Page 2 of The Daughters of Nyx

hidden island I called home. Her golden hair had started to turn silver, the light catching the few strands I could see. Faint lines marred her otherwise youthful face.

A burning in the pit of my stomach warned me of what might come, and her next words confirmed it.

“Seer Sable has foretold the rise of the new Queen. The next Daughter of Nyx.” Greer’s striking blue gaze danced between us. “I am entrusting you four to find her and return her to Avalon safely by the winter solstice.” The Queen turned her gaze to me. “Maeve Grey, you will lead this mission.”

The eyes of the men at my sides shifted to me, but I couldn’t look away from the Queen. Beside her, Seer Sable looked proud, but I couldn’t understand why I’d been chosen. Why, out of all those around me, I would be picked to lead a group in search of our next Queen.

I couldn’t think, couldn’tbreathe. But I was avampire, I didn’t necessarilybreathe. I mimicked an act that was similar to mortal breath. The fact that I had no air entering my lungs was normal.

If I could panic, I might have, but I kept my emotions in check. “Yes, Your Majesty,” I replied, finally finding my voice. I offered her a short bow. “I promise I will find and protect the new Queen, or die trying.” I lowered my head and released a sigh.

“I do hope it does not come to that,” she said. “Sable has supplied as much information about her as possible. Now it will be up to you to do the rest.”

Beside me, Elias bowed his head. I couldn’t get much of a read on him. “How much information, Your Majesty?”

The Queen turned her gaze to the shifter. “Elias Beckham,” she mused. “Wolf shifter. You’ll be Grey’s partner, her second. You make sure she is protected as she safeguards the information about our new Queen.” The Queen paused her assessment. “Grey will be the only one allowed access to this pertinent information. It will be up to Rowan and Adrian to get you as close as possible.”

“Expect a fight,” Seer Sable warned, eyes darkening. “She will not return with you easily. We are in changed times. The humans are…different, and so we must expect their reactions to reflect as such. Convince her to return to us. But if she is unwilling…”

Sable and Queen Greer shared a look. What they didn’t tell us was that it would be difficult convincing our new Queen to take her throne, and if she didn’t, our entire civilisation might fall to ruin. My past missions had taken me out into this new world the humans had created—a world so different to the one I left over two hundred years ago—but I appreciated having others around me who would assimilate easier.

When I looked to the men around me, I realised they understood this, too.

I bowed my head. “We will do whatever is necessary to bring her home safely.”

“Good.” Queen Greer clapped her hands together. “You leave tonight. Sir Ya’Dahir will brief you further.” Her gaze drifted over each of us, and I stiffened when her eyes landed on me. “This will be the most important mission of your lives. Her life—her safety—is in your hands now. You will not speak of this to anyone. You will not speak of this to one another until you are off this island. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, my Queen,” we responded in unison, bowing at the waist.

“You are dismissed.” She waved a hand, and her mates guided her out of the hall.

A strange sense of longing shifted through me, one that made the dead heart in my chest stutter for the first time in centuries. I almost thought nothing of it, believing it to be only a twinge of nerves at the mission I was about to leave on.

And yet the darkness that should have swallowed the organ lightened as if to tell me there was more to the feeling.

We waited until she was gone before we left. And although I couldn’t be certain, I knew there was something she wasn’t telling us.

Something pertinent to this mission.

1

IVY

“YOU will come in contact with love,” the psychic murmured, her hands roaming the light-up crystal ball. The dark antechamber of the witchy-magic store smelt like mildew and cotton, which hid the faint, sickly sweet scent of vanilla that wafted from an oil diffuser in the other room.

Beside me, my best friend coughed, covering her mouth as she attemptednotto giggle.

This was your idea,I wanted to remind her as I sat tensely in the uncomfortable, not-fat-friendly chair, which had arms that dug into my hips and thighs.You decided you wanted to see a fucking psychic.

The older woman hummed what sounded like aTaylor Swiftsong as her wrinkled hands finally stopped moving on the ball. With a sigh, she said, “Your hand, dear.”

Copper eyes popped open as she held out her hand and waited for me to give her my own. I hesitated for a moment before reaching across the round table and letting my fingers uncurl to reveal my palm. The cold winds ripping through Forthampton seemed to be making their home in the old back-street storefront, because the tips of my fingers were icy and I’d lost feeling in my toes ten minutes ago.

Madame Sterling sighed again, though more dramatically this time, as she traced the lines of my palm. Once, when I was fifteen, I’d been fascinated with psychics and witches, and had tried to teach myself how to read Tarot and the stars. I’d spent my meagre savings on a few crystals and intention candles, only to have most of them destroyed by the unforgiving hands of my younger sisters. My mother hadn’t been pleased to learn that I’d been interested in the occult, because that would look badly on her. She’d claimed my sisters had done me a favour.

Lesson learned.

But Madame Sterling paused her perusal of my palm and smiled serenely. “You will receive much love. And betrayal. There will be heartache in your future, but you will grow from it. The love you will receive transcends all the darkness coming for you.”

---