Page 42 of The Crown of Nyx

My stomach twisted. Staring at the red sky, I tested the bonds again. Nothing screamed at me, no feeling of wrongness, and I could access all of them easily. Though based on a quick inspection, they weren’t awake. But they weren’t dead, and that mattered more. I wouldn’t know about Hawk until I saw him, but he’d been with Maeve, so I had to hope he was okay.

Gently, I reached for Orion and sighed when his bond brightened at my touch. I did the same for the others, making my way through each person until I knew they were all individually okay. But not even my presence stirred them.

Tears burned my eyes, but I gritted my teeth and sat up. The ache in my bones hadn’t disappeared, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as when I’d woken. My chest hurt; I rubbed my sternum as I finally took in the rest of the landscape.

My heart almost stopped as I took everything in; from the dark shoreline all the way down to the very obvious volcano to my left. There was nothing but stone for what looked like miles. And now, I understood why the ground was so smooth. Cooled volcanic rock.

I groaned, climbing to my feet. I stood for a moment, swaying, as it all came back to me; Elias wrapping himself around me as the shadowy monster tore the ship in half.My magic exploding out of me in an effort to keep everyone together. Then darkness and water. Endless water.

Hands not belonging to my mates tearing at me, hoping to pull me under.

And then nothing.

I sucked in a breath and took a stumbling step towards what I hoped to be civilisation. I searched my surroundings, looking for any sign of our ship, but along the coastline was only dark rock and red sky. I made my way to the edge of the water, mouth dry, and looked for anything floating on the calm, white-capped waves. But there was nothing. No sign our ship had even gone down, that we’d been here.

Goddess Nyx, please watch over them.

I kept my side of the bonds open as I walked. Stumbled, really. I might have been able to use my legs, but they threatened to go out from under me. Two days of trying to remain steady on a rocking ship, and now my body couldn’t handle being on land again.

For miles, there was nothing. I walked with no end in sight. My throat was so dry, my lips burned from the lack of water. I tried conjuring something—anything—but as soon as the water appeared in the palm of my hand, it slipped through my fingers before I could get my fill. Despite settling my magic only hours—days? I couldn’t tell how much time had passed—before, it churned in my chest, seeking release. It wanted my mates; itneededto be expelled. It required a connection, but there was no one else around.

I scrubbed a hand through my now dry hair, grimacing at the way it crunched from the ocean water. I couldn’t even bring myself to summon new gear. I could have stripped and cleaned them with magic, but the ideaof getting naked, even though no one else was around, grossed me out.

And yet, internally, I complained about the sand between my thighs and under my boobs. It was all I had. If I thought about the team, then I would panic. And I had no one but myself to pull me out of an attack if it happened.

Keep a clear head, I thought, glancing around again. I’d made it to the edge of the volcano—maybe. I chewed my lip as I took in the dark mountain. It was almost surreal, the way it looked. Like it’d come straight out of Iceland, with the blackened earth leading up to it. There was nothing tropical about it, but rather cold. Icy.

I shivered, crossing my arms over my chest. I had two options: travel inland and pray a demon found me or stick to the coast. Once, before Eloise was born, Andrew had attempted to take me camping in order toconnectwith me as Kerry’s new boyfriend. It hadn’t ended well, with me getting bitten by a huge fucking spider and him freaking out. It’d seemed like the most basic thing. Now, as the memory replayed in my head, I realised two things.

One, I had no good survival instincts when it came to the wilderness. Sure, I could survive in social settings. Wallflower power and all. But I’d watched every season ofLost, and this was way worse.

Two, and probably the most obvious, I was not built physically for wilderness survival. The enhanced senses helped some, but I was a creature of comfort—notthis.

It was far too easy, blaming this on Dante. We wouldn’t have taken the stupid dangerous channel if it weren’t for him. I couldn’t even bring myself to blame the monster.

What the fuck had that thing been?I tried to wrack my brain for any mention of sea dwelling shadow monsters from my time at the academy, but came back empty. I felt like that was somethingsomeonewould have brought up during ourCommunications Between Realmsclass.

I sighed. Choice: coast or volcano? I glanced between both before groaning. What would the team do? Well, Maeve likely wouldn't get herself into this sort of position, but if I had to guess, she’d be using some sort of vampire power by now.

Vampire power. During the aftermath of the attack, I’d been able to summon parts of Elias’s shifting ability, and I thought, part of Maeve’s vampirism. It’d been brief and subconscious, just pulling at those threads that had been buried within me since bonding them, but now I could summon them to aid me.

And if all else failed, I would have to find somewhere safe to sleep. Because if I couldn’t reach my mates in their waking thoughts, then I would need to test my connection to Orion and enter their dreams.

I turned my gaze to the sky, like Nyx herself was watching over me and laughing at the circumstances I’d found myself in.

If you can hear me, I thought, eyes narrowing,then your help would be greatly appreciated.

A warm breeze picked up, lifting stands of my hair. But nothing more came of it. I waited to hear her in my head, whispering another warning about my certain doom if I failed.

I turned back to my two options. Follow the shore or venture into the valley of the volcano.

Both seemed daunting, but I rolled my shoulders back and closed my eyes. Hesitantly, I sought out the two bonds that would help me most. Both glowed with asoft, pulsing light, safe and unharmed, but unconscious. Maeve’s had a slight pink tinge to hers, like it’d been dipped in blood, while Elias’s was a mossy green.

I reached for Elias’s first. I knew more about shifting and his abilities, so there was a little more confidence in actually using his power. It had an entirely different feel to it compared to using Adrian’s. Charm magic came naturally and hadn’t required as much hesitation or testing. Creating charms felt like second nature.

But Elias’s wolf…beyond the bond, I felt for that well of magic. That small part of him that now existed within me. It warmed the closer I got, and then…

I felt it. Somethingelse. Something that was part of me, but not.

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