Page 109 of The Crown of Nyx

I pressed my lips together and looked down at my hands. Guilt filled me again, tightening around my slow-beating heart. It was too tempting to tell him, and I did not like it. Not when I knew this was something I should have shared with Ivy. She was my mate, but I still had the urge to sneak away.

A breath escaped my lips as a sigh. “Ivy is in more danger than she told you,” I warned, peering up at him.

Anger flashed across his sharp features, darkening his red eyes. “What kind of danger?”

It was clear he was trying to hide his true emotions. But why? He had only known Ivy a few days. Had he developed actual feelings for her?

I hated that I knew little about him. That the Elysian King was an enigma, an unknown. The only people I could have pressed for information were captured by Dante. Sir Lazarus and Sir Onyx would have known more about the ancient king across from me. They were the ones who usually went with Queen Greer on her voyages to the Underworld. The preparations for those journeys took weeks and would usually pull Sir Ya’Dahir away from Phoenix. But during my years as a low agent, then as team leader, I’d never seen him leave on the journey with her.

Shaking my head, I tore my eyes away from the king and moved to an urn across the room. It was nothing special to look at, but I couldn’t stare at him any longer and wonder what his game was with Ivy.

“Rowan Archer is a Divination mage,” I said, without looking back at him.

“I’m aware,” he deadpanned. “I have had the pleasure of meeting his mother.”

My skin prickled, despite the crypt being moderate temperature. I glanced back with furrowed brows. “You have met Sable?”

The demon shrugged nonchalantly. “On more than one occasion. Usually with Queen Greer, though she has made visits on her own.”

“And you allowed it?” I quirked a brow, though my mind was reeling from the information. Why would Sable be meeting with him? It was not a coincidence. That witch knew something, I was certain of it. But what had her visions revealed? “Is she the reason why you are here?”

She has had her hands in all of our lives. Our team had been created by her on behalf of Nyx, in order to prepare Ivy for what was to come. I knew she and Hawk Nash were working together in some way; they knew each other far too well for me to think otherwise. And now she had a connection to the Elysian King. I just didn’t know if she had anything to do with Orion Black, though my gut told me she did.

The demon king crossed his arms, expression unreadable. “She is a good poker player,” he said. “That is all.”

Yes, was what he didn’t say. Maybe he didn’t even realise she’d put him on the path to finding Ivy.

But why?

“Now, what danger is she in?” His voice took on a growl, though he maintained control over his power.

“Rowan has seen a future in which Dante takes Ivy,” I replied carefully. “One where he has stripped her of her power and holds her captive.”

His expression changed at that, transforming from one of anger to something else. Defeated? But as soon as it appeared, it was gone, and his features smoothed out into a carefully placed mask of indifference. Three thousand years, and he was no better at hiding his thoughts and emotions than the rest of us.

That was the power Ivy had over those of us in her orbit.

I cocked my head when he didn’t respond. “Within those visions, he saw runes. Ancient ones. Rowan has studied runes greatly, but he does not recognise the ones used against her. Which means Dante has either found a way to craft runes that none have ever seen before, or?—”

“Or he gained access to ones we lost two thousand years ago at the beginning of the war,” the demon king grumbled. He didn’t look at me as he glanced aroundthe crypt, though his eyes darkened with understanding. “You will not find what you are seeking down here. The vampires of this time were notoriously bloodthirsty. They were eccentric and ruthless. They had no regard for mortal life. They took humans as blood slaves and promised them immortality before tearing their throats out.”

My stomach bottomed out from feeling as though we would not get close enough to finding answers before Dante caught us. If he truly had chains like the ones Rowan had seen, then it would not take much to capture Ivy.

My heart rate picked up out of fear, and there was nothing I could do to squash it.

“If there was a place,” I questioned, “to find these runes, where would one look?”

The demon king shook his head slowly. “I would assume the old universities. There were three that all creatures, and humans, could attend. But…” He sighed. “I doubt you will find anything there. The war saw them turn to ash. The last of the dragons were asked to torch everything that couldn’t be loaded onto ships to build the new archives.”

“Then how in Nyx’s name did Dante find any of this?” I asked quietly. “How did he even think of?—”

Something sounded in the hallway outside the crypt. The hairs on the back of my arms stood on end; I palmed a dagger in one hand, and I released the claws of my other. Shadows whipped around the Elysian King, curling around him like armour.

He and I shared a look. He was closest to the archway leading into the dimly lit hall. Without a word, he sent a shadowy tendril into the dungeon. I waited, my breath caught in the back of my throat, for another sound. An indication that we were not alone. But even as I scented the air, it was still the same damp, stale air that had notbeen disturbed in years. I caught the demon’s scent, but it was faint. And the scents of our previous appearance within was barely there.

The demon’s shoulders loosened, the tension falling away after a moment. “It appears we are still alone,” he said without looking at me. “The shadows show me nothing.”

Despite his reassurance, I kept my dagger palmed, though the claws retracted. “Then perhaps that is our sign to leave,” I replied. “We do not know how unstable this space is.”

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