Chapter 28
Sybil
“What do you mean, ‘help her’?” Kieran said, his voice lowering.
His gaze shifted to the female behind Edris, widening.
“You found something?” The surprise in Kieran’s tone caught me off guard.
There was a war in my mind between keeping up my guard and relaxing in case they were potential friends.
However, something deep within the crevasses of my psyche told me to keep a careful watch on them.
“Yes,” the female ground out, her narrowed focus still on Salem.
“We found an entry that dates centuries back. Though we’re not sure how accurate it is.
The entry was of a story passed down through the family of a goddess from long ago.
However, the story discussed how she was forced into a bargain and how she realized it wasn’t fully completed. ”
The female stepped closer, and Salem hunched his back, showing his teeth.
The female tilted her head and flicked her wrist, sending lashes of water circling around Salem.
Salem watched the water cautiously, biding his time to attack.
But when the water fell away, the drops of liquid rained down on him, going through his body.
“This creature truly isn’t part of the shadow folk,” the female sighed, her face pinching. Her gaze slid to mine, carefully taking me in. “What is it?”
I blinked and shook my head. “I’m…not sure,” I winced. “He just showed up one day and hasn’t left my side since.”
“And you’re not afraid of it?” She asked as she walked closer to Salem, staring at him inquisitively.
Salem took a step back to stand closer to me, my hand reaching instinctively to pet his back. When my fingers moved along his midnight hair, Zarina lunged quicker than I could see, grabbing my wrist to stare at my hand. My magic pulsed at her sudden movement, erupting around us, blinding me.
Horror washed over me, and I pulled my magic back, panting under the strain.
The light quickly dissipated, and I blinked, letting my eyes adjust to the low light.
My ears rang as panic started taking over my mind.
The last time I lost control, people were injured, people died.
My breath felt sharp, and I called out to Samian and Kieran, my voice weak and trembling.
Soft, warm hands cupped my face. My vision finally cleared, and my gaze found Samian’s.
Pressure built behind my eyes, burning, but I blinked back the tears.
My hands roamed along his body, looking for any signs of injury.
If he was hurt—if anyone was hurt—I wasn’t sure what I would do.
But I couldn’t find anything; there was no blood, no scratches, or bruising. Samian was completely fine.
Wrenching my gaze from his, I looked around him to find Kieran making his way toward me, uninjured and safe. My knees buckled, and Kieran cursed, catching me before I could fall.
“We’re alright, Princess,” he whispered, holding me tight against his chest. “We’re alright. Zarina and Daelan were able to put up a barrier before any of us got hurt.”
I held onto Kieran, my fingers clenching his shirt as I buried my head in his chest, nodding.
“Kieran, we need to move this conversation elsewhere,” Vivi said softly.
There was a strain in her voice that made me pull away from Kieran to see the damage I had caused.
Catching the worry in my features, Vivi gave me a soft smile.
“We’re all okay, but your magic could have caught the attention of some less-than-savory creatures. To be safe, we need to move elsewhere.”
Kieran nodded, his gaze slipping from Vivi’s to mine as the crimson in his eyes darkened.
“Let’s return to the manor. Go directly to the council room.
I don’t want anyone to know about Sybil’s presence in the camp.
Zarina, Edris, you know your way there, or do you need Viv to take you?
” A smug look shifted over his features, his voice turning arrogant, though he kept his eyes on me the entire time.
I fought against the smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.
Edris scoffed while Zarina sent him a low growl full of warning. “Careful not to antagonize us, Kieran. While I may be a master of patience, Zarina is not. She will tear you into shreds, and I will not stop her. She also has a bone to pick with you after the last time we were all together.”
Breaking away from Kieran’s stare, I looked toward Edris and Zarina, both disappearing in smoke and water. Vivi walked to the others, disappearing with them as well, leaving only Kieran, Samian, and me in the forest.
“Who were they?” I asked cautiously, still staring at the empty spot in the clearing.
“Edris and Zarina are a few of the gods from the Seelie Court. Edris—”
“The God of fate,” I breathed, whipping my head back to Kieran, surprise littering across my face. “Ivara told me about him!”
“Don’t get too excited, Princess,” Kieran growled, turning to where the gods once stood.
