“We’ll find him,” she said, wrapping her arm around me and giving me the comfort I really needed so badly.
“This damage,” Tal said. “It could only be caused by two things—phoenix fire or hellfire.”
“The acolytes are in possession of aHellborn,”Xavier realized.
“My father’sHellborn,”I said.
“Fuck me,” Xavier exclaimed.
Yeah, this was bad. Really fucking bad.
“With theHellbornin play and clearly in the acolytes’ hands, my father, at the very least—if not Abigail and the rest ofExemplar—needs to know,” Xavier spoke.
“He’s right,” Alena agreed.
“He’s protected Saryan fromExemplar’swrath before,” X went on. “Kept certain things off the books.”
He was right, he had. Elliot Sabre had a soft spot for my father, and vice-versa.
“Yeah. Notify him,” I said.
Talon gave my shoulder a squeeze. “It’s for the best.”
I looked up at the dome ceiling and frowned, taking in the specific way it was broken. “He tried to fly away,” I murmured.
I walked the few feet away until I was standing right under the dome and that was when I saw it, something that churned my stomach.
I heard a gasp from Tal as he noticed it too.
Crouching down, I snatched it up from the ground.
A charred and bloodied piece of my father’s wing.
“He tried to fly away,” I found myself repeating. “They stopped him with theHellborn.Severing a piece of a Dark Fae’s wings… the agony would be horrific.”
“He’s strong,” X said, crouching down in front of me.
“Yeah, he’s one badass motherfucker, Ore.”
A surge of magic caught all four of us off guard, rolling through us.
Xavier and Talon reached out with their senses, then reported that it wasExemplararriving, as per their investigation.
“We can’t let them find us here,” Alena said.
“Yeah, we need to go,” Talon agreed. When I didn’t respond, urgency spilled from him and he grasped my shoulder. “Now, brother.”
“Yeah,” I murmured, registering what they were urging.
Fuck.
I pocketed the wing, a growl rumbling from my throat as I stared at the scene, eyes narrowing to slits.
“This means war.”
31
~Elliot Sabre~