Page 61 of The Bonds of Nyx

I smirked and tugged at the tape holding the box’s flaps down. It tore easily in my hands, falling away to reveal the thickly wrapped parcel within. The box had been warded to hide the item’s magical signature. But now, it expelled itself around the room, a unique presence that made the hairs on my arms rise and my flesh prickle.

What the hell did she send me?Seer Sable usually never explained why she did certain things, so I wouldn’t expect her to explainthat.

As I hesitantly reached into the box, my heart slowed until the vision washed over me.

A chill seeped through my clothing and burrowed into the marrow of my bones. Somewhere in the darkness that seemed to thicken around me, chains clanked against stone.

No, not again.I spun towards the sound and dropped to my knees. The darkness was too thick to see through, so I crawled towards the gentle rattle and the soft, gasping sobs that filled the void.

No, no, no, no.There she was, curled into the darkness, her body naked save for two scraps of fabric covering her breasts and another around her waist. I couldn’t call them underwear because they were barely that.

Her magic was gone. That I could feel. It wasn’t pulsing throughout her body like it should have been. As I crawled closer, I took in the chains, the cuffs that circled her wrists, ankles, and throat.

Runes, carved into the metal, designed to trap magic. But there were other runes. Runes I didn’t recognise. I should have,though. I’d spent years studying them, and yet their meanings evaded me.

A sob wracked her body as a light cut through the darkness. Ivy didn’t flinch away from it like I did.

And then the magic, that familiar signature that belonged to someone in Avalon, the same magic I’d felt in the last vision, washed over me. More potent than last time.

“Soon,” he said, his voice dripping with malice and hatred, “the line of Nyx will end. Death to the Queen. Let the true King rise.”

Magic tore me from the vision, depositing me back in the safe house. My body shook with a ferocity that turned my stomach.

Heart racing, I stared into the box. It was a fucking trigger object. With my skull pounding and fingers trembling, I tipped the box on its side and let the object fall from the packaging. A dark crystal tumbled to the ground and rolled away from me, its glimmering surface catching the dim light of my room.

Fucking Sable. The pounding in my skull worsened, so I leaned back on my elbows and closed my eyes. I let the migraine take me under as the vision replayed in my mind.

~

I awoke to a wet pressure against my forehead. My eyes remained tightly shut, but the soft aroma of coffee and vanilla hit me as whoever was near me came closer, and I breathed it in greedily. Fire filled my veins as gentle hands pushed my hair off my forehead.

Ivy. I wanted to open my eyes and take in her angelic face, but they remained firmly shut as she…cared for me?

A wet rag dragged over my forehead again as she sighed.

“He’ll be fine, Ivy. This isn’t the first vision he’s had.” I hadn’t felt Adrian’s presence at first, entirely too focused on the woman caring for me, but now I could feel him nearby. For my sake, or hers? But he was right. I’d had worse visions than that, but Ialso didn’t want her to leave. Fire bloomed in my chest with her closeness and knowing that she cared for me despite Adrian’s assurances that I was fine…

It gave me a hope I shouldn’t have. A hope that would kill me in the end.

And yet, I kept my eyes closed and my mouth shut.

Ivy hummed to herself as she continued to wipe my forehead. “He’s burning up. Is that normal?”

“Sometimes,” Adrian replied. “But trust me, he’s going to be okay.”

She made a sound of disapproval and moved away. I almost let it slip that I was conscious; I was ready to beg for her to be at my side again because something about her presence was washing away the effects of the vision far faster than my usual remedies. Maybe it was just Ivy and her power, or perhaps it was more—something I couldn’t rely on being real—but her being near helped.

I felt her again as she brushed her fingers over my hand. “I need to go check on the girls. You’re sure he’ll be okay?”

At that, the fucker chuckled. “Yes. He’ll befine. Trust me. And if he’s not, I’ll let you know.”

I felt her breath fan my cheek as she sighed. I waited for her to move away, to take her warmth and comfort with her, but instead of leaving straight away she pressed a soft, feather-light kiss against my cheek. There was almost a compulsion to turn my head and hope her lips would find mine. My magic coiled in my stomach at the thought.

But the bed shifted as she rose, and her warmth left me. When the door closed behind her, I finally cracked my eyes open.

Beside me, Adrian snorted, shaking his head. “And yet you worry you two aren’t mates.”

Pressure built in the pit of my stomach, and his words left a lingering taste of hope on my tongue. Maybe it was possible, but was I ready to give into it?

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