Page 115 of The Crown of Nyx

“We are at least a day’s ride from the nearest beach,” the demon said. “He would have to travel day in and out with his supposed army to find us and then breach the mountain range. There is a reason the vampires liked this place. We would, perhaps, have been better at the top of the mountain.”

“Why?” I asked, glancing towards one of the ranges.

“Other than the blood caves where they left their more…deranged friends, there were also outposts on the mountain. Ways to protect the valley should unwanted visitors find their way here. And within those outposts, I would assume dragon slayers.”

“Fuck,” Elias murmured. “I thought those had been banned before the war.”

“I still can’t believe dragons were a thing,” Ivy said, quietly. “That just feels like a thing outside of the realm of possibilities.”

“You shift into a wolf now,” I pointed out. “Can wield lightning, make charms, see the future. But dragons surprise you?”

Ivy’s cheeks darkened, and she ducked her head. “Well, yeah. I’ve seen all that other stuff. But dragons?” She shook her head. “I’ll have to see it to believe it.”

“There may be bones somewhere,” the demon king said, shrugging. “The largest predator in all the worlds, wiped out by?—”

“Alright, no need to scare her,” Adrian cut in.

Ivy hadn’t necessarily been scared, according to the bond, but she had been slightly horrified. And anyway, there was only speculation about why the dragons died out. Some claimed it was because they were ignoring their basic instincts and mate bonds, others said they were hunted down by an unknown enemy determined to end them.

Whatever the reason, there really wasn’t anything concrete, other than the hoard who had stayed behind and died with the Old World while everyone else fled.

Silence thickened the air between us, only broken by the soft crackling of the flames. It was Hawk who removed the roasted meat from the flames and set it between us, with the vegetables beside it, but no one made a move to eat.

I couldn’t blame them. My stomach was tightly knotted with everything we didn’t know.

My own issues were at the forefront of that, though. The only thing I was good at, and I was failing at it.

I made certain to block those thoughts from Ivy as I looked at her. Wolfy was feeding her some rabbit, which she picked at with a scrunched nose and little desire for.

Even if I was failing now, I wouldn’t keep it up. Not with Ivy’s life on the line.

Not when I knew now that my mother planned for all of this. Had known something like this would happen.

But how much had she known?

47

Ivy

The next jump through the shadows took us to the ruins of an old city. Ruins was said lightly.

I gazed around the buildings. “This place looks…”

It looked dystopian. I turned in a slow circle as I took in the snowy structures around me. It looked like it could have been abandoned a few hundred years ago. The only reason I knew it hadn’t been was the magic still imbued in the space; from the cobblestone road beneath my feet, to the three-storey high building to my right, and the short one to my left, ancient magic continued to bleed from this place.

We’d landed on a wide street, with the smell of decay and death permeating the frozen air. Elias, Maeve, and Hawk all pulled guns from their belts, clicking the safety off as a small circle formed around me.

It was like we’d entered an entirely different world. From the snow drifting like ash, to the still air and unnatural smell of death. The threat of zombie-rats was high, but I didn’t sense the creatures.

But what if there were other things? Worse things? A shudder rolled down my spine, and without meaning to, I glanced at the buildings. Old window ledges were dusted with snow, but there was only darkness within. I waited for that familiar, prickling feeling that told me we were being watched, but it never came.

Stay close,Elias warned, his presence in the back of my mind comforting.If anything happens, shift and run.

I really don’t like the idea of that, I replied.

And I had no plans of abandoning my mates. Not to Dante’s forces or to the zombie-rat things.

But just in case, I summoned the enhanced senses I got from Elias and Maeve and breathed in. My stomach turned at the smell of rotting flesh and death, which came from what I assumed was the next street over. My hearing sharpened, too. But other than the pounding of my own heart, and the gentler heartbeats around me, I heard nothing. No footsteps, no rustling. I remembered that sound didn’t carry as well with snow; it acted as a blocker of sorts.

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