Page 85 of The Crown of Nyx

I couldn’t even really tell what it was about them that screamedother. They were still the same dark brown they’d been the day I’d first learned of the supernatural world and Nyx. They were still the same shape, framed by the same dark lashes. My brows were maybe a little thicker, but maintaining them was a task I’d never been great at, anyway.

I blinked, shaking my head. Turning away from the mirror, I grabbed Elias’s shirt. As I made my way outof the bathroom, I found everyone speaking in hushed voices, which ceased when I reappeared.

I raised a brow. “Don’t stop on my account,” I said, handing Elias his shirt and grabbing my boots.

Elias frowned, but the others kept their mouths shut as I tied the laces of the boots. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“We’re just…planning,” Adrian said, still sitting on the edge of the bed. He shifted just enough to rest a comforting hand on my thigh. “There’s no sign of the king yet.”

A shiver rolled down my spine. Without thinking, I checked the mark on my hand. The snake remained still, marring my flesh like a scar rather than a moving tattoo. I waited for it to tingle or warm with Damon’s presence, but neither happened.

“I don’t think he’s near,” I said, closing my hands into fists. “And I don’t want to be left out of any planning. Please.”

Maeve crossed her arms, sighing as she ran a hand through her inky black hair, pulling it back from her face. The silver streak glinted in the dull light of the room, but as she tugged her hair into a sharp ponytail, she hid the strands within the ebony locks.

“We don’t mean to keep you in the dark,a mhuirnín,” she said, dropping her arms.

I shrugged, trying to offer her—and the others—a reassuring smile. “I know.”

From the hallway, where he leaned against the wall, Hawk said, “We need to keep a rotational shift. The demon can’t be left alone with you. And no going out alone. Someone always needs to be with you.”

“That shouldn’t just go for me,” I snapped, earning sharp looks from the others. “I know you want to protect me, but I’m also worried about you. We all need to bea team, right? No splitting up in general. Dante will use you against me, and I can’t risk your lives. Not when we know he doesn’t care about you.”

My heart crashed against my ribs painfully as memories of the ball filled my head. Rowan disappearing first, his bond going dark. It had been agony losing him. But then feeling the others go dark, one by one, had almost crippled me. If it hadn’t been for Ry, I wasn’t sure what I would have done. I might have gone nuclear and hurt a lot of creatures.

“Sorry,” Adrian murmured as he squeezed my knee. “Sometimes it’s hard, knowing you have a need to protect us, just as much as we do, you.”

A lump formed in my throat, but I nodded, holding back the true impact of my emotions from our bonds. Because I knew it was selfish. Maybe even wrong to be more worried about them than I was anything else.

I released a shuddering breath and rested my hand over Adrian’s. As I did, the snake tattoo on my hand warmed, the colour changing from pink to red.

“He’s here,” I said, looking from the tattoo to the rest of the team.

Damon’s magic filled the room. I searched for the source, for the shadows he would inevitably step out of.

Instead, the room itself turned to darkness.

And then there was nothing.

35

Ivy

Damon’s shadows spat us out in a warm, humid chamber. Adrian managed to keep me from falling on my ass by wrapping an arm around me, as the others formed a protective circle with me at the centre.

I took in the dark room; the walls were a harsh stone, sconces barely giving off enough light to see by. It took me a little longer to realise we were in a long hallway of sorts. Not the same as the ones we’d walked yesterday that looked purposefully carved out of the mountain. This hall was actually the opposite. Like a real cavern, natural.

“Where are you, Elysian King?” Maeve growled. From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of her claws ripping through her nail beds. Normally, they would disappear, but she kept them out this time.

I swallowed hard. I tried to look further into the darkness, but I was framed by enough tall bodies that it made seeing anything hard.

A dark chuckle sounded from somewhere in the distance. “Okay. Enough toying with us, Damon,” I said, ignoring the way the hairs on my arms rose. “I take it this is step one of our jumps to the Old World?”

From the darkness to our left, a tall, imposing figure appeared. The seven-foot demon king had put away his finery. It wasn’t exactly gear he wore, but something similar. No suits for the Old World.

The horns were gone, too, same with the diadem. His black hair was mussed, eyes a glowing shade of red. He wore a long-sleeved black shirt similar to our gear, but his had designs sewn into the arms. Designs that almost mimicked his tattoos. The pants he wore were like cargo pants, but where we had belts for all our extra little things, he had nothing. Though, I doubted a male like him would be going in without a plan of some sort.

“Where are we?” I asked, crossing my arms as he stopped in front of our group. Despite being so much larger than us, none of my mates backed down—or really seemed to care. Maeve and I being the shortest of the bunch had to really look up, but otherwise, no one appeared to be put off by his size.

---