Page 113 of The Crown of Nyx

Unless he had someone doing it for him.

I shook my head. No, the runes I’d seen in the vision hadn’t feltnew. There was a difference in ones that were recent, made in the last couple hundred years, and ones that were old as fuck.

And the ones that stripped Ivy of her power wereancient.

Ivy had even mentioned that even Nyx hadn’t known about the runes. I assumed the same ones destined to harm Ivy and trap her, were the same ones hiding Dante from Nyx.

I stared down at my dirty hands and sighed. The second stone I’d uncovered was much the same. There was a warning against shifters, which was a rune not used anymore. I’d forgotten the conflict between vamps and shifters. They’d butted heads over territory, if the history books were to be believed.

A shiver rolled down my spine, and a tingle of magic worked its way through me as the bond warmed.I looked up to find Ivy, Adrian, and the asshole Fae prince approaching. My mate looked well rested—or as well rested as sleeping on wet moss could allow—though tension lined her.

I checked in with the bond but found nothing wrong.You okay, my love?I asked, rising from my crouch in front of the rune stone.

A sweet smile played at her lips. “I’m okay,” she replied, joining me in the circle. Her brows furrowed as she took in the twelve standing stones, and the two I’d managed to clean. “Wow.”

I wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing her into my side. “You don’t see these anymore,” I said, sighing. “Stone circles aren’t very common anymore.”

Ivy raised a brow as the other two joined us. Adrian still looked exhausted, but he’d clearly slept for as long as he could. Magic leaked from him slowly—had been since we’d boarded the ship that abandoned us in hell. He was doing something, but he just hadn’t told me.

“Shit,” he muttered. “These are…”

I grimaced as Black approached one of the clean stones and ran his fingers over the carvings. “I understand my father’s interest in runes now,” he murmured, not glancing at anyone. “He claimed he was a collector of the Old World. Now, I see that was another lie.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. I was pretty sure Hyperion Black had trademarked the term ‘lying asshole’. If there was one thing I knew about Fae court politics—and I knew pretty little—it was that the High Lord of the Luna Court was not liked by his fellow courts. The Unseelie put up with him, and the Seelie barely tolerated him. Made sense now, though too many had still chosen to side with him and Dante during their takeover at the ball.

He also wasn’t liked well for his treatment of his fated mates—fated mates no one has seen for a while. I had to wonder how much Black knew about his father’s dealings. Being the son of two courts, there was alotof stigma.

I felt the burn of Ivy’s dark eyes on me. I glanced down to find her staring up at me with furrowed brows.

Now, I felt like an asshole. How much of that had she caught? Since fleeing the Underworld, I’d mostly dropped my barriers to her. Of course, I had to work on keeping a specific mind mage out of my head. But that’s what we’d worked on the night before we’d left the Elysian palace.

Ivy shook her head. “Did you find anything here?”

I released a defeated breath. “Nope.” My arm tightened around her, almost instinctively. “Just some runes I already know.”

Her eyes left mine as she took in the cleaned stones. Black moved to stand beyond the circle with his arms crossed. Meanwhile, Adrian was wandering around the circle aimlessly.

“What’s the purpose of a circle like this?” Ivy asked, her voice soft. “You said they’re uncommon.”

“They are,” I replied. “At least, they haven’t been used in the last several hundred years. I think they went out of style before Greer became Queen.”

Ivy stepped out of my embrace, and I missed her warmth immediately. “Why? Is there a reason?” She moved to the most recently cleaned stone to trace one of the runes—a protection against unwanted guests, specifically against those who meant harm.

“These were kind of like huge power banks back in the day,” Adrian explained, before I could. I shot him a look; one he ignored as he moved to her side. “There would be a power source in the centre, like a chargedcrystal, and then the stones would be powered by it in order to strengthen the purpose the runes served.”

“This circle just seems to have been made for the vamps to hide out from shifters,” I said. “I recognise most of these, though pretty vaguely.”

From outside the circle, the Fae prince made a sound in the back of his throat. “Why are you the expert on runes? And not the actual charm mage?”

I bristled at the question, but even Ivy was curious. “Because whoever my mother slept with to birth me was a charm mage,” I replied stiffly. “She thought if I was trained in runes, then I could maybe double affinity or something along those lines.”

Ivy’s brows furrowed, though based on the bond, there was more she wanted to ask. About my birth father, I was sure.

I don’t know anything other than that,I told her.Sable never spoke of him, and that was it.

Her gaze softened, and she moved to my side again.I understand, she replied.I have a dad like that.

Damn, Nyx really thought of everything when putting us together.

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