Page 4 of The Crown of Nyx

2

Maeve

BEFORE

The panic from Ivy made us move faster through the crowd, searching for the damned mage. Guilt tightened my chest. I should never have let him go without us. I should never have let him go at all.

And I certainly should have never left Ivy. Not having her in my line of sight brought upon a different kind of panic. There was no doubt about it now. We were surrounded by enemies.

But where?I scanned the crowds for anyone who didn’t fit, but no one stood out. I couldn’t scent anythingwrong in the air.

And yet my skin prickled, the hairs on my neck lifting as I turned to the male beside me. “Anything?” I asked carefully, taking in the stress lining his features.

Adrian looked up from the rune on the inside of his wrist and shook his head. “He’s gone quiet.”

I gritted my teeth, scanning the ballroom again. From where we were positioned, I couldn’t see Ivy. “I don’t like this.”

“Neither do I,” Adrian replied, “but we need to find him.”

“Keep an eye out for Sable. She might have insight into where her son is,” I murmured. We started our search again, picking our way through the crowded dance floor.

On the dais, Queen Greer sat with her eyes narrowed. She seemed to be watching Ivy. It should have brought me some comfort, knowing there was someone else keeping an eye on my mate, but it only made the worry worse. Like the Queen knew something terrible was going to happen tonight.

Even her mates seemed to be on edge. They barely moved from her side. In the years before, they would have been mingling with guests as the Queen’s Council should, but they remained stationed around her.

A shiver rolled down my spine as Adrian and I made it to the space beside the dais. The guards here were heavily armed, more than double what I expected. Silently, Adrian and I shared a look. Based on his expression, he’d noticed it, too.

This was my first Nyx Ball, but I’d read previous reports to prepare myself. The increase in guards was new, though not unexpected.

But it made the beast within me rise, as if recognising the potential threat surrounding us.

We kept moving until we hit the outskirts of the room, following the walls. “The wards don’t feel right,” Adrian said. “Like someone changed something in my father’s spell.”

“Can you work out who?” I asked, pausing in the corner of the ballroom. From here, we could see everything. Again, my skin prickled with that ominous awareness.

The dance between Elias and Ivy ended, with the crowds all converging on the dance floor. Any chance I had at catching sight of her was gone. I’d managed the barest glimpse of her crowned head and Elias’s tall, broad frame, but they were quickly swept away by dancers.

Ivy’s emotions reared. I tried to check in with her, but the bond felt…strange. I glanced at Adrian, who glared at the crowd. “Do you feel that?” I asked.

He shook his head. “It’s like someone has put a dampener on our communication with Ivy.”

That would explain why Rowan never reached out to Ivy before their bond went dark. She said she’d only felt a moment of pain in her head before it went quiet.

Shaking my head, I turned in time to catch sight of a dark shadow appearing and disappearing from the wall. My stomach clenched. The wards were supposed to keep that from happening. The only way in and out of the ballroom was meant to be the double doors.

“Grey. Kingsley.” My head snapped in the direction of Elias, who appeared from the sidelines, his jaw clenched.

I strode up to him, anger flaring in my chest. “Why the hell do you not have eyes on her?” I growled.

He bared his teeth, stopping by one of the large columns lining the outskirts of the room. “She’s with her other mate.”

Adrian appeared beside me. “Who? And why the hell did you leave her? There’s something wrong here,Elias, and—” The prince stopped. I turned in time to watch him crumble. Adrian hit the floor without a word, and shadows crawled over his body before taking him.

I didn’t get a chance to fight back. Not as shadows curled around my ankles, slicing through my trousers. I looked up in time to watch as Elias’s eyes rolled into the back of his head.

The male dropped, and the shadows swarmed him, too.

I opened my mouth to call out to the nearest guard, but something pricked my neck.

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