Page 118 of The Powers of Nyx

Guilt still ate away at me for letting the red-head sit on my lap for too long. If it weren’t for the fact that a bond had never presented itself, I might have thought myself one of hermates.

With the way everything was turning out, I wanted nothing to do with that. No mate bonds. No joining these mate circles. If it weren’t for the fact that the Seer requested I be here, I would have put in for a different assignment. Something that put me far enough away from Ivy Wilson that she could no longer consume my every waking thought.

I ran a hand over my face as I moved to one of the change rooms. If it weren’t for the timeline, I’d relieve myself of the pressure in my cock, but I had more work to do.

I changed from my training uniform to gear. Outside of being her mentor, I was a guard, just like Grey and Archer. And that gave me full access to the entire academy and its campus.

Intuitively, I knew where she was.Foundations of the Councilwas on the other side of the academy. Far from where I needed to be. I thanked the Goddess for that luck. The last thing I needed was to be distracted by Ivy.

Because that’s all she is, I reminded myself. Nearly thirty years, I’ve been working on this. I couldn’t let her get in the way of that.

No matter how guilty I felt about it.

Fuck. I chewed the inside of my cheek as I came to a stop at an intersection between the walkways bridging the different parts of the academy. In one direction, I would find her. Sitting with her pink-haired friend, a light at the end of a dark tunnel. There was promise there. A future I never would have thought I could have.

But in the other, I would continue the mission that had been given to me. The one Seer Sable had tasked me with all those years ago.

I pulled myself away from the hall and started towards the murky, darkened forest. At the end of the walkway, the bridge ended and led straight into a marsh. Two guards stood sentry atthe stairs, though neither moved as I passed. Each step towards the mission felt like a lifetime away from her.

Was I making a mistake? I shook my head. There was no other option than the one I knew. Ivy was an unknown.

A distraction. I repeated that to myself as I entered the forest. Tall trees closed around me, their dark limbs reaching for me. Moss grew up the bases, claiming the bark. Mud squelched beneath my boots as I stalked through the marsh. The setting sun wasn’t enough to guide me to my destination.

Once I was far enough away from the buildings, I released my wings. The still, damp air rolled over the feathers, and I grimaced as I stretched them. It was maybe the only perk of being here at the academy, rather than in the human world. I had to hide my wings there. But here, they were part of the uniform.

Stretched, I took flight. Keeping to the treetops, I flew amongst the branches, just low enough not to be seen by anyone in the towers of the academy. The trees protected me enough to fly unseen, and the additional runes tattooed to my arms, once activated, did the rest.

As soon as the old, decaying temple appeared between the trees, I ducked, cutting through branches and landing amongst an outcropping of rocks that might have once been a statue. But since it had fallen, moss and decayed leaves buried it.

Ivy would think this place was interesting.

The thought appeared so quickly in my mind that I had to shove it aside just as fast. I shook my head to rid thoughts of her, but she remained an ever-present entity in the back of my mind. The little that I knew of her should have made it impossible. And yet deep in my bones, I knew it to be true.

It didn’t interest me much, these crumbling, old temples the Seer sent me to. They were always overcome with decay; being reclaimed by the earth, forgotten by the rest of the creaturesunder Nyx’s rule. They were fucking depressing most of the time. A remnant of an old civilisation that thrived on its worship to the Goddess.

It wasn’t like we didn’t have temples anymore, either. There were still plenty scattered throughout all the realms, from Hell to Faerie to Avalon. But they were grander structures now. Frivolous. I’d never been much into worship before, but my mother had once vied for a place amongst the priestesses. She’d taken me to temples not unlike the one I stared at now.

The darkness only made it more dangerous. I wasn’t aware of the last time anyone had dared venture out this far. The temple sat with its entrance leading into caves of the mountain, whose shadow darkened the landscape around me. My fingers flexed as I walked around the fallen statue towards the opening to the temple. The doorway had long since disappeared, and now, stone pillars formed a cross, as if to warn any who dared to attempt to enter. Like death was waiting beyond.

I paused by at the entrance and turned towards the forest, eyes narrowed as I searched the shadows of the trees for anything out of place. It wouldn’t be a stretch to have an academy mentor out this far, but it would raise eyebrows. And this certainly couldn’t go back to Grey or her team. I’d worked too hard to have them ruin everything.

My entire body tensed as I slipped between the fallen pillars and stepped into the temple. I pulled an old rune stone out of my belt and activated it; the light from the stone penetrated the inky shadows just enough to reveal the destroyed interior. Statues of Nyx lay broken around the room, each one cut off by the head. The pillars here were in place, somehow still standing, but each one had cracks running through them. Not even the forest dared cross the threshold to reclaim what once belonged to it. The ground, cracked marble, lay dusty, undisturbed from years of abandonment.

The temple had a back room, somewhere. Despite the urgency radiating through me, I hesitated. Like the Goddess herself was watching me. I knew how old the temple was, simply from the fact there was no giant motif of Nyx lining any of the walls. These stone walls were bare, save for old runes. Runes I didn’t recognise.

My chest tightened, but I forced myself to push on. The shadows seemed to only thicken as I moved through the room. There were old stone chests, their lids open, with nothing but bundles of old fabric within. I shuddered. I wondered what the hell had happened here. Temples didn’t just become obsolete.

There was a small hallway hidden behind decaying curtains, and I followed it, finding nothing of interest within. There was only a doorway, leading into what I assumed was the backroom the Seer had warned me about.

The archway was filled with the same runes. I might not have been as adept in them as Archer, but I knew most of the basics. And these...there was something off about them. They didn’t feel...right.

What the fuck had Sable sent me into?I wouldn’t run away; it wasn’t in my nature. But backup would have helped.

My teamcould have helped.

My gut twisted at the thought of them. It might not have been the first time we’d been split on missions, but this felt like something else. Like there was more than just a mission between us.

It was a hard pill to swallow, especially after everything we’d been through.

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