Page 79 of Veiled Yearning

My heart catches as I spot it and recognition hits me. Alex. He has the same shoes as Alex, those same black boots I noticed earlier, but it can’t be him. It can't be.

Please no, not Alex.

Gavril grabs my hand, yanking me along with him. I was standing stock-still in the middle of the room, not even realizing.

“Gav,” I moan. “Not Alex—”

“It’s not.” Gavril jerks his chin toward the dining room as we blow past it. Inside are Jules and Alex, bloody, fighting a Custodian with glowing red eyes, but still alive.

The relief is overwhelming. But it also slams home the horrible reality of this.

Someone could die. Someone I care about. Someone I love.

“Come on.” Gavril’s hand is like a vise around mine as he tows me down the hall. Frederick and Cait are in the front, almost a blur as they move. I can’t see Roman and Grace, but I can hear their footsteps rushing behind us.

Violent sounds are all around us—shrieks of pain, explosions, angry shouts, and flesh hitting flesh.

A strange man—a Custodian—comes from out of nowhere, reaching for me.

With a yelp of fright, I reach for my imbued blade, but Gavril beats me to it. He grabs the man by the throat and breaks his neck single handedly, then flings the man away like a rag-doll. A second later, I hear a familiar voice—Larkin, he’s okay too, thank goodness—say, “I’ve got him, Gav. Keep going.”

So we do. And I need to get my head in this. I’m getting too easily distracted, when I need to be focused on getting to Nicolas.

We clatter down the stairs, leaving the ruckus behind, and are quickly enveloped by dark.

It’s almost jarring, the difference between upstairs and here.

In the basement, the only light comes from a few dim lanterns, and all the narrow windows are boarded over. It’s a barren space; with just a few battered armchairs and a rickety wooden table covered with candles and carved totems and vials of crimson liquid.

“Rituals,” I hiss at Gavril. “That’s what goes on down here.”

We’re stopped at the base of the stairs; Gavril’s arm tightly around me. Frederick and Cait are on one side, Roman and Grace on the other.

Aside from our breathing, it’s scarily silent.

Grace whispers, “Where are they?”

A good question, considering the basement is one giant room with no apparent place to hide.

Cait lets out a sharp gasp. “In the Veil. They’re in the Veil.”

At the same time, a bolt of lightning comes flying across the room, barely missing her.

In one fluid move, Frederick thrusts Cait behind him. Murder fills his gaze, and he growls, “We need to see them. Now.”

For a second, panic takes over everything, and I can’t think. I can’t recall anything of the plans we made. All the possibilities we discussed.

Everything is a blank, except for one thing repeating. I’m going to get everyone killed.

But the whisper of a chuckle draws me out of it. A darkly malicious laugh that I know without question is Nicolas. Mocking me.

Anger kindles inside me, igniting. All the things Gavril kept telling me—I’m strong, I’m brave, I can do this—make sense again.

I’m not weak. I’m so much stronger than Nicolas thinks I am.

This time, Gavril and I link so much faster than ever before. Our connection flaring white-hot, pulsing with incredible energy and power.

Then we send it to Cait, and a moment later, we can see.

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