“For Emma? It’s not even a question.”
Odette turned in circles. “Maybe if we kill Elijah, this vision can be averted. Or altered, somehow. But Elijahhasto die. If you are not dead, then your cousin has to take your place, to change the path Emma is on. And it has to be done soon, Ethan. Every day that passes grows closer to Emma’s doom. We have a greater chance of changing the future the less time we waste.”
I nodded. “I agree with your sentiments perfectly. It’s not a task I take lightly. But it will be done. I will do what I must, and kill the king.”
I’d been wavering back and forth for some time now. I knew Elijah and Gabby had to be unseated from the throne, but I’d been reluctant to end his life. He was still my cousin, and once upon a time, he had meant everything to me. I figured we could rise up against him, banish him, and keep the country intact without having to slit his throat.
Of course, this went against everything I knew about power. Fallen kings had followers. And they’d continue to have a bastion of supporters unless we got rid of the problem. That meant Elijah had to die.
Even after everything he’d done to me, up until this moment, I was still resistant to kill him. But Odette’s vision changed everything. If Odette was certain that my cousin would cause Emma’s demise, I was left with no choice. Family or not, I would kill him. Soon, I would strike. There’d be no hesitation. If killing Elijah was what kept my mate safe, then I had made up my mind.
The first opportunity I got, Elijah’s life would be mine.
Chapter Twenty
Emma
Ihad gotten up early, to help Ethan move his things out of his dorm. Delmare, Odette, and Kiara were also in the hallway, to help the rest of the boys with the move. The dorm halls were quiet, but there were other students milling around the university— besides the Fourth Years, who were graduating, everyone else was still here, taking final exams.
Alexei was curiously absent. Kiara had knocked on his door, but he hadn’t responded. “I don’t think he’s here,” Kiara said, turning to me.
“Where the hell did he go?” I asked.
At just that moment, Alexei came tearing up the hallway. He stopped in the middle of the group and leaned over his knees, gasping for air.
“Dude, what the fuck?” Stefan asked. All of our eyes were wary as we watched Alexei rise to his full height.
“I found them.” Alexei gulped. “I found the Black Claw.”
“What? How?” Ethan asked.
Alexei motioned to follow him. We all went into his dorm, and he said, “I was following Callista around at dawn, before anyone else was up. I figured out if she was sneaking around with the cult, it’s not during daylight hours. She used a secret passageway within the university. I took it, and it went downward.”
Alexei gave a meaningful look to Ethan. “The catacombs,” Ethan breathed. “They’re using the catacombs.”
“Yes,” Alexei said. “I followed Callista at a distance, and she led me straight to their hideout. I ran here as quickly as I could, and cast an illusion behind, so I wasn’t traced.”
“I was certain I saw someone in the catacombs when last I was down there,” Ethan said. “It must’ve been a cultist!”
“So what are we waiting for? Let’s go down and get the stone,” Stefan said.
“This is different from before. It’ll be easier to obtain the griffin stone if we figure out which acolyte has it first. That takes time. We need to pretend to be a part of their group,” Alexei said.
“You want us to infiltrate, and spy on them,” I said.
“Yes. I understand it could take days, but it’s our best shot,” Alexei confirmed.
“Bringing all eight of us down to the catacombs isn’t really a covert move,” Delmare noted.
“Exactly. It looks suspicious,” Alexei said. “It should only be four of us— Kiara and I, because we’ll be the only ones who can get our hands on the griffin stone, and Ethan and Emma, because Emma’s the Worldweaver.”
“You can’t expect the rest of us to sit back and wait!” Stefan said.
“You have to,” Alexei said firmly. “The more of us there are, the more dangerous it is.”
“How will we be able to get a hold of you in case something goes wrong?” Odette asked.
“Arthur. I’ll be able to communicate with him telepathically. He’s a wolven. He’ll hear me if I call for help, even if we’re miles underground,” Ethan said.
