Page 13 of The Crown of Nyx

“He’s going after Nyx’s crown,” Ivy said finally, her voice breaking the silence. Tension thickened the air as she held her placeholder crown. “When Dante went for Queen Greer, the crown disappeared. He thinks it’s the key to his rule. That with it, he can be King without consequence.”

“How can you be sure?” Kingsley asked stiffly, voice threaded with emotion. He sat on Ivy’s other side, though he didn’t reach for her—wouldn’t look at her. I couldn’t blame him for wanting to come to terms with what’d happened, but I felt Ivy’s guilt over the entire situation, and she needed to know it wasn’t her fault. That Greer’s death wasn’t on her.

Ivy lowered the crown to her lap and glanced at Kingsley, sadness radiating down the bond. “He asked about it, and she told him that only a Queen of Nyx will see the crown.” She turned her eyes forward and ran her free hand through her tangled hair. “Nyx, when she appeared to me in my dreams, wore the crown. Sometimes, she appeared without it. I don’t know why. But I know that’s where we need to go. We need to find it.”

“Shouldn’t you be able to summon it?” Fae-bastard asked. “It’s part of your power. A manifestation of your magic.”

“I wish it were that easy,” she murmured. “But I don’t think it is.”

I frowned and met Grey’s confused expression. “What do you mean?” the vamp asked.

Ivy’s eyes closed, her head falling back against the seat. Hesitation grew from her end of the bond. Based on the impression her thoughts, it was clear she was trying to figure out what she should say.

“The truth, Ivy,” I demanded. “No more secrets. No more hiding things from us. We are your mates.”Her eyes popped open, a flash of hurt filling the brown ofher irises, but I held firm. “We are all in this with you. You might be the Queen of Nyx now, the ruler of Avalon and all of Nyx’s Domain, but we are your knights, your council. Where you go, we follow.”

Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, tears welling in her eyes. “I don’t want any of you to get hurt,” she said, voice thick with emotion. “Dante doesn’t care about you. But you areeverythingto me. I can’t let him hurt you again.”

My throat tightened, but I pulled her hand into my lap and brought my other to cup the side of her face. “I love you too much to let you keep any secrets from the rest of us. You should know that by now.”

“That’s what I’m scared of,” she whispered. “That you’ll do anything to protect me, but not enough to protect yourselves. If Dante can’t hurt me, Elias, he will hurt you. Don’t you realise that? Ineedto protect you. Protect all of you. Because if I don’t, he will try and kill you. He doesn’t care who you are. He will do anything to get power and maintain it.”

“We’re threats to him and his chance at being king,” Kingsley murmured. “But Elias is right. You need to trust us more, Ivy.”

She flinched away from me as Grey pulled the SUV into a dark lot by the docks. There were already creatures out preparing for the day. Were they aware of what happened? And were these people loyal to Ivy, or the false king? Were we making a mistake coming here now? I couldn’t ignore the rising tension in the vehicle, the way it rolled over all of us.

“Well, I can at least guarantee that we would never be safe in Faery. There are far too many loyal to Dante, who recognise his claim. He has them either in his mind traps,or they believe—stupidly—that he will give them their own ruler—a King of their own,” the mystery mate stated.

Man, I fucking hated the prick.

“And how, exactly, do you know that,Orion?” Archer asked, turning in his seat.

The Fae male, who was perched across from us, gritted his teeth. The entire drive, he hadn’t taken his eyes off of Ivy. We’d been lucky that the mage and his team were able to get us a second, larger SUV for what we needed. There wasn’t much else they’d been able to give us, but they’d promised Archer they’d send supplies at sunrise.

But the prince of Luna remained steady in his adoration of Ivy. It was clear in the way he watched her now, that he would never take his eyes off her again. It had been a shot in the dark, trusting him so I could find the rest of the team. And as much as I wanted to beat him for what he’d done previously to my mate, it was clear he had no intention of hurting her.

And if he could be believed, then he could prove useful in this war.

“The soldiers who were holding us called him something. They feared him,” Grey said, speaking up from her position behind the wheel.

Orion smirked, the twist of his lips darkening his eyes. “They referred to me as ‘The Shadow Knight of Nyx’,” he replied, a glint of malice flashing across his face. “I made sure that if I could not be with Ivy, I would make them regret their betrayals.”

Beside me, Ivy shivered. “What exactly do you know?”

His eyes softened when she met his stare. “I know that the Luna Court is under Dante’s thumb. My father, Hyperion, sided with him out of revenge against Queen Greer.”

Kingsley leaned forward. “The hell do you mean? My mother did nothing to your father.”

“I know that, but he has a warped sense of entitlement, as do some Fae who are taught the old ways. The waysbeforeNyx. He thought he would be one of Queen Greer’s Knights. A mate.” Orion shook his head, a bitter laugh falling from his lips. “I only learned of this recently. It was his whole motivation initially. But then Dante got involved, and my father saw a new possibility: him on a throne as the High King of Faery, a ruler of all the Courts.”

Nash muttered a curse under his breath. “That’s why he has no known mates, isn’t it?”

I froze, sharing a look with Grey. Basic training in our field meant knowing the major players; Nash knew that, which was why he asked. High Lord Hyperion of the Luna Court had never revealed who his mates were.

“I always wondered why no one questioned the bastard.” Orion shook his head, silver hair falling over his forehead. “Hyperion is going to build his own Court ofchosenmates, if that is what you are asking. A Princess from each Court who is now loyal to Dante. Abyss, Winter, and Spring have yet to bow to the false king. They remain loyal to Nyx—but I fear it won’t be for long.”

Ivy blew out a shaky breath as she pressed her free hand to her abdomen. “I think I’m going to be sick,” she muttered. “How long have they been working towards this?”

“Too long,” Orion replied darkly. “Longer than we have been alive.”

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