Page 72 of Ignited Spirits
“It’s a blade forged from the waters of the River Styx. It will kill anyone it cuts because it has the ability to store souls. If you’re in a sticky situation and low on magic, all you need to do is prick the other person with the knife, and they’ll no longer be a problem.”
She turns wide eyes on Hades. “What? Why would you give me this? I don’t need any help killing people. I need helpnotkilling them, because that’s all my magic seems to want to do.”
My lips twitch up because that is very true. With how many people want to kill her, she has more of a problem not murdering those we need than being unable to eliminate those she wants to.
“Calm down, earthling. It’s not like it’s death incarnate. I have full faith you can manage not to kill anyone accidentally with it.” He considers Izzy for a moment before tacking on, “Probably.”
“That’s bold of you to assume,” Izzy mutters while staring down at the blade like it’s going to bite her.
He stares off into space for a moment before annoyance rolls across his face. Hades bends down to give Seph a lingering kiss before stalking to the door. He calls over his shoulder, “I’m being summoned. Have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
The door slams behind him on his way out.
Izzy watches him leave with a bemused look before turning back to the table. “I’m not sure what Hades wouldn’t do is a good metric for me to follow. Seems like it would cause more problems than it would solve.”
Archer barks out a laugh. “You’re not wrong, sunshine.”
She grins at him before sobering. “So, when are we gonna do this thing? It feels like we’ve been waiting forever.”
Rhys glances at the clock behind me. “It’s almost six, so we can probably leave now.”
Izzy jumps up from my lap, and I don’t try to stop her, as much as I want to. While Izzy has learned to accept the help we offer her, I’ve learned to pick my battles when it comes to her. As much as I want to control every situation she’s in to keep her safe, I can’t.
She’ll do reckless, dangerous, and ill-conceived things if she thinks it will help even one person, with or without my support.
The only thing I can control is whether I’ll be able to have her back if things go sideways. So, that often means keeping my mouth shut and letting her run the show, which is hard as fuck for a control freak like me. But I’ll do anything for her, so I’ll get over it.
“You wanna open the rift or do you want me to?” she asks Levi as she gathers her wavy mass of blonde streaked with purple and blue into a high ponytail. Strands escape to frame her heart-shaped face, and I can’t do anything but stare at how breathtaking she is for a long moment.
She shoves the knife into the belt of her dress. Taking a second to retie the thin band of fabric, she ensures the blade is secure and won’t be going anywhere.
Levi walks over to her and pulls her against his front. “You’re more familiar with your father’s office, so you can create the rift there.”
It takes her a moment to respond as she gets lost in his gaze. She steps away from him and clears her throat. “I can do that.”
“Even though you’re opening the rift, you’re not going first,” Luca growls as he comes up to stand next to her, brushing his hand along her lower back.
None of us can seem to keep our hands off our mate. Although, it’s more about reassurance right now than it is about wanting to sleep with her. It never gets easier watching her walk into danger—for any of us.
She rolls her eyes at him. “Yeah, I know the drill by now, wolf boy. Levi or Legion-slash-Archer can go first.”
Archer stops on her other side and reaches out a hand to Izzy before letting it drop uncertainly. I’m confused until I see the glowing purple eyes and realize it’s Legion right now, not Archer. “The pup agreed that it’s best for him to take a back seat for this, so I can go first.”
“Sounds good to me.” Izzy blows out a breath before closing her eyes and letting her magic flow from her in purple wisps that swirl around for a beat before forming a rift.
I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to theInfernusportals that don’t let you see where you’re going. It’s a massive leap of faith every time I have to step through them. As the distrustful bastard I am, I hate every second of it.
Legion dips his chin at Izzy before stepping through. She takes a fortifying breath before following him. My heart feels like it’s beating out of my chest with worry for her until I walk through the portal and lay eyes on Izzy once more.
I relax the barest fraction when I see her sitting on her dad’s mahogany executive desk, her legs swinging like she doesn’t have a care in the world. My footsteps are nearly silent as I stalk across the gold-veined marble to her side. Placing my hand on her dress-covered thigh, I wait for the others to come through.
Rhys is the last one to arrive, and Izzy lets the rift snap closed once he’s clear. She glances around at the navy walls, opulent chandelier hanging from the wall, and matching reddish wood bookcases before flicking her gaze between Rhys and me. “So, infiltration experts, what now?”
Rhys snorts. “I’m not an expert, but it’s pretty simple from here. We choose one of the council members’ offices to hit and go there. With all the trip wires for any magical usage, we can’t risk invisibility spells, so we just have to gamble with whether there will be anyone out there.”
“We can hear if there’s anyone in the hallway, so it’s not quite a gamble,” Cain corrects. “But it’s less safe of a situation for Isabel to walk into than I would like.”
I expect Izzy to make some smart retort about how she can do what she wants, but she doesn’t.
