Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Rynn
“Here, as in Fervis territory? Or here as in the Dragomir stronghold?” Cali adjusted her wings that were draped over her shoulders like a dark leathery cape.
I narrowed my eyes. Anytime Cali answered a question with a question, it meant she was up to something I wouldn’t like. But it had to be more than just her being in a place she wasn’t supposed to be. There was more going on, and she knew I wouldn’t be happy about it.
“Cali,” I said calmly. “Tell me the rumors about you and Nyx hunting together aren’t true. Tell me you didn’t drag them into your bullshit.”
It was one thing for Cali to be reckless with her own life, but Nyx’s existence was precarious at best. If they got caught in the Velesian realm, I wasn’t sure even Samara could save them.
“Wow.” Cali crossed her arms. “I save you from certain death and this is the thanks I get.”
“It wasn’t certain death.” I rolled my eyes. “If I got caught, it would’ve just been a minor inconvenience.”
And a political disaster.
“Shall I call them back so we can find out?” Cali grinned wide enough to show off her fangs. They weren’t as long as a Moroi’s or even a Velesian’s but they were more than sharp enough to rip out a throat.
My patience started to wane, and I let out a low growl.
“Technically, we’re both hiding and hunting,” a smooth voice said from behind me. I whirled around to come face-to-face with nearly black eyes with jagged blue lines woven in the dark.
My body reacted before my mind caught up, and I jerked back.
The Moroi cocked their head in a way that reminded me of a Strigoi. Those dark eyes watched, not a hint of emotion betrayed on their stunningly beautiful face.
“Nyx,” I breathed and stepped forward, shoving their shoulder lightly. “Next time, make a sound before you sneak up on me with your freaky eyes.”
The emotionless mask crumbled, and they gave me the wide charming smile with just a hint of mischief that brought out their dimples. It was the one I’d always associated with them.
There you are, my friend.
“I don’t know, Rynn.” They smirked. “Your eyes are kind of freaky too.”
Nyx moved to stand next to Cali, and I eyed both of them.
Cali was decked out in her brown fighting leathers, and Nyx wore similar ones in black.
The way they stood next to each other told me they’d been traveling together for a while, which was interesting.
Samara and I had been the closest to Nyx during their brief stay at Drudonia before they’d run off to join the rangers.
I wondered if Vail was aware of Nyx’s whereabouts. The two of them used to be close, with Nyx serving in Vail’s personal unit. But now that unit was dead and Nyx was straddling the line between Strigoi and Moroi. And they blamed Vail for both of those things.
“While I appreciate the save, which I absolutely didn’t need, I’m going to need that answer to what the fuck the two of you are doing here?
” Things would be bad if I was caught snooping where I shouldn’t be.
But if the Velesians discovered Nyx or Cali .
. . it would be a bloodbath. Cali wasn’t the type to let herself be captured, and Nyx’s control over their bloodlust was tenuous.
“It was nice of Samara to set me up another cottage for me on the outskirts of House Harker, but I think we all knew it wasn’t a long-term solution,” Nyx said. “The Moroi are terrified of me. I remind them of what they could be someday. It was better for everyone if I left.”
My heart ached for Nyx, even as I knew they spoke the truth.
Those of us who were close to Nyx believed in their ability to control their new volatile nature.
But the majority of Moroi were wary of Nyx at best. Others wanted a more permanent solution.
Samara had received numerous requests that Nyx be put to death.
She’d firmly shut all those requests down and had made it clear that if anyone made a move against Nyx, they would be answering directly to the Blood Sovereign.
Nobody in the Moroi realm was stupid enough to go up against them. Not currently anyway.
“I needed a hunting partner, so last time I visited Sam, I stopped by Nyx’s place and offered to let them tag along,” Cali said lightly.
I gave her a sharp look. “You should have told Sam. She’s been worried and has enough to deal with right now.”
Cali had the decency to wince. “I know. But if we told her, she would have known what we were up to. And both Nyx and I wanted her hands to be clean of it.”
And that summed up the friendship Samara, Cali, and I had. One way or another, we were constantly looking out for each other. Sometimes that meant throwing down in a bar fight Cali had absolutely started, and sometimes it meant omitting information so the other two wouldn’t have to lie about it.
