Angel guided us around two floors of shops, leading us to an entry that I thought should have brought us to the center of the arena, but the entire layout had changed. We walked through a door and into a multilevel bookstore filled with shelves high enough to need ladders and hundreds of piles of books stacked upon themselves. It was instantly overwhelming, like we’d entered some storybook library.
“Wow,” I said, taking it all in.
“Angel, good to see you,” a voice floated down from above.
A man leaned over a railing, dark curls masking some of his face. He leapt over the barrier, and I sucked in a breath at the jump. But he landed like a cat, knees bent, all elegance and grace, then straightened. He couldn’t have been older than twenty-five and wore fitted dress pants, a button-up, and a decorative vest over it. His attire bespoke another century of style rather than a modern one, and I was struck speechless at the glow of colors around him—I’d never seen anything like it before.
His eyes were the color of one of those blue holes that go on forever, leading into mysterious caves too deep to explore. Angel’s grip on mine tightened as the man’s gaze met mine, assessing and timeless. For a long moment I feared perhaps the man was a vampire and had caught me in his gaze. I stood motionless, stuck in his assessment, and fascinated by the colors dancing around him like an aurora.
Staring at him, I blinked and thought he suddenly turned skeletal. The sharp angles of his face seemed to hollow, his dark curls melting into shadows, his smile stretching too wide. Then I shook my head, and the illusion vanished. Just my imagination playing tricks.
29
“Nathaniel,”Angel greeted. “This is Jude.”
“The mate I’ve been hearing about.” Nathaniel held out his hand. “It’s a rare feat to catch one like Angel here. Call me Nat.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said, taking his hand. My magic tingled in recognition, though the man didn’t have any sort of glowing armband. Did that mean he wasn’t variant? Or that he was just moreOtherthan human?
Nat’s grip on my hand tightened for a fraction of a second before he released me, his piercing blue eyes narrowing slightly. “A baby necromancer.”
I tried not to flinch, though it wasn’t like I could hide the glowing red color wrapping my bicep.
“I was hoping to connect the two of you,” Angel said. “Hanna wants him to train with Lilith.”
Nat winced and made a face. “Trial by fire?”
“That was my thought too,” Angel agreed. He held up his hand, the faint trace of the rune still scarred on the back of it. “But this makes me think of a better direction. And maybe your help?”
Nat examined Angel’s hand, making my shoulders tense, both because someone else was touching Angel, and because hecould see how I’d hurt him, even if it had been an accident. “This is excellent weaving, if a little messy.” His gaze met Angel’s, and something passed unspoken between them.
“I’m not great with runes,” I offered weakly.
“That’s because it’s not your medium,” Nat said, releasing Angel’s hand.
“I thought that was how it was supposed to work?”
“If you were a practitioner, perhaps. Explain to me how you helped Angel heal.”
“I hurt him first,” I said breathlessly, heart in my throat with each reminder. “Used the rune to pull a shield?—”
“Stopped a car from squashing us,” Angel said. “Then connected with me to take away the pain and speed my healing. But his nose started bleeding.”
“Oh,” Nat frowned, his gaze sliding over me again. “That is a little like trying to run with a car on your back instead of just turning the key.”
I floundered. “What?” Had there been an easier way? What had I even done?
Nat’s expression softened, and he patted my shoulder. “I’ve got you.” He motioned for us to follow him as he strode through the labyrinth of books. “Probably doesn’t help that you already have a familiar bond starting. And a fae dragon of all things. But maybe we start less with taking over the world and more with getting out of bed in the morning.”
I gaped at him. “What?”Familiar?“Do you mean Nox?”
“Is that his name?” Nat asked as we trailed after him. This place was insane. “He’s stubbornly quiet to me. Though he feels slightly familiar. Could have been on the brink not too long ago.”
Brink of what?I wondered.
“Jude found him in some sort of prison that drained the life out of things,” Angel offered.
“Ah, that explains a lot.” Nat led us through towering shelves and a small door to another room filled with ancient looking tomes in a secluded nook. He snatched a thick leather-bound book from the top of a stack, the cover etched in swirling lines like threads woven into a knot. “Part journal, part grimoire, with room for additions.” He held it out to me.
