Page 49 of Gua rdian of Blood and Shadow

28

Imovedsilentlythroughancientcorridors, monitoring my consorts through our bonds—Javier’s smoke and lightning, Bastian’s wild essence, Ash’s steadfast stone, Thane’s oceanic depths—each connection pulsing against my consciousness like a second heartbeat.

The waxing moon was low in the sky and the stars were bright when I reached the sanctuary’s entrance. The grassy expanse spreading across the front part of the grounds stretched before me. Beyond it, the upward sloping ground and the hillside graveyard, with the moonlit statues of Selene in her many forms standing like silent sentinels. Ren waited beside the wrought-iron gate, her silhouette barely visible from this distance in the dim light.

I hurried out into the night, throwing furtive glances over my shoulder despite sensing that my consorts were still in the manor house. My breaths came faster as I closed in on Ren.

“You came,” she said with careful neutrality. “Alone. Good.”

I nodded, my stomach tangled in knots.

She didn’t say anything else, no gentle assurances. No praise, though I totally deserved it. I’d worn my guys out. That took dedication. Instead of speaking, Ren produced a small vial of iridescent blue liquid.

“Drink this before you go. It will mask your energy signature from the wards.”

“What about the ward code? I’d rather not melt, or—”

“I can disable it,” she interrupted, glancing over her shoulder toward the house. “How much time do we have?”

I shrugged, hugging my middle. “They’re sleeping, but anything could wake them, especially Javier.” If he woke and sensed me out in the graveyard, I figured it would take him about twenty seconds to reach us. “Work fast.”

Ren laughed softly, an edge of bitterness in the sound. “Of course,” she said, her fingers tracing portal sigils in the air. Power moved around her like light through water, and a dark vortex formed at the center of the wrought-iron gate.

A spike of awareness shot through me, and I peered down at the Gothic mansion whose spires speared the sky. Javier was awake. And based on the way my awareness of my other consorts flared brighter in my mind, he was waking them, too.

“Hurry,” I urged, wringing my hands. “They’re coming.”

Ren’s movements changed, becoming faster, jerkier.

“Stop!” Javier’s voice cut through the night, balanced between command and desperation. He materialized from the shadows, moving toward us with predatory grace. “Whatever you’re planning, Luna, whatever you believe you must face alone…” His eyes held decades of knowing me, even when I didn’t fully know myself. “Iwillbe at your side.”

He positioned himself between me and the gate where Ren worked, his stance unmistakable. He wasn’t letting me leave. Not without him.

More footsteps pounded across the graveyard. Bastian surged forward, the only one of my consorts who moved slow enough for me to track.

“Don’t do this, Soph!” he called roughly.

Ash and Thane appeared at the edges of my awareness, positioning themselves on my right and left sides.

My heart sank. So much for wearing them out.

“I need you to stay here,” I said desperately, my voice ringing with the full power of mywill. “Micah needs protection. The sanctuary needs defenders. I can’t risk all of you. You will not try to stop me, and you willstay here.”

I saw their resistance—the straining tendons and bulging muscles, the groans as they fought to get close to me—and felt their urgency through our bonds. Only Javier remained unmoved, his dark eyes narrowed as he stood his ground between me and the gate, the crescent moon sigil on his face shining steadily.

“You’re not going without me,” he said, his voice dropping to that dangerous register that made my heart race. “You promised. No more shutting me out. No more carrying burdens alone.” His eyes softened slightly. “I have spent twenty years sensing your pain across a great distance. Did you truly believe I would not feel this coming?”

“Javier,” I began, but stopped at the finality in his expression. His protective fury had crystallized into something colder, more calculated.

“I will not lose you again,” he said simply, stepping aside as the portal solidified behind him in a vortex of black lightning.

“You must go now, Sophie,” Ren shouted. “I can’t hold this for long.”

“Aren’t you coming with me?” I asked, startled by her words. “I’ll need you for the curse-breaking ritual.”

She glanced down the hill at the mansion. “I have to reset the containment spell on Reiji. It must be done every three hours. I timed this so you would have time to negotiate with Veris before I joined you. Otherwise, his containment spell could wear off while I’m still away, and that…that would be a very bad thing.”

“How long?” I asked.

---