Page 15 of The Dark Rises
“When Lucifer retrieved Gabriel, we took a chance and flew out before Lucifer shut the door, so to speak,” Madoc says, flicking a glance at me. “I’ve been hiding him ever since, but it’s driving him crazy. He wants to roam and be free. At least the hunt for Leandra will distract him.”
Any thought of turning him into Lucifer or Callyx died the instant he said those words, and by the smirk on his face, he knew it. “Damn you.” My mind considers and rejects severaloptions. “This is going to put me in a hell of a bad spot with Lucifer.”
Callyx is also going to be pissed. Wait. “Why is Callyx only after him?”
“Nobody but Leandra knew I was down there. She couldn’t kill me, but she needed me in a place I couldn’t escape,” he growls, barely able to contain his fury. “She made a deal with someone, and the next thing I knew, I was fodder for the monsters.” He shudders. “I’m damn lucky Aamon befriended me.”
The monster rolls over and snorts. “Not my friend.”
Madoc quips. “Too bad. You’re stuck with me.”
Aamon bares his teeth in what I think is a grotesque smile. “Maybe.”
The bond between the two of them runs deep, but that’s not a surprise. Surviving the atrocities in The Below would forge an unbreakable alliance.
“This is the reason you want to find Leandra, isn’t it?” I ask, knowing I’m going to have to trust him. His motive for revenge is the strongest I’ve seen.
“She stole my future from me,” Madoc spits out. “And some of my power. I want it back. All of it. But I’ll settle for her death first.”
“That’s her special parlor trick. Stealing someone’s future,” I say, sharing in his bitterness for a moment. “Her death is the only thing that will protect Meri.”
“Why does she want Meri so badly?” Madoc hands the rest of his food to Aamon, who greedily gulps it down.
I explain to Madoc how Leandra created Meri from the essence of Nyssa and Denir.
He pales. “If she created her, she could also unmake her, right?”
Madoc’s quick. “Meri hasn’t even thought of the possibility. But I have. A thousand times a thousand to infinity. For a long time, I was forced to protect Leandra, but not anymore. I don’t know what she wants with Meri, but with Denir hunting her too, we can’t afford to get caught between them.”
“Denir.” Madoc curls his lip as his face hardens with hatred. “He was Leandra’s co-conspirator. Once I have what I need from Leandra, he’s next on my list.”
Madoc’s voice is full of power and magic. He hardly seems diminished by whatever Leandra took, which means she must have taken something specific.
He tilts his head. “How are you going to prevent her from unmaking Meri with her dying breath?”
“The Phoenix can resurrect the dead,” I reveal. It’s the key to my plan. “I’m hoping Rivan will revive her. Once we find him.” I can tell by the look on his face he isn’t quite as confident it will work. “I need a back-up plan, I know. If I only knew what they both wanted from her, it would be easier.”
Madoc frowns. “You know this means we need to capture Leandra instead of killing her on sight?” Disappointment crosses his face. “Fuck me.” He sits there thinking about it for a minute, then his scowl lightens. “I guess this means we’ll need to torture her to get answers.”
“Sounds good to me, but first we need to find Rivan,” I remind him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
MERI
Blowing off steam for the first time in forever felt good. I hadn’t realized how much I’d been carrying on my shoulders, but Arden heard it all last night—my feelings about being queen and how it felt to go from floundering to finding my stride, the difficulty of navigating the intricacies of the court and how the revolution began to impact my reign. I gleefully boasted about winning against a kraken, and of course, Arden wanted to hear every detail of our battle. I told her about the evolution of my relationship with Cormal, which she felt was long overdue. All the people I had met and the ones, like Eris, who I missed the most. It took me hours, lots of tears, and several bottles of wine, to tell it all, but in the end, it felt good. Cathartic.
Enlightening, too. When Arden teased me about Madoc, my trainer and savior, I didn’t know what to say. I explained how arrogant and annoying he was in training. How, like Cormal, he pushed me to save myself. Protect myself. But then he savedme… a few times. Toward the end, when things were falling apart and I couldn’t find him, I worried about him. Arden laughed and promptly informed me that I liked him. Kind of threw me for a loop, but the more I thought about it and the more wine I drank, I had to admit she was right. Not only do I trust him, I like him.
Bleary-eyed, I wake and glance at my phone. Cormal sent a text early this morning. They’re still searching for Rivan. The urge to bury my head in the pillow is so strong, I almost whimper, but I refuse to lie here when I could be doing something to help.
Holding my head, I ease into a sitting position. As I do, I notice a note on the nightstand beside a small bottle.
It’s disgusting, but it works. Drink it all. Arden XX
A potion. Thank you, Arden. Unstopping the cork, I get a whiff of the nasty smell but down it in one gulp. Thick and slightly slimy, the drink tastes like sludge and dirt. For a second, I think it’s going to come back up, but it settles in the pit of my stomach and starts to work its magic.
Twenty minutes later, I’m scarfing down food while I text Madoc and Cormal.
