Page 20 of Savage Blood
“It’s safest on me,” Barric said, evidently reluctant to remove the amulet.
I snorted. It had nothing to do with safety. He didn’t want to be separated from the intoxicating power.
Jax reached for the iron box on the coffee table in front of him. “Thirty minutes, Barric. You want to make sure you’re controlling the stone and not the other way around, right?”
A laugh burst out of my mouth. “It’s already too late for that, Dad.”
“Fine.” Barric’s lips thinned as he marched toward Jax. “Just for half an hour.”
A breath of relief rushed out of Jax as he opened the box and held it out toward Barric. He knew the amulet was controlling his alpha, but he couldn’t do much to stop it. Taking it off for thirty minutes wouldn’t be enough.
The alpha’s hands trembled as he reluctantly lifted the necklace over his head and gingerly placed the amulet into the black velvet bed. He flinched when Jax closed the box and set it on the table.
Roman entered the room, his shoulders relaxing when he realized Barric had removed the Infernal Sol. “Everything is still going according to plan. Tate’s interference did little to hinder the power transfer.”
Barric nodded. “And how’s Ruin? He’s not too depleted, is he? His assistance significantly speeds up our time frame.”
“He’ll be fine with a little rest.” Roman grabbed a glass from the bar on the left and poured a tall drink. “His strength and power will regenerate. He’s just a little, well, insane, at the moment.”
Jax’s gaze darkened as he scrutinized the box on the burnished coffee table. “The Infernal Sol has that effect.”
A heavy silence penetrated the room, and no one wanted to point out the obvious, that The Collective Nosterium members were also no longer in their right minds.
Barric cleared his throat and ambled to the bar. “It won’t be much longer now. We have Ruin and Tate. Once we’ve amassed enough power, we can perform the Admordum Nexia Covenant.”
Admordum Nexia Covenant?
Something deep inside me recognized the danger, the threat, in that name.
An ominous grin curled Barric’s mouth. “This ritual will do what no one in our history has been capable of. And we’ll become legends—gods, even.”
Jax matched Barric’s smile and lifted his glass. “They’ll never expect it. And there won’t be a damn thing anyone can do to stop it.”
My stomach dropped, and I scrambled to my feet, listening intently. This was their master plan, the reason behind all these demon rituals.
Barric raised his glass. “The Infernal Sol will be able to?—”
An invisible fist gripped my core again and thrust me out of the room, the rest of Barric’s words muffled in my ears.
Chapter
Six
Icy water startled me awake,and I inhaled the liquid with a gasp. I rolled over, coughing and choking to clear my lungs. Laughter echoed in the background, mixed with banging on metal bars and the rattle of chains.
The pain throbbing in my skull and limbs—hell, everywhere—made it perfectly clear that I was finally back in my body.
“You’re pathetic.” Roxie, the bitch who tried to drown me, tossed the now-empty bucket into the back of my small cell in Karn’s dungeon. “Did you really think you could simply break into that circle and stop the ritual?”
I pushed soaked strands of hair from my face, rivulets of water cascading down my cheeks and neck. “Nah. I just thought it would be fun to get knocked out. It was better than listening to those psychotic shifters chant and cackle.”
Little did Roxie know that getting zapped by the ritual magic actually worked in my favor. I visited Fane and passed along pertinent information. I also overheard a snippet of Barric’s endgame plan.
Too bad I had no idea what the Admordum Nexia Covenant was.
Ruin buried his head against his knees and rocked in the far corner of his cell, his chains still rattling while he muttered incoherently. My chest tightened when tremors overtook him, and he pressed his hands over his ears as if something taunted him.
Using the Infernal Sol to siphon his powers definitely caused Ruin’s intermittent psychosis. Once his mind cleared, I’d asked him if he’d ever heard of the ritual Barric mentioned.
