Page 11 of The Crown of Nyx

Our bond pulsed, and I motioned for the others in the male’s team to line up against the car. As they all slid out, I felt a tingle of wrongness prickle my skin.

The only other time I’d felt this particular magic was when I’d come in contact with the poison mage after the car crash, when my magic had begged me to stop what he was doing, to pull it away from my mates.

I cocked my head as I let my eyes roam over the five agents. They were similar height and build, all malepresenting, and wore masks over the lower parts of their faces. But the skin I could see was sweaty, and they all had a darkness in their eyes that unsettled me.

Slowly, I let my magic unfurl. Keeping the lightning contained to myself, I reached out with my power and let it investigate the males before me. My stomach twisted as the magic inspected each of them, testing their own power against mine, reacting to the bitter infection within them. Something dark and wrong boiled within all of them. It felt like a sickness that needed to be cured. To be pulled from them and destroyed.

“Your hand, agent,” I asked, nodding to the arm he’d held out earlier for Maeve. “Bare your wrist for me.”

Maeve grabbed my other hand as I pulled her dagger free from the sheath beneath my dress. “Ivy, what are you doing?”

“Trust me,” I murmured, tugging my hand free. Our eyes met briefly. Hers flashed red, though she let go with some hesitation.

Turning back to the male, I took his gloved hand, and without meeting his eye, I sliced through the thin flesh of his exposed wrist. He hissed, but my eyes were drawn to the blood spilling from the cut.

First, it ran red, but soon, the colour darkened to black. I turned his wrist and watched as it dripped onto the road. “You were poisoned,” I said, finally glancing up from the blood. “Intentionally or unintentionally, agent?”

The male’s eyes widened in shock, the colour draining from his face. With his free hand, he tore the mask from his face to reveal his features. He was young, maybe only the same age as me, likely new at the compound, with soft features. He didn’t try to pull his hand away from mine as he stuttered a response that sounded like a‘no’.

“He’s from Jay’s team,” Rowan suddenly interjected, and quickly, everyone else left the safety of the forest to join us. “I recognise him from the second safe house.”

My stomach twisted at the thought that this male was around my sisters and Thea. That he’d had access to them.

But there was no anger or hatred in his eyes as he fell to his knees before me. “I would never betray my Queen,” he breathed, tears shining in his eyes. “Please.”

From behind me, Elias growled, and the male’s gaze shot to my mate. The pleading look didn’t disappear. “Please.”

I searched his face, then the faces of the others as they stared down at their own wrists. One pulled his own dagger free and sliced through his wrist, and his face twisted in disgust as his blood bled black.

“I believe you,” I replied, finally turning back to the male on his knees. “And I’ll fix this.”

A tear slid down his cheek as I handed Maeve my dagger. She accepted it silently. The weight of everyone’s stares should have unsettled me, but as Nyx’s power settled over me, the rest of the world fell away. My eyes closed on a sharp exhale, and I summoned the power I’d felt before.

The need to fix the males lined up before me filled my very being. I reached into him, felt his magic meet mine. He was a mage, likely cosmic. But I dove deeper, seeking out the poison filling his veins. I found it eating away at his magic, at his mortal body, a dark disease determined to destroy him and anyone else he came in contact with.

My heart hurt for him as I took hold of the very basic magic that brought the poison into being. The infection hadn’t been inside him long enough to cause lasting damage. As I unravelled it from around his essence, Itried to heal what it destroyed, knitting together the mage’s magic and physical body as I drew the poison out.

My heart pounded as I pulled away from him. He dropped his head, arm falling to his side, as the remaining poison leaked from the unhealed wound.

I stumbled back a step and sucked in a breath. “You are safe,” I whispered before turning to the other males. Slowly, each one dropped to their knees lifting one fist up to their hearts and bowing their heads.

Something primal in me reared its head, a sense of power burning within me at the acknowledgement.

These were my people,mycreatures, mine to protect and serve.

And I would save them all.

5

Elias

Her power should have brought a sense of fear to any who stood in her presence.

But by the time she was done with the agents, they were in awe just like the rest of us.

All the fear and anger I felt slipped away as I watched my battered and terrified mate come into her power. Right before my eyes, her entire demeanour changed; she’d been slowly transitioning into the powerful Queen she was always destined to be, but now it was there in the way she took each hand and drew the poison from their blood, in the way she whispered to them they were safe. It was in each charm she placed on them to protect them from further infection.

And with each male, she showed them kindness, a softness that would draw anyone to her side. She mightnot have been the Queen they expected, but she was showing them that she was the Queen they needed.

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