Page 159 of The Powers of Nyx

I stiffened. “What do you mean? Is this normal for him?”

Her dark eyes left mine for a moment to search the hall, almost like she was looking for someone. Fear tinged her expression as she turned back to me. Blythe stepped in closer. My bonds warmed in warning, but I waved them off, hoping they’d back down.

“Ever since what happened to you in the gym, he’s been dark.”

I frowned, heart stuttering a beat as I processed her response. “What do you mean?”

Her jaw clenched, and again, she looked around the hall. “I mean, not only have I not heard from him, but his mind went quiet. Not unlike how yours was when you were knocked out.”

A cold chill rolled down my spine and I sucked in a breath. There was a chance that he was Ry, then. Or at least one of my mates. Whether he knew it or not. The only other person outside my immediate mate circle to get knocked out during the healing process had been Hawk.

But my money was on Ry.

My heart raced as I nodded to Blythe. “Thank you.”

The witch swallowed hard and took a step back. “Don’t talk to me again until he’s back,” she warned. “Trust me.”

And with that, she strode off in the opposite direction of the classrooms.

57

ORION

SOMEHOW, the pain from Ivy’s explosion of magic was worse than the beating Kamaria dealt me when I refused to aid her on another one of her little attacks. The worst of it happened while unconscious, when Ivy’s magic had taken me into the darkness with her. I remembered none of it. My last memories were of finding her in the rubble, the sight of her body as she was handed off to her shifter mate, and then nothing.

I recalled the inferno of power radiating through my body, tearing apart the carefully placed walls around our bond. The unleashing of Ivy’s power almost destroyed the shields, draining Blythe as she’d held them in place.

The bandages around my torso strained as I forced myself into a sitting position. The silk sheets of my bed—not the one I had at the academy, but rather the one held for me at my father’s estate in the city—coiled around my legs like chains. I gritted my teeth as a fresh wave of pain and frustration swelled within me. I stopped moving to let it fade, but the burning sensation refused to ease.

One oftheircruel punishments. Years ago, I’d learned to bear the pain so it didn’t transfer onto my mate.

I prayed to Nyx Ivy hadn’t felt any of my punishment, that she’d been knocked out during the worst of it. Since I wasn’t in chains, Kamaria and Hyperion hadn’t broken down the walls between Ivy and me. For now, she was safe.

Heavy footsteps sounded outside the door, and before I could react, Hyperion filled the doorway. My entire body tensed as his dark eyes roamed the length of my body. Did he enjoy gazing upon the work of my torturer? Was he pleased with the destruction done to my body?

Hyperion sighed, like he was disappointed in what he saw, and entered the shadowy bedroom. I forced myself not to move from my position on the bed. To keep myself from flinching when he made it to one of the beams holding up the canopy above me. He curled a bloody fist around the post without saying a word.

How much of my pain had he inflicted? How many times had he used his own hands to break my body?

Everything I’d done to keep him from taking his wrath out on me…all for nothing. I would laugh at how fucked up it was, but with his dark, almost too calm stare still pinned on me, I kept my mouth shut.

“Tell me,” he murmured, cocking his head, “why did you sleep for over three days?”

I stiffened, the wounds on my back pulling taut. I gritted my teeth and exhaled slowly. “I don’t know,” I replied. I couldn’t blame the beating; Hyperion always made it so I would remain conscious during his punishments. If I let the darkness claim me, the retribution would be worse. “There was an explosion at the academy—”

Hyperion hummed, cutting me off. “I’m aware of that. You apparently worked valiantly tofreethe student trapped.”

It’s a trap, I reminded myself. He wanted a reaction. He wanted to know what would break me. “I thought, if we are to rule oncehetakes Avalon, it would be in my best interest to show the other Fae I am a worthy prince.”

His eyes narrowed as he assessed the validity of my words. “By freeing awitch?”

“The instructor was Fae,” I replied, chest tight. “Hawk Nash. He’s on the list.”

At the mention of the half-Fae’s name, Hyperion’s eyes brightened, and the grip he had on the post loosened. “I hadn’t heard of his involvement in the accident.”

My jaw clenched.Accident. Hyperion knew I wasn’t stupid. Was he still hoping for a reaction? Or did he truly not think I’d already suspected his False King was behind the attack? Everyone knew how powerful the sparring rooms were. They were designed to deflect the power of a Goddess. And although Ivy had four completed bonds, not even she was capable of blowing up one of those rooms.

But like everything concerning my mate, I held it in. As badly as I wanted to turn on the man standing before me, to repeat his punishment onto him, I didn’t. I reminded myself that it wasn’t time. That he would be at my mercy eventually. Once I ensured Ivy was Queen and the bastard king was on his way to Nyx, I would give him what he is owed. By the end of it all, he would be begging for death. And only then, would I consider releasing his soul to the Goddess.

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