“It makes me want to rip his arms off and feed them to that creature of yours.” His jaw clenched, and I could see him fighting to restrain himself from doing just that.
I saw it in Samian as well, though he was better at keeping it hidden.
I noticed it, though, in the way his mouth twitched as he stared at the ground.
Ignoring Kieran’s threats against the God of Fate, I heaved a sharp sigh. “Salem,” I corrected with a frown.
Kieran and Samian’s heads whipped toward me, confusion twisting their faces. “What?”
“That’s his name,” I murmured, jerking my chin toward the shadow cat. I wasn’t sure what had happened to him when I lost control of my magic, but now he sat beside me, watching the forest.
“You fucking named it?” Kieran growled. “That creature is dangerous.”
“I know that,” I scowled. “But Salem isn’t dangerous to me. To you maybe, but not to me.”
Kieran sighed, his nose wrinkling with distaste as he stared down at Salem. “The creature—”
“Salem,” I interrupted, “is fine and has protected me…in his own way. And I would appreciate it if you didn’t call him a creature.” I paused, waiting for Kieran to argue back, but when he huffed his acceptance, I nodded and continued. “Tell me about Zarina.”
Samian laughed, coming up behind me, putting his hands on my waist. I leaned back into his chest, my heart fluttering from their nearness.
“Zarina is a dragon,” Samian said, continuing where Kieran left off.
“She is a goddess of water. Both she and Edris are part of the council for the Seelie Court.”
“Dragons are real?” I asked, my stomach dropping.
“Yes, and they are all assholes and best to be avoided at all costs if you can help it,” Kieran muttered spitefully.
Samian snorted, his hands wrapping around my stomach, pulling me closer to him and away from Kieran.
“Kieran is only saying that because he is the idiot who dared to cross Zarina. He trespassed into her hoard with Edris, and it almost cost them their lives. Dragons don’t mess around with their treasure. ”
“He transferred me inside a volcano,” Kieran spat. “That doesn’t count.”
“It counts when you transferred him into Zarina’s cave.” A laugh left my lips at their bickering. They almost sounded boyish, going back and forth like this.
“You can do the disappearing thing too?” I asked Kieran. Of all the times I was transported to a new place, it was always Samian who did it.
Kieran grimaced, his hand coming to his stomach, rubbing it up and down. “I can, but I don’t like to.”
“He gets sick,” Samian whispered low in my ear.
Snickering, I twisted to Samian. “Will I be able to do that?”
“Those who have enough power and strength can do it, so I don’t see why not. You’ll just have to practice it to see. But we probably shouldn’t keep the others waiting for too much longer. It’s not safe here, and it won’t be safe there if we keep Zarina waiting.”
Kieran came up behind me, putting his hand on my shoulder while he whispered a low bastard to Samian.
I held in my giggle as the world fell away from us, zipping by until we came into the council room.
The others were already sitting around the table, talking quietly, though Zarina scowled with impatience.
A pale-faced Daelan was weakly recounting a story that he had told us way too many times, and she was not impressed.
Ivara impassively watched Zarina’s face morph from annoyance to downright indignation.
There was a strain in her features that I’ve never seen before, and I made a note to ask her about it later.
Especially when Zarina’s eyes kept flicking to Ivara, filling with an unreadable emotion I couldn’t discern.
Samian walked over, clapping his hand on Daelan’s shoulder in support, and sat beside him.
Kieran pushed me toward the table, pulling out the seat beside Samian, while taking the chair next to me.
He sat beside Edris as the god watched him with narrowed eyes.
Apprehension prickled inside me, but eased when I noticed the amusement that flashed across the god’s face.
It almost felt as if they were friends, though learning how they put each other in near-death situations made it hard to believe they would call each other that.
But there was a comfort both Edris and Kieran felt around each other.
“I guess we should start,” Samian said slowly, eyeing Zarina and Edris while bringing the conversation around us to a halt. “Should we discuss what you both have learned?”
“Yes, little soul-meander,” Edris smirked.
“We can go ahead and get started. After Kieran came to Zarina, we scoured the library looking for any clues about bargains. Bargains that failed, bargains that were incomplete, so on and so on. We found a few documents that discussed bargains that had failed, usually when the one completing the bargain wasn’t strong enough to do so, which often ended in a gruesome way for them, and sometimes for both parties involved.