Page 99 of Fallen Heirs

She looked out at the battlefield, seeing that things had absolutely shifted thanks toObsidian.Most of her acolytes were downed andObsidianwas holding out against her angel magic, protecting all theExemplarmembers by the entrance and those remaining among the battlefield.

A curse escaped her, and then she swept her magic at her followers, smoke erupting all around as she teleported them all away to safety.

She glared out at Orpheus. “You continue in this vein, with this new army of yours, and you won’t survive what’s coming. With this celestial magic, Constantine has already been able to break the blood vow he made with your father not to take your life. There’s nothing stopping him. You do this and he won’t hesitate to end you.”

Orpheus held her dark glare. “So be it.”

With that, she teleported out too.

It was over.

The battle was won.

Just not the war.

That was an entirely different story.

24

~Talon~

“Can Abigail be resurrected?” I asked Elliot as he sat up in bed in one of the rooms of the central quarters. “Her magic still exists, it didn’t die with her because of Lenora’s deviousness.”

“No. She can’t be resurrected. She took her own life with celestial fire. There’s… nothing to bring back because of that.”

“Oh,” I murmured.

So much for there being a silver lining to the situation. My heart sank, I’d already pictured Alena’s face if that had been possible, having her mom back with her. Instead, there was just this nightmare now. This twisted nightmare of somebody else wielding her mom’s magic for evil.Shit,it was sickening.

Ore patted my shoulder in one of his sweet gestures of comfort. “Sorry, baby bird.”

Elliot rested his head back against the pillows, his exhaustion clear.

And really fucking worrying.

Vanessa—apparently his secret girlfriend—had filled us in on part of the situation, and we’d gotten the rest from X before he’d passed out from being channeled by his dad. He was sleeping it off now in the room right beside this one.

Vanessa was with Marlowe taking a tour of the facility after Ore had wanted a word with Elliot privately.

Well, I’d pushed my way into the weird bedroom meeting too.

Ore knew I was on edge with the war and the threat of losses right now, so he was making sure he was being as transparent as possible. It gave me some semblance of relief when I knew exactly what was going on, rather than being kept in the dark in any way.

“I have a possible way to cast out Constantine’s magical connection to you,” Ore told Elliot. “The downsides are that it will knock you out for several hours and make it impossible for you to wield your magic for a few days too.”

“Given that I’m completely useless now, that won’t be much of a difference to the current state of affairs. What is this solution that you have in mind?”

“Dark Fae dust. I can fashion a spell that will infuse it into your bloodstream and access the connection Constantine has opened between you. It will cast him out and sever the connection at the same time.”

He frowned. “I was under the impression that Saryan cut off access to the mines where the dust was discovered long ago?”

“He had a change of heart.”

Realization shone in Elliot’s eyes. “He’s using it for defensive purposes to guard against any further invasions.”

Shit,he was good.

“Yes,” Orpheus admitted. “Creating this spell using the dust is only a temporary solution, however. If he was so inclined, Constantine could open it up again.UnlessAlena sealed it with her celestial magic.”

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