Page 171 of The Crown of Nyx

“I’m a master at what I do, little brother. No one did.” He could have at leasttriedto look guilty over invading Adrian’s thoughts, but he only looked proud of himself.

What a fucking psycho.It only made the rage boil over. “Enough bullshit,” I snapped. “Clearly, you’re too far up your own ass to really understand what the hell is going to happen. But if you go through with this, everyone—you included, Dante, because you aren’t a fucking God—is going to die. This world will fall, and so will all the others.”

“We lived hundreds of years without you and your power,” he hissed, the arrogance falling away. He was a deranged fool, too drunk on power to understand the gravity of his actions. “The creatures do not needyou.”

“Yeah?” I laughed. “And how long did that last?”

He gritted his teeth and shook his head. “Everything you know is alie.”

“And you think you know the truth?” Fuck, I hadn’t realised he would be this ridiculous. The history was written, but there were people who could go back andsee it for themselves. Hell, Damon was standingright there. He’d witnessed it all. “Dante, I don’t know what convinced you?—”

“Nothingconvinced me more than understanding the lies that came out aftershebecame Queen.” He pulled one of his swords from his belt and slammed it into the bush of flowers that were red. “I’ll make you understand, too. I’ll make you all understand.”

We were walking a dangerous path with him. He wasn’t a cold, calculated kind of person. That was clear. He’d only found the letter,by chance, because he’d been looking for a place to party.

But it was a friend who had shown him. “Dante, who took you to the temple?” I asked.

His dark blue eyes swung to mine, crinkling at the corners from confusion. “Why?”

“Curious. I mean, I’m trapped in here with you and Adrian. We can’t walk out, because as soon as we do, Damon will shadow jump Adrian and I right out of this world. And last I checked,youcan’t shadow jump. So, trapped. You might as well answer the question.”

“It doesn’t matter who showed me!” he shouted, pulling the sword free and slamming it into the earth again. I couldn’t help but flinch as his rage poured out in a burst of magic.

He was unhinged, coming apart.

“Magic sickness,” Adrian whispered, grabbing my hand. “Too much power makes certain people mad.”

He didn’t even need to explain it for me to understand. When my power had been out of control, I hadn’t felt stable, either. And that had been because I needed mate bonds to settle the power and redirect it.

But he didn’t have that. Or at least, he didn’t have anchors.

“All that matters is that in a matter of moments, you’ll be mine to do what I please with.” He smiled to himself, the words making my heart clench. “Don’t worry, Adrian, I won’t make you watch as she dies. I care about you too much for that.”

“Care about me?” Adrian made a move to run at Dante, but I held him back. He was still too weak, and the charm wasn’t done. “You only care about yourself, Dante. You killed our fucking mother!”

“Because she betrayed me!” Dante ran his hands through his dark hair, mussing it. “She fucked me over, time and time again. And when I needed her most, you want to know where she was?” Dante’s crazed eyes turned to Adrian. “She was screwing your father. Said that completing her bond with him was more important than helping me.” He shook his head, the pain evident in his blue eyes. “She left me, and now, she can’t leave us again.”

I wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about that. I could tell, even with the runes around us muting the bonds, that even Adrain struggled with Dante’s reasoning.

Because it was the same struggles Adrian had faced with her. A fear that the separation of bonds would hurt our future children.

And here was Dante, proving him right.

Proving his fears had justification.

“That didn’t mean you had to kill her,” Adrian whispered, a tear sliding down his cheek. I wanted to reach for him, but I was frozen in place. “Despite her faults, and there were a few, she still loved you. Loved all of us.”

Dante took a step back, almost backing into the chest. “She had an interesting way of showing it,” he snapped.

A chill rolled down my spine, but not because of Dante or his revelation. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled, electricity filling the air. The smell of sulphur tickled my nose, wrong and dark.

The knowledge that something bad was coming didn’t prepare me enough for what I saw.

Dante’s face contorted with anger as the air crackled, and someone appeared behind us. I turned in time to see a tall male with silver-white hair, bloodied and messy, standing with a sneering female. Both were Fae, and at their feet…

I bit down on a cry.

Orion.

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