We strode around the back of the house, where Lyvia paced around Tiberius’s hulking form. She’d suited up in dark brown fighting leathers. Her arms were bare, and the snaking lines of her shadows lingered beneath her skin, ready to break free. Her black hair roped around her head in a line of braids tied tightly to her scalp. Enya’s intricate blade sat strapped to her back, and I caught the flash of gold from Honor’s hilt at her waist.
A dark line of paint stretched from temple to temple, crossing over her eyes and eyebrows. It looked similar to the War Slayer’s paint Kresida and Nerissa wore, but Astraeus had dragged his fingers through it, running five long smudges down the center of her face, marking her as a Votruvian warrior. I’d seen it on the pirate lord during the Battle of Odessa.
Though Astraeus had done a decent job of masking his concern, Lyvia had nodded vigorously to Khato’s plan on using her as bait. The pirate had developed a fierce sort of obsession with protecting her.
She rushed to where we stood, and her gaze snapped to Kellan, scanning him.
“You’re draining,” she said, her eyes wide and throat bobbing as she shook her head.
His thumb brushed against her cheek as he muttered reassurances. I tore my eyes away and looked to the pasture in the distance. Tempest jerked her head upright and watched me. I’d decided she would stay behind. Even with Astraeus’s power-ups, I had barely enough in me to bring the rest of them to Lotrennia.
My stomach plunged as a deep-rooted inadequacy reared at the sight of her. At my failure. Why hadn’t she become mine? I’d been so certain… I’d grown up at Cantor Manor with the agrippa herd. Wouldn’t it make sense a part-agrippa would become my caeluma?
As if reading my thoughts, Tiberius clomped forward and nudged me with his giant, velvety nose. I patted his silky, broad withers as I gave Lyvia and Astraeus a moment of privacy.
Lyvia’s eyes were red when I turned around, but she hadn’t let a tear fall. I snapped my face at Astraeus.
“I’m fine,” he replied, his lips drawing a thin line. “But this will have to be the last time I fuel you up. At least for a few hours.”
Lyvia’s throat bobbed, and I didn’t need a Bellator bond in place to know my best friend was sick with worry. I reached for her hand, squeezing it in my grip and nodding.
“I’ll only pull from it when I absolutely need it,” I reassured them both, my own incompetence digging claws into me. Had Faron been able to transport this much mass, this far, without help? Or was it simply because I was so weak? My throat bobbed as the intrusive thoughts forced their way into my mind.
Lyvia wiped the worry from her face and gave us both a confident nod.
“Let’s kill the gods.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
LYVIA
Broken links to the realm leave the body through blood.
– Bonded Magic, 18th level, Living Library.
Lyvia – Eye of the Wood, Lotrennia
Memories floated forward as I stood at the edge of the Eye of the Wood, the ominous lake a dark void at the bottom of the thousand-foot cliff. A shiver racked my shoulders as I stared at the darkness, waiting for the eye to blink open.
Tiberius’s coat emanated heat as he stepped next to me, his wide nostrils blowing a snort at the lake far below. I frowned.
We never really talked about what we saw that Awakening, I murmured.
Ti huffed.It felt more… curious… than evil, I think.
My brows furrowed. There had been so much happening during that celebration, I hadn’t even told Bayne what we’d seen when we reunited. There was so much to catch him up on, andthen there was the queen’s proposal, the Waters of Ascendiel, my mission…
I don’t think we were supposed to see that, Ti said.
I nodded, my brows narrowing as I replayed that remarkable, yet terrifying moment, when Tiberius had flown over the Eye of the Wood while the mystics spun its water up the sides, revealing the depth… and what lay hidden below.
Some things are better left forgotten, I agreed.For now.
I turned to find Drystan and Kellan at the edge of the pine forest, heads bent in discussion. A crisp fall breeze snaked its way through those trees, urging me back to the edge of the cliff as I strode toward them.
“Aquila or Nishanth will contact you,” Drystan explained, nodding to Tiberius as we approached. “Khato has a plan. They’ll explain where to meet the rest of us.”
I nodded and reached for my friend’s shoulder. I met his bright blue gaze and scanned his face. His features had hardened this past year, and though he still donned the round spectacles, the harsh lines on his face and the thick, rounded muscle on his shoulder made him appear so much more like a soldier than the scholarly friend I grew up with.