That was usually a Cali move too.
“What’s going on in the Furie realm, Cali?
” I asked quietly. She hadn’t mentioned Malachi, her ex-lover and usual hunting partner.
Nor the fact that she’d been summoned back to her realm during the period Samara and her mates had been rising to power and we hadn’t seen her for months afterwards.
And when we had, she’d acted like nothing had happened.
“I’ll tell you later.” The muscles along her jawline flexed before she swallowed and some of the tension faded.
“We’ve been waiting days for an opportunity to get into the stronghold, and tonight was a good opportunity.
Given that you were sneaking away from the party after putting on that show with Bastian”—she gave me a pointed look that said she wanted more details on that when we weren’t pressed for time—“I’m assuming you have similar motivations. Are you here for him too?
“Him?” I glanced at the building, and the answer dawned on me. Cali was reckless, but never without reason. There was only one person who would have made her risk coming here. I turned back to my friend. My beautiful, brash friend. “Lucian. That’s who you’re hunting.”
She nodded. “We’ve been tracking the rumors all over Fervis territory and we’re pretty confident he’s here.
I’ve done some flyovers and spotted the Dragomir Alpha and his enforcer coming out of this building several times.
It seems like an odd place for them to be visiting so often.
” Cali frowned before narrowing her gaze at me.
“But if you’re not here for him . . . what are you here for?
“I think that’s something that will also have to wait until later.” I chewed on my bottom lip. “Short version is there’s a silver crest in there that once belonged to the Unseelie Princes. I need it to fix the mirror beneath the Alpha stronghold.”
Nyx’ dark gaze rose to the perimeter wall. “We should get going. The wall patrols will be back in about forty seconds.”
Neither Cali nor I argued; nothing beat the hearing of a Moroi.
Silently, the three of us raced across the garden.
I tried the door and found it locked, which wasn’t all that surprising.
I reached into my pocket to grab the unlocking gem I’d brought with me, only for Cali’s shadow magic to shoot out into the lock.
A few seconds later, the door clicked open.
My eyebrows rose. That was new.
Cali winked at me. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
We let ourselves in and shut the door behind us, leaving it unlocked in case we needed to make a fast exit, and then we made our way down the narrow stairs in the back of the room.
There was only one level beneath the building, which was split into multiple rooms. We passed through the first one, which mostly had extra ale plus some weapons.
The second room was the one I was interested in. Piled high on tables that lined the walls were various treasures, even more than the last time I’d been here.
Most of them were Fae artifacts, which was mildly annoying because I knew Alexis had zero interest in any of these books or scrolls. He just didn’t want Drudonia to have them because they would share the knowledge with the Moroi and he was that much of an asshole.
Cali and Nyx went straight for the closed door at the back of the room that appeared to be inlaid with iron. Shadows stretched out from Cali before they even reached it, seeping into the lock.
“Shit,” she muttered before crouching in front of the door. “Fucking Fae bullshit.”
While she tried to get the door open, I started searching for the crest. Alexis hadn’t bothered to organize anything, so there were just piles of random artifacts all over the place.
Every time something silver caught my eye, I would dig it out, but so far, I’d only found necklaces, bracelets, and a few clasps with fragile-looking designs that I was fairly certain were meant to be used with cloaks.
Fae fashion seemed overly complicated.
I was digging through a pile on the third table when I saw silver peeking out underneath several thick gold necklaces.
Carefully, I grasped the edge and tugged it out slowly so I didn’t knock everything over.
My heart beat a little faster at the smooth, flat, oval shape that fit perfectly into the palm of my hand—the exact shape missing from the mirror.
I flipped it over and let out a relieved breath.
A beautiful night sky was carved onto the other side.
There were words written around the top and bottom, but they were hard to make out because of the stylized design.
I’d give it a more careful examination later.
For now, I clutched it in my hand and moved to join Cali and Nyx, only to freeze as two other people stepped into the room.
Bastian’s green eyes connected with mine immediately, and I felt a faint burn in my chest. My breath caught. That had to be a coincidence. I did not have a second mating bond to deal with.
No. Absolutely the fuck not.