Page 122 of The Crown of Nyx

It took him a moment to stir, but when he did, he groaned. “Fuck,” he grunted, sitting up. “We leaving?”

“Yeah.” She pressed her lips together, worry evident in her dark eyes. “Are you feeling any better?”

I could tell immediately he wanted to lie and tell her he was fine. That the sleep helped more than he expected. I didn’t know Adrian Kingsley personally; we’d never spent time in the same circles, not when he’d been at the academy, nor after. The parties he’d attended was something I refused to participate in. Though, knowing now Dante was the one hunting Ivy, I wish I’d attended some. I wish I’d put that bastard on my radar sooner and hunted him in return.

Instead of lying, Adrian shook his head. He must have responded through the bond, because her features softened, and she cupped his cheek gently.

I expected to feel a sense of intrusion. Like I should not be here, experiencing this moment. But she still had my hand trapped in hers, holding me tightly. And through the bond, I felt nothing from her end that made me want to escape.

It didn’t take long for us to leave. And to my surprise, Ivy remained at my side. Her magic hummed around us, filling the air. I almost considered removing my glove for her, for that real contact of our skin, but with all eyes on us, I couldn’t make myself do it.

I’m not rushing you with anything, she said, her eyes meeting mine briefly.We still have a lot to work through.

Despite appreciating her assurance, it still pained me to know there was still a barrier between us. I knew it wasn’t the gloves; Ivy, even without knowing the true meaning of why I wore them, would never judge me for the protection they afforded me.

It was everything else that made reconnecting difficult. I still had secrets, things I was terrified to admit—things I couldn’t because of the glamour. I was the reason she had taken her first life, even though I knew I would rather her alive and unharmed.

I was the first to break her heart, even though it was the only way to save her from the inevitable wrath of my father.

I said nothing, though, as the shadows swarmed around us, and darkness claimed us once more.

50

Xerxes

Death permeated the landscape, suffocating in its grip on the underground city of Valerius. The surface world, covered in a thick layer of heavy snow, assaulted by a storm that never ended, only held a fraction of what Valerius hid.

When I first saw the Queen with her mates surrounding the pile of bodies, I’d thought the other army had only found them: the few who used the ruins of the old city as a breath of fresh air away from their home below.

But when I found the entrance to the real city, the passageway leading into the underground network of tunnels, my hopes had turned to ash.

The Queen and her mates had no idea just how much destruction their presence had brought.

Valerius was in ruin, not just above, but below, too.

There were more bodies strewn carelessly below, the stench of blood thickening the air. Their rotting flesh burned my eyes, so overpowering it almost had me on my knees. The cold didn’t reach this far down, and so the bodies that were abandoned in the tunnels and city decayed like the rest of my world.

I had to cover my face with my hand and turn back to the passage. There was no telling if any had survived the attack. It wouldn’t be the first time something nefarious had infiltrated one of our homes and slaughtered everyone. The deadly creatures the Queen had faced were a scrounge we constantly battled, a living death we could not trace. It was why most of our people were either underground, where they could not sense us, or high in the sky.

But this enemy…

I choked on my breath as I stumbled into the calm evening. Snow fell slowly, dancing across the sky. My vision blurred as I fell to my knees, but the contents of my stomach didn’t spill from my lips, as much as my entire body heaved. It was not the first sight of death I’d encountered, and I knew it would not be the last.

My chest tightened painfully, and I heaved one last time before climbing to my feet. I could barely sense the Queen and her mates, their scents almost carried away entirely by the snow. The pyre they’d left behind had long since stopped burning, the ash now reclaimed by the last storm.

In the distance, another was fast approaching, dark clouds coming in quickly. But that was the way of these lands. Stories claimed this had once been a land that belonged to the witches of Nyx. There had been magic and schools and more.

Now, it was barren, and completely lifeless.

One of Phaedra’s other trackers would find this place. Would tell her what had been done here. She would blame the Queen, and some blame definitely fell on her shoulders. She should have stopped her adversary before they could come here, before he could slaughter our people.

But he was the one who sent his army into the tunnels. Had them kill everyone.

That was not something she could have foretold.

I doubted she expected any of this to happen. And it sounded like she had no idea there were creatures living on this land, anyway. I supposed her enemy hadn’t expected us, either.

But once word got out to the other clans, there was a chance the Queen and her mates wouldn’t have to stop her enemy.

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