My gaze snaps to the slumbering beast. “Can you hold her?”
He hesitates. “Yeah.” His gaze hardens. “Don’t waste time. Get in, get out.”
But I can’t move. My fingers twitch, but I don’t dare touch him, not when it’s taking him this much effort to hold the sphinx. “Are you sure?” But the words catch in my throat. We need the amulet.
“Perhaps I’ll get lucky after all.” Valen’s purr in my ear sends my hackles rising. I whip around, but he’s already stepped around me to saunter towards the museum’s ornate gates. “Come along, Tori. Leave the magician to his task.”
I give Lucas one last searching look. He doesn’t meet my gaze. He’s solely focused on holding the sphinx under his enchantment. A bead of sweat trickles down his temple. My voice drops to a whisper. “I’ll be fast.”
Turning on my heel, I dart through the atrium after Valen. He pushes open the gilded bars of the door and leaves them that way. I step up to his side, my head on a constant swivel. So many ancient and powerful artifacts, all ripe for the picking. My mindis calculating costs, my fingers twitching with the urge to reach out.
But I mustn’t. The sphinx’s riddle is unsolved and each step deeper into the museum will attempt to alert her to our presence. If Lucas is struggling now, then he’s going to have a hell of a time when my magic starts drilling into the Amulet of Acerabus’ wards.
With a harsh exhale, I distract myself by quipping with Valen. “What was your plan, if you were so sure Lucas was going to fail?”
Valen’s blue eyes dart to me. “The sphinx won’t kill me. She knows who I am. If she caught me, she would’ve held me while she called to my father to come claim me.”
“So, you would’ve sat tight while the beast picked her teeth clean of my flesh?” My eyes flare when a long golden rod radiating elemental magic glints at me from down the hall. Is that the Staff of Mortumi? I shake my head harshly.Focus.
“Of course not.” Valen turns left and I have to trot to catch up. “I would’ve swept you out of the room and then comforted you during your time of grief.”
“Oh?” An ominous miasma nearly steals my breath, my head turning to look back at a human-skin-bound grimoire wrapped in iron chains. A shiver of pure desire shakes me and I wipe the drool from the corner of my mouth. Lucas wouldn’t be able to hold the sphinx if I triedthosewards. I’ll have to come back for it. It’s rare for me to find something that I don’t recognize.
Valen’s knowing smirk has me clearing my throat and saying, “And what kind of ‘comfort’ were you envisioning?”
Valen takes a right and I stumble when he almost runs into me. I cast one more covetous look at the wicked book before following the other weaver. Valen’s tone licks up my spine. “The kind with no clothes and your thighs gripping my neck.” He nodsin the direction we came. “If you reclaimed your birthright, I’m sure my father would let you look at the grimoire.”
The temptation has me biting my lip. “Oral sex and a cursed book? My, you do know how to seduce a girl.”
He huffs a laugh. “I know you, Tori. You can’t resist anything that could get you in trouble.” He pauses. “Speaking of which…”
I step up to his side and behold the Amulet of Acerabus. It glints in the crystal lights and is exactly as I remember it. The stone’s iridescent eye glares at me judgmentally and I grin. “Hello, lovely. Let’s see what you have.” Cracking my neck, then my knuckles, I step up to it.
Valen sneers. “That’s disgusting.”
I crack both wrists just to watch him flinch. “I forgot how much you hate that.” I resist cracking each finger joint and wave an open hand before me. The magic blooms in my mind’s eye. An intricate magical web takes form, with a fat, sinister trap waiting like a spider at its periphery. I eye the curse, trying to decipher its secrets. I let out a low whisper. “Your father doesn’t pull any punches.”
I pluck a thread. The Entropy reverberates down my arm, leaving numbness in its wake. I beam and catch the curse with both hands. Sweat blooms, my hands shaking, but my smile widens and eyes sparkle with the challenge. I hiss a low incantation, my magic crackling over my skin. Static raises my hair, heat pulsing in my veins. Metallic warmth coats my tongue and I spit the blood out. The droplets hover in the air before power sucks them in.
A pulse. A crackle. And lightning bursts forth, crackling angrily towards my flesh. I swirl my hands and force the power into a ball, and the curse shatters. I pant, my body aching, but my smile wide. I’m so goddamn talented that I astonish even myself. My gaze flicks over to devour Valen’s form in a hungry sweep. “What was that about my thighs around your neck?”
Valen returns the look, his blue eyes smoldering. “Say the word, my dear, and I’ll be on my knees ready. That was damn impressive.”
Before I can respond, a roar echoes through the halls. The fire in my veins douses. My breath stutters, my lips soundlessly forming, “Lucas.”
Valen glances casually behind him. “Better grab your trinket before your magician becomes dinner.”
“Fuck!” I surge forward. I snatch the amulet from its display rack and shove it in my pocket. “LUCAS!”
The blood drains from Valen’s face. “Don’tscream, you daft woman.”
I ignore him and run like my life depends on it. With a hissed obscenity under his breath, Valen follows me. I scream for Lucas again. The magic crackling through the museum stings my tongue, burning my throat with each rasped breath.
Then Lucas appears from around the corner, sprinting with blood dripping from his glowing rings. He roars, “RUN!”
I screech to a halt, my boots sliding out from under me, and I hit the ground hard on my back. The sphinx crashes into a display in her haste to turn the corner after Lucas. No longer the luxurious cat sprawled on the grass, this is a demon on the hunt. Jaws spread wide, long fangs glinting in the light. Wings splay as she rights herself to pounce.
A vice-like grip grabs my arm, wrenching me up, but I rip free of Valen’s hold. Fire roars, crackling in my voice. “DUCK!”
