Page 70 of Invidia

As agreed, I waited in the in-between, trusting that Roan would emerge with Aither as he’d promised. He seemed convinced that he knew what to say to get Aither to follow him, and I’d alerted a few of the nearby guards just in case.

So long as we got Aither in here, we’d get him to the Pit.

Caius fidgeted next to me, his shadows weak from not feeding enough recently. “Do you trust him?”

“Roan?”

Caius grunted.

“Not particularly. That’s why you’re here.”

He glanced at me. “Me?”

“Roan doesn’t give a fuck about me.” I shrugged. “But he always wanted to impress you. Sure, he betrayed you and stole your position, but I doubt that desire for your approval has ever truly left him.”

“Evrin! Selene needs you!” one of the guards yelled, sprinting toward me.

I didn’t even pause to say goodbye to my brother or issue any instructions. I’d made my wishes for Aither known, and if there had been any change in circumstances for Tallulah and Austin, that was my priority.

The moment I approached, I saw the small glimmer of darkness that definitely hadn’t been there earlier. I didn’t need any encouragement from Selene to dive through it, vaguely aware that I could be walking into a trap as I felt myself change, my physical body vanishing into my ephemeral human-realm form.

But I didn’t care. So long as I got to see Tallulah, nothing else mattered.

I emerged in a dark corner of a packed room, the center of it brilliantly lit, illuminating the metal bars and the two ex-Hunters within them.

Tallulah!

She looked so distressed. Her skin was pallid, and the light in her eyes had all but gone out. I needed to get her out of here.

It had been instinctual to call for her, to communicate the way that Shades communicated when we were in this form. But she didn’t respond. She didn’t hear me. Without a mating bite, Tallulah had no way of communicating with me in this realm.

“Someone is here for you,” Austin said, squinting into the darkness where I was waiting. Right, Austin was mated. He could hear me. “I’m guessing it’s your baby daddy.”

“Don’t try to be funny right now, Austin. You know he’s more than that.”

“Sorry, I did know that,” Austin said, sounding genuinely contrite. “Sorry, Evrin. I’m having a rough day. How’s my wife?”

A little frantic. The sooner we get you both home, the better.

“What did he say?” Tallulah asked.

“That Selene is missing me.” Austin’s voice cracked slightly, and he cleared his throat.

Please tell Tallulah that I’m missing her. That we are going to get you both home, whatever it takes.

This time, Austin relayed my message word for word. Tallulah promptly burst into tears, and I panicked that I’d said the wrong thing.

“We don’t have long. Lochan is coming back to replace the light in the corner,” Austin rushed out. “Do you have a plan?”

Maybe. I’ll be back.

It took all of the discipline I’d curated from years of patrolling the in-between to go back into it, to leave Tallulah behind, but I needed support. My human realm form wasn’t enough.

The moment I solidified in the in-between, I came face-to-face with Meera.

“I need Astrid,” I said, looking around. Where had Selene gone?

“Selene has gone to get Astrid and Soren, but you don’t have them right now. You have me.”

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