Chapter 1
Lola
Iwas seconds from turning insane. Arc and Dimitri had been gone for days and Carter hadn’t spoken to me ever since we made it out of Carrie’s office.
How could he be so mad about a drawn mustache when there were clearly more urgent things to deal with was beyond me.
But that little trip to the commander’s office ended up being pointless anyway.
“Calm down,” Carrie had said, closing the door behind us. “Carter, breathe, I can barely keep my eyes open, you’re—”
“I fucking CAN’T, Carrie. They’re out there, and something feels off, there was this guy and—”
“Carter…”
“—and he knew Arc’s name,” he interrupted her, voice rising. “The name only a handful of people ever heard.”
My eyes were still shut closed, Carter’s arm keeping me up by the waist. It felt strange being this close to him for so long. My spiraling mind was somehow comforted by his presence.
“Well, do you know every person he ever gave that name to?” Carrie had asked. “You’re the only one who’s ever been in his mind. The only one who knows his name here.”
What the Hell was Arc’s real name?
“We need to send a team, Carrie. Something was wrong. I was locked in Arc’s mind but it was different. I couldn’t feel or hear his thoughts, and he didn’t seem to realize I was even there.”
“We can’t, Carter,” Carrie had said, but her tone had been more defeated than final. “Arc came by just before they left. He said not to go after them, no matter what happened. That it was too dangerous.”
My Divine mate flinched and the light flared before it dimmed slightly.
“He came by?”
The disbelief in his voice made me pause. I tried to open my eyes and managed to see Carrie’s squinted ones, the usual mess on her desk behind her. Carter was still hidden behind the brightness.
“To inform me he was leaving, yes.”
“In the middle of the fucking night?”
Carrie cleared her throat. “Well, yes.”
“And you were here?”
“Look, what I do in my office during my free time is none of your business,” she snapped. “I was here, he stopped by, told me to avoid danger while they were gone, and that was it.”
Carter’s light nearly burned my eyes, forcing me to shut them again.
“But they’re—”
“Extremely powerful,” Carrie cut him off sharply. “If something went wrong, they’ll find a way out.”
“Come on Carrie, you can’t just brush me off like this!
I was in his head like ten minutes ago! I saw…
I saw them being taken by a fucking army.
I saw an Earthwalker using strange powers to—” He paused and shifted beside me, his arm holding me tighter.
“To choke Dimitri while he was being attacked by hundreds of people at once. The guy knew Arc’s name, we can’t just—”
“What did you say?” I asked, my voice barely audible over my own thoughts. The room fell silent, the brightness dimming a little more from the angel holding me. “It can’t be true. Dimitri’s never been overpowered. He’s too powerful, he’s—”
I choked on a sob, my hands lifting to my face. Tears were suddenly running down my cheeks, drops falling from my jaw to my collarbone, staining Dimitri’s old T-shirt.
“No.” I shook my head. “You must have missed something. That can’t be right.”
The light was now gone, but my eyes remained shut, unable to open and face the reality Carter was giving me. It couldn’t be true. Dimitri had lived for so long, had survived so much.
No, he was going to get out of there. The single time he’d been caught and imprisoned, he destroyed the whole building and found his way out through the debris and corpses in a day. This was no different, except this time, he had Arc with him. The two of them had to be unstoppable.
“They’ll get out,” I whispered to myself. They had to. “I’m sure it was all part of their plan to get in. It’ll be fine. They’ll be alright.”
The only thing I remembered about the two minutes that followed was their tense silence before Carrie had the brilliant idea to ask Carter about the mess on his face. He then proceeded to call me a childish brat and stormed out, yelling that I didn’t take anything seriously.
In my defense, I drew the damn mustache before he came back freaking out of his weird trance.
“You okay over there?” I cursed internally, crushing my whole face against my open palms as Marcus made his way from the door to my desk. “You’ve been cooped up in here every day for almost a week.”
Has it already been a week? Ugh.
“Not true,” I said. “I went to replace the charger of my phone this morning.”
How said charger ended up destroyed beyond repair on a random shelf during the night was a mystery.
I suspected Maggie was a bit upset that I moved into the Archives and she was trying to lure me out.
