Page 130 of Fallen Heirs

“It’s okay, I know you all had things to do.”

“And we need you to rest up as much as possible in preparation for this mammoth spell you’re set to perform.”

She eased away. “Speaking of that, there’s something you need to know.”

I tensed at the worry flitting across her face.

In the next moment, she conjured one of her mom’s grimoires.

She levitated it between us, then used a flick of her fingers to flip through the pages. It stopped when it was three quarters through and then I found myself looking at a spell with her handwriting scrawled all over it.

“Let me see,” I murmured, studying the spell with her notes, a lot of the original incantation crossed out.

I stilled when I came across something highly worrying, the thing she was obviously referring to.

I looked out at her. “There’s an inherent danger inyouperforming the spell, rather than a full celestial being. You could be pulled into the portal itself.”

“When I told Xavier that wasn’t a possibility, I really thought it wasn’t. Until I delved deeper into the spell in preparation for performing it. But the original spell had a Fallen performing it in mind. My human side makes me more vulnerable. And me also being weaker than my mom.”

“You need an anchor.”

She grasped my bicep, urgency spilling from her. “This needs to be done, Orpheus. Despite the danger. We absolutely have to extract my mom’s magic from Lenora.”

“I agree.”

“You do? Just like that?”

“You expected me to bench you, huh?”

“Something like that.”

I grasped her hand on me. “You’ve come a long way, little angel. We all have. And the way we’ll win this war is as one, pulling together in every way.” I lifted a shoulder. “We’ll get you an anchor.”

“That anchor won’t be you.”

We both turned at the sound of my father’s voice.

I looked to see him shaking his head at me. “It could drain you to the brink of death,” he told me. “It won’t be you. Understood?”

“Brinkof death? Well that’s not—”

“I’m serious.No.”He gestured out at Elliot who was listening in and looking our way. “It should be El. Given his age and experience, his power stores are significant, meaning it’s not easy to drain him even under the worst of circumstances and through extreme pressure. A Light magic-wielder anchoring aNephilim will also be a much smoother match than you or I trying to fill the role, son. Moreover, El has much more familiarity with celestial magic.”

Elliot nodded. “He’s correct.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do.”

“When she’s weakened enough, I’ll get up close and break her fucking neck,” he announced. When he saw my intent to argue, he told me in that non-negotiable, firm tone I’d most definitely inherited from him, “The last time you were in her immediate vicinity, she almost killed you. We won’t be recreating those circumstances.”

“She could do the same to you, Father.”

“I don’t want you murdering your own mother. No matter if you’ve come to terms with the notion of it, the act itself will haunt you.”

“Father—”

“Neither of you are doing that,” Alena cut in. “If I’m not going to take a risk by opening that portal without an anchor, I’m certainly not going to allow the two of you to take a similar one by getting up so close to her in the name of putting her down. I’ll need to be covered during the spell, but you’ll do that from a distance only. No close proximity bullshit.”

I eyed my father, seeing his incredulity that he’d just been told off. That just didn’t happen to the almighty Saryan Hart. No one dared. Expecting him to call her on it and then dismiss her comment entirely, I was more than a little surprised when he smiled and told her, “Your concern is touching and most definitely appreciated, Alena. However—”

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