Page 39 of Cursed Dawn

Full sensation blasted back into me when the pearly magic spat us out, and I crashed into an unyielding surface so hard that sparks flashed through my head. Aphrodite's magic must have muted Em's and Wane's mate bonds, because now they filled my chest so powerfully I thought my ribs would crack to fit them.

I panted, squinting my eyes open, reaching my hand out instinctively. I brushed a hot, trembling body, and relief had a small sound slipping out of me. My eyes landed on Emlyn first, as he wrenched me against him and held me with tight, shaking arms. Wane snagged my attention when he sucked in a jagged, shuddering breath and horror clanged through his soul like a bell struck.

I saw why a moment later: we were in a tiny stone room, each wall hewn from a single slab of brick except for the one across from us, where iron bars as thick as Em's arm ran from the ceiling to the floor.

Aphrodite had imprisoned us.

PARTII

SUNDERED

CHAPTER16

KAI

Logically, I knew grabbing Lucifer by the lapels of his jacket and throwing him up against the wall wasn't the smartest choice. But my mate was gone, and I couldn't think straight.

"Bring her back!" I hissed in his face."Bring her back!"

I waited for Emlyn to bark a warning at me, but the only sound was Harvey screaming and a familiar low, vicious thud that told me he'd punched the wall.

"If I could," Lucifer bit out, his eyes glowing crimson. "I would."

I matched his power with my own feral glow, my teeth bared.

He prised my fingers off his jacket with dark power, bending each one back until I gasped, tears springing to my eyes.Fuck, no. I can't cry; if I start, I'll never stop.

"You're the devil," I spat through gritted teeth, taking a step back when his power flared, sharper and more volatile than any shadow magic I'd seen before. Instincts bleated warnings at me, but my rose was gone and I didn't care to listen to them. "Bring her back."

"You heard him, lad," the older woman—the librarian?—snapped, grabbing my shoulder and not caring that magic erupted around me like a tornado. "He can't do anything, and fighting the devil won't bring them back."

Them.

The word rang through my head, over and over, until I was going to throw up. I spun, searching the room—Lucifer, Harvey, Lili, the bearded guy, and the librarian—that was it.

I staggered away, my hand pressed to my stomach as it caved in, pain worse than anything I'd felt in a hundred years kicking me in the gut.

"Aphrodite won't release them until we can provide undeniable proof that Cronus was behind his own escape," Lucifer explained, his voice quiet, like I was a wild animal he was afraid of spooking. "So we'll find it."

"We," Harvey repeated, something completely empty in his voice. A shudder went down my spine in a primal warning. "Why do you care?"

"You're demons, which makes you my people," Lucifer said carefully as the librarian tightened her grip on me and yanked me away from the devil, surprisingly strong for someone her age. Or maybebecauseofher age. "And your mate is both my employee and a friend. And most importantly, it's obvious that whatever's happening is bigger than you and Halwen—and it's building here in Hell,mykingdom. I'll do everything in my power to avoid another war. We're barely recovered from the last one. Some cities aren't even rebuilt yet; we can't survive another attack."

"A war," I echoed, scrubbing my face with shaky hands and wrenching away from the librarian's bony grip. "You think that's what this is? All this titan shit?"

"I do," he agreed, watching me warily.

"What the fuck has this got to do with my mate?" I demanded, stalking over to the spot where Aphrodite had stood, her hand around my mate's throat. Anger razed a path through me until my nostrils flared, my whole body quivering.

"It's all in those curses," the librarian muttered. "That's where this started, from what I can gather. You all died, came back to life cursed, and now this shit's happening."

"She's right," Queen Lili murmured. "Here, sit down," she said to Harvey.

"I don't want to sit," he replied in a frozen voice. "I want my mate."

Movement in the doorway had my head snapping up, a snake lashing out and slamming into the woman's chest hard enough to break her ribs. I realised too late that it was the purple woman—both enemy and ally. Haley's friend.

"Fuck!" Renna snarled, pressing her palm flat to her ribs and storming right for me. I didn't fight when she threw her fist into my stomach in retaliation. I didn't care. My mate was kidnapped bya goddess.Would I ever see her again? If the devil couldn't get her back…

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