of you can decide for yourself if lethal force is required to get past those who stand in our way.”
I wait a beat for my family to agree, meeting their determined eyes. “No matter what, I want everyone in the Nostra Empire to know that Taiven Nostra’s lost daughter is coming for him.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
My heart thuds inside my chest as the keeper’s mist envelops us, a swirling force that compresses my breathing.
He’s standing at my shoulder where I asked him to be, a dark presence, and for a moment, it feels like it’s just him and me within the white fog.
“Remember, my Veda,” he rumbles at my ear. “If we get separated, I’ll follow your heart.” His arms wrap around me, the light kiss he drops on my cheek sending shivers to my toes. “I’ll find you, wherever you are.”
I exhale, knowing that this will be the last moment of calm.
Then the mist separates, bursting away from me and forming glistening droplets in the air. It’s my one concession to using magic—any nearby human who inhales the mist will forget seeing us arrive this way. The supernaturals, on the other hand, will know exactly how we got here.
I find myself facing the large, wooden door on the side of the stone building, exactly where I asked the keeper to bring us. I quickly take in its arched appearance along with the neatly-kept paved alley behind me and the startled guards standing all around us.
Then my focus lands on the supernatural directly in front of me, guarding the door.
I recognize Valki, the berserker woman. She’s my height with multiple piercings and she’s wearing jeans with a tank top that reveals her defined biceps, along with the solid, black bracelet she’s wearing around her wrist. The bracelet is attached to a thin, metal thread that winds up and around her arm to her elbow, where it’s attached to another solid band.
She likes to use that wire to strangle people, but I don’t intend to give her the chance to use it on me.
She jolts at my sudden appearance, her jaw drops, and she spits the gum she was chewing. “What the fuck?”
“Hey there.” I leap forward, deploying a series of swift hits in a sequence Anarchy taught me, rapidly knocking Valki back against the doorframe.
Behind me, I’m aware of Lucian and the dark elves bursting into action, engaging the heavily-armed male and female guards, both humans and those with supernatural auras.
I catch flashes of steel as our opponents draw daggers and knives. Many are carrying guns, but I’m sure they won’t want to use them unless they absolutely have to. Those weapons will make the kind of noise that could draw human authorities to the scene.
The dark elves are lethal shadows as they cut through the defenses around them, and Lucian quickly falls into stride with them.
I don’t let Valki find her feet, extending a single claw as if it’s a dagger—hopefully, it will look like one—and driving it down toward her throat.
Just before I can reach her, there’s a blur of movement from the side of the alley, someone speeding toward me faster than I can follow.
All I see are brilliant, white fangs as the vampire Gad gets within inches of me, his face contorted with deadly intent.
Then—
Thump.
A mountain of muscle plows into him before he can bite me.
I catch a streak of amber light—Jonah’s eyes lit up with fire—as he tackles Gad and they disappear into the shadows farther down the alleyway.
The keeper is already bending to Valki, hoisting her into the air even as the muscles in her arms are pumping up, her berserker nature triggering, her body twitching with seemingly mindless rage.
He throws her into Anarchy’s path and I guess she must have given him some kind of signal because she’s ready with a kick that knocks Valki into the ground.
I don’t see what happens because the keeper rams open the door by throwing himself against its wooden surface and propels me through it.
“You’re the only one who can safely handle the book, Veda.” His hands close around my shoulders. “But never forget that it wants bloodshed. Never forget that it serves only itself.”
His gaze burns into me, his angry, blue eyes becoming as dark as night, and it’s with a shudder that I register the fear in his gaze.
For the last four weeks, he’s repressed the feelings he first revealed to me about my quest to steal the book. His fury and pain. But I see them now in the way his features flicker and once again, I catch sight of his silver-haired form. The face that scares me.
