Page 49 of Living Legend

I gave her a smile, but I knew the corners of my mouth didn’t pull up all the way.With or without Jonah.

“I can try to remove the haze as best I can, but whoever placed it has been perfecting their magical holds. I can almost taste the smoke hiding everything, almost feel it wrapping around my lungs and seeping into my eyes.”

“Okay, okay we get it. Your magic is way too realistic and creepy,” Reese interrupted.

“Nicholas, there is something I wanted to give you before I see myself out.” Natalia took hold of my empty hand and gently placed something in my palm. Just the touch of her hand exuded a lightness I didn’t know I needed until that moment. She closed my fingers and took a step back. “I feel like you’ve been quite limited on this mission of yours, and I thought this could be my first contribution in your success, regardless of how all this pans out, good or bad.”

Natalia reached out behind her and flicked her fingers, creating blue specks of light, her portal creating itself. I tightened my fingers around the object, feeling it dig into my skin.

“What did Jonah say about you coming here?” Reese asked the question that had slipped all our minds.

Natalia’s face was illuminated with the light of her portal. “Due to the nature of our last meeting, I thought it best if I came to you and only you with my findings. I have a feeling Jonah has not been informed of recent events, and I’m happy to seal my lips for the sake of more answers.” It was only a second, but her eyes flickered over to me, as if knowing I had chosen to omit most, if not all, the information from the last time we spoke. Before we could say anything else, she was gone.

I lifted my hand and opened my fingers, revealing Natalia’s gift to me. It was a tiger's eye crystal, wrapped in gold wiring. She had given me a portal key.

“Is that what I think it is?” Reese looked at me wide eyed.

I took the chain and hooked it around my neck, tucking the crystal into my shirt. “Yeah.”

“I’d say it’s a step in the right direction. Having an Enchanter on our side could come in handy.” He picked up the sword Dani had let fly out of her hands, moving it out of Elise’s reach.

“So, when do we take that thing for a spin?” Elise asked, rubbing her hands together.

“We aren’t going anywhere. If what Natalia said is true, there’s a lot more going on here than we thought. I also don’t want to use my key while Jonah has them under restriction.”

“So, what you’re saying is that I was right and this isn’t just a demon issue?” Elise said obnoxiously. “Funny how things work out, huh?”

“Shut the fuck up. You say random shit all the time; it’s just a coincidence,” Reese shot back, walking towards the other side of the room. Elise yanked the sword from my hand and slowly stalked behind him, sword at the ready.

“You have that look on your face,” Dani noted, tilting her chin up to look at me. “Utter contemplation. Your eyebrows come inward, and your nostrils tend to flare. Your shoulders tense, but your breathing is steady. It would be cute if the situation wasn’t so damn alarming.”

“It's not alarming; I just don’t know where to go from here. It’s stalemate after stalemate. Maybe I should give you your dagger so you can just find out the ending of all of this bullshit for us.” I heard myself saying the words, but I couldn’t believe they’d come out of my mouth.

Dani raised one of her eyebrows and poked my shoulder. “We both know you would do it and then instantly regret it. You’d probably throwyourselfin the fucking Ethereal Bastille. You think too much, Nicholas. You have a few pieces of information, so retain it and figure out how to use it. You know the key is here and I highly doubt it's going to move anytime soon. Lilith has learned about striking too hard and too fast. She’ll bide her time, but be prepared for when she does strike. Once she does, the one helping her will strike as well.”

“Are you guys going to clash swords or just sit there talking like a bunch of little bitches?” Elise yelled from across the room.

I gave Dani one last, long look before walking past her. She grabbed my forearm, keeping me in place beside her. “You signed up for this, so you have to see it through.” She let go of my arm and shrugged past me towards the others.

She sounded like me if I was talking to someone in my position. She wasn’t pushy, but she was persistent. Underneath all her attractive physical qualities and the fact that she kept me laughing, she seemed to want this just as much as I did. I wasn’t afraid to fight. I was afraid I would have to confront one of my own.

“Nick! Get your ass over here. It's two versus one,” Reese called, pulling me from my thoughts.

The portal key felt like molten lava against my chest as it bounced against my sternum with every move I made.I needed to tell someone who wasn’t in this room how I felt. I wanted to honor the idea that I could keep Dani and Elise a secret, but if I was going to explain myself, they had to be a part of the story.

I needed to talk to my father.

Chapter Nine

DANI

Afew days had gone by after our enlightening meeting with Natalia. Nothing she said surprised me, not one bit. What I didn’t quite understand was who would work with Lilith. A plan like this would have to take time and patience, be meticulously sorted, manipulated to be exactly what they wanted. They had to have time on their hands but be full of malicious intent to have one of their own kind killed. This place was supposed to represent solidarity and loyalty, the one place elevated above all others, yet it was falling short every time we turned around.

“Your little boy toy looked pretty disappointed in that witch’s findings,” Elise snarked, inspecting her split ends. She lounged on her bed, propping her feet up with one of her pillows.

“It’s understandable if you think about it,” I countered.

“I mean I guess but come on. He couldn’t really think this entire realm was all honor and allegiance. Someone was bound to go rogue.”

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