Page 88 of The Arcane God

“Is that…?” Lara asked.

“A message, from the matriarch of the Auster Coven, yes.”

Steig had been given the talking board when Greya had released him. She’d said she thought it was a good idea, so they could keep in touch about Ty’s whereabouts, and meet if they needed to exchange any information. They were on the same side, after all—wanting Ena and Ty to be safe and the king to be gone, so he’d agreed. At first, she’d used it to ask for occasional updates on daemons’ missions, so the Covens could be prepared for any violence, which he’d responded to via letters sent by mortal messengers, but it had been over two months now without word. He’d been starting to worry that his information had gone unheeded, or that their tentative alliance had fallen apart.

“What is it saying?” Lara asked.

“I don’t know if I missed any of it, it was in my bag, but I think it said…” Steig watched as the pointer began to move, darting between letters now as it spelled out the message. He moved to his side table where he kept some scrap paper and ink and scribbled down the letters and symbols he’d seen so far.

Ty returns. Meet Aquilo. And then the black circle symbol.

“Ty returns?” Lara asked, her voice relieved and overjoyed. “Do you think that means he’s alive?”

“Yes, it must,” Steig said, looking up to smile at her. “I knew he wasn’t dead, the son of a bitch.” He nearly wanted to laugh with joy as relief bloomed in his chest.

“‘Meet Aquilo.’ That’s strange, though. Why does she want you to meet there?”

“I don’t know,” Steig said. That part made him suspicious. As far as he knew, Aquilo had no idea about the bond to Iblis, nor the breaking of it.

“And the black circle, what do you think that means?”

Steig studied the board and wished that he’d asked for a brief rundown of the symbols’ meanings before accepting it. That circle symbol was adjacent to other phases of the moon, though, and knowing the witches…

“Maybe it represents the new moon? Maybe that’s when she wants to meet.”

“That’s in two weeks,” Lara said, her eyebrows raising.

“Good timing, I guess,” Steig said. “I’ll be out on the mission, heading that way.”

“But what about Unger and Jace?”

Steig rubbed his face again. The stress and the duplicity of all this maneuvering was likely to lead him into an early grave. “I don’t know,” he said. “But I’ll come up with something.”

“Why do you think they’re coming back? Ena and Ty?” Lara asked, her voice full of tentative hope.

Steig shook his head. “I can only guess,” he said. “But whatever the reason, we need to be ready for them.”

“Do you think…that it’s time?” Lara asked, her voice sounding both grave and excited.

Steig sighed. He didn’t want to get too far ahead of themselves, but they needed to be prepared—in case Ty was returning to make moves against Cole. “It might be,” Steig said. “Do you have the list?”

The list of daemons they could trust. The one Lara had been working on these past several months. The list of those who were without a doubt unhappy with Cole, and maybe could be swayed to support a change in power, despite the fact that it went against one of the daemons’ most basic tenets—that the power of the king was absolute, and the rules of succession must be respected at all costs. But with Gaia’s will present in them all now…many daemons’ distaste for Cole’s violence was at an all-time high.

Lara nodded.

“Then I think it’s time you start bringing people into the fold. Warning them of Ty’s return, and what it could mean. The more we can lay the groundwork for whatever comes next, the easier it will be when the time comes. But Lara—be careful.” Steig knew only too well how things could go wrong if she were caught.

“Do you really think that’s why he’s coming back, though? If he truly wanted to overthrow Cole, why did he leave in the first place?” Lara asked, speaking out loud that which Steig had wondered almost every day since he’d found out Ty had left. Greya had told him about Ena’s pregnancy and their concerns around the baby’s safety, and how Ty had chosen to stay with her to protect her. Iblis, he understood all of that. Better than Ty would ever know. But still…Ty was the heir. Deep down, he always would be, and he couldn’t deny that forever…right?

“I don’t know, but I have faith that he won’t let us down. Don’t you?” Steig asked her.

She met his gaze with steel and purpose. Cole might have been the king, and Ty might have been the true heir, but Lara was the one keeping the Underworld running every day. Steig knew that if she’d been born with a cock between her legs, she’d have made just as good of an heir as Ty. Though, selfishly, Steig would not have liked that quite as much, but still, he respected her so fucking much.

“I do,” she said fiercely.

Steig smiled at her, gripping the back of her head in his hands as he spoke his next words. “Then hear me, Lara, because one way or another, we’ll bring Cole to his knees for all he has done, and I will come back to you and our family.”

Chapter Thirty-One