Page 6 of The Powers of Nyx

Slowly, I sat back and pushed my plate away from me. My heart stuttered a beat as Adrian leaned towards me, resting his elbow on the table and dropping his chin on his hand. Attention completely on me.

“Ivy, please.” He reached his other hand under the table and squeezed my knee. “What happened? One minute you were here, and the next…”

“The next I was having a panic attack,” I replied, giving him a sharp nod. “I don’t—”

“As your mate, you should be able to talk to me,” he murmured, eyes pleading with me to listen. “You can tell meanything, remember? We talked about this. About leaning on one another. Not pushing the other away?”

I blew out a breath and closed my eyes. He was right. “Okay,” I said, running a hand through my hair and opening my eyes again. “It was what Hawk said. It…sounded like something my mother used to say. I spiralled. Her death is my fault.”

Adrian stiffened, straightening as he pulled his hand from my knee. I felt the lack of warmth immediately. Was he disgusted with me? Thinking the same thing?

If I’d trusted the team sooner, Kerry would still be alive. Safe. She would be with the girls. And the kids…they wouldn’t be completely traumatised from seeing their mother die. They—

“Hey. Come back to me.” Adrian took my hand and tugged me into him, forcing me onto his lap. The self-consciousness I normally felt disappeared when he wrapped his arms around my me. “Please don’t go there.”

“You don’t know what I was thinking,” I muttered, resting my head on his shoulder. “I could have been thinking about anything. Coffee. The episodes ofOutlanderThea and I are missing. How much I’m going to miss theCamilla.”

Adrian snorted, his chest rumbling with a laugh. “I hate to tell you this, but I know you better than that—and now that we’re bonded, I absolutely do know what you’re thinking.” He rubbed a hand over my arm, tightening his hold on me as he did. “You went somewhere dark for a moment there.”

My heart hammered in my chest as I thought about that last moment with Kerry. “It’s all my fault,” I said, voice cracking. “If I’d listened to you guys, Kerry would be alive, and the girls would be okay. Now, they’re alone again, abandoned by me, and they probably hate me. And you’re probably thinking the same thing: if I had justlistenedto you—”

“Hey, no.” He trailed his fingers through my hair to cup the nape of my neck, forcing me to meet his stare. “That’s not at allwhat I’m thinking. You should know that by now. I’ll never think poorly of you or believe any of this is your fault. This is on the organisation trying to take your throne. Not you.”

I shuddered, eyes closing. “It’s not that easy. In my head, everyone knows it’s true.Iknow it’s true. And—”

“You have no control over what other people do.” My eyes flew open, finding Maeve immediately. She stepped into the kitchen, and her hands curled into fists at her sides. “But you are not at fault for what happened. If anything, I should have done more. It was my responsibility to protect your family, and I failed.”

The absolute sorrow in her eyes made my heart ache. She wouldn’t look at me, and as I tried to catch her eye, I realised she really meant it.

She really blamed herself.

Adrian let me rise and I walked over to where Maeve stood near the door. I wound my arms around her neck and hugged her. The tug in my chest grew stronger the longer she stood there, unmoving.

“I don’t blame you, Maeve. Ineverblamed you,” I whispered. “It’s on me, all of it.”

Maeve shook her head. “No,” she replied, finally returning my embrace. Her hands went to my hips and pulled me into her body before winding around my back. For a long moment, we held each other. I didn’t feel strange about it, either, even with Adrian watching. It felt right.

Finally, Maeve pulled free, and I let my arms fall to my side. “What did Hawk do, exactly?” she asked, lifting a dark bow as I averted my stare. “Ivy?”

I sighed. “Nothing. He didn’t mean to.” Even if he was a dick, I wasn’t going to throw him under the bus. “He just said something that triggered me.”

When I looked to Adrian, he gave me an unimpressed nod. “He said some words, so I told him to fuck off.”

“He came to me and reported something had happened.” Maeve pressed her hand into the small of my back and guided me to the small table in the breakfast nook of the kitchen. “I can make it so he has no further contact with you, if that’s what you want.”

I stiffened as Adrian pulled me onto his lap. My cheeks warmed as Maeve watched the movement, but she didn’t comment on it.

Instead, I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. Like I said, he didn’t know. I don’t expect anyone to understand that.”

Maeve eyed me for a long moment before nodding. “You should know, everyone arrived at the other safe house. The rest of the team is unharmed, and Thea has the children.”

“I know. I spoke with Elias last night. He gave me an update.” Neither needed to know about theotherthing we did.

Adrian, however, gave me a squeeze before saying, “She was visited by her other mate last night, too.”

Maeve froze. Her eyes grew dark as she looked from me, to Adrian, then back to me. “Why wasn’t I informed sooner?”

I opened my mouth, but Adrian cut in, his voice hard. “Becausemymate needed to eat first before reporting anything.”

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