Or maybe I sleepwalked and decided that my charger had somewhat reached the end of its usefulness.
We might never know what truly happened.
Marcus sat on the armchair facing my desk and dropped his heavy helmet on the floor next to him.
“You know, if you don’t want to go home to Carter, you still have a room in our small apartment.
Might be a downgrade from the luxurious house Arc invited you in, but the bathrooms are still better than the ridiculous shower you’ve been using in here.
Also, I’m guessing your old bed is still comfier than the Archives’ sofas. ”
I gave him a blank stare. “Who sent you to try and pull me out from here? Was it Kai? Ann?”
“No one. I’ve been visiting you here since day one, you know that.”
“And you keep making that same offer. I’m fine here. I have work to do.”
I didn’t. Not really. Maybe it was because of my sour mood.
Maybe it was because I pretended not to hear the phone when it rang.
Maybe I fucking smelled bad because of the shitty shower and the lack of a good soap…
I was strangely not busy and it slowly drove me insane.
But being here, surrounded by books and little tasks, made my brain occupied, keeping my mind from spiraling.
From wondering why the Hell they weren’t back yet.
Fuck. I guess I failed today too, then.
“You can’t keep hiding here forever, Lola.”
“I’m not hiding.”
“Yes, you are.”
We glowered at each other. It felt like a competition about who would give in first.
He won.
“Carter is back to hating me and I don’t trust myself not to escape if I go outside for more than five minutes,” I said, turning my gaze away.
“I didn’t realize you guys stopped hating each other for even a moment,” Marcus remarked. He released a long, tired exhale in response to my impeccable poker face before leaning forward, resting his elbows on his thighs.
“They’ll be back. No one can put Arc in a cage, it’s not—”
“Look, I’m sure Arc is the almighty Immortal you all think he is. I do. But something is wrong. Dimitri would have found his way back here already. To me.”
“I know you believe that, and there has to be a good reason why he hasn’t yet,” Marcus said, his tone soft, words slow like I wouldn’t understand otherwise.
“We can’t do anything right now, and trust me, I want them to come back with the prisoners as much as you do.
But Arc’s orders to Carrie were clear, and we can’t go after them. It’s too dangerous.”
“Well, I don’t care what Arc said. If they’re not back soon, I’m going to get them myself. I can’t believe the guy has the audacity to try and control me even when he’s been taken prisoner somewhere. What a fucking ass.”
Marcus scoffed as he shook his head in disbelief and I had to refrain myself from throwing one of the thousand year old’s tomes sitting on my desk at his face.
“Not that I don’t trust your resolve, but you’re not near as powerful as either of them. Your ability to be a pain in the ass would probably get you locked up, but then what? I don’t mean to be condescending, but do you plan on seducing your way out? There’s no way it’ll work.”
“You don’t know,” I countered, crossing my arms over my chest. “It’s not like I’ve tried seducing you.”
He gave me a blank stare. “Lola. I’d like to laugh, but this feels like too serious of a moment to even try and pretend you’re funny. You can’t go—”
“Then what the Hell am I supposed to do?” I yelled, standing up from my chair abruptly and sending it rolling backward.
The sound echoed in the silence of the large room and Marcus flinched.
“Am I supposed to go back in that empty house to the only mate I have left and who despises my very existence? Wait until the man who’s been my rock for all of my life, even when we were apart, magically reappears to tell me everything is, and will be, fine?
Because I can’t. I’m not that good at pretending. ”
Hurt flashed in his eyes. Like he somehow knew what I was going through. He couldn’t. No one could.
Dimitri stood by me even as I sacrificed his sanity and happiness. And now, he was in danger, and I was useless.
The empty shell of what I once was.
He sighed and stood up, grabbing his helmet from the floor. “Okay, we’re done doing this.”
I frowned. “This?”
“Lamenting. It’s not a good color on you. Take your stuff, we’re going home.”
“I’m not going there. Carter—”
“I didn’t mean there,” Marcus cut me off sharply. “Aymeric made dinner, and I told him to get your stuff from Arc’s house. You’re moving back in until you can be trusted to act like a reasonable person again.”
I crossed my arms, tears pressing against the back of my eyes. “I’m fine here, I need to stay busy.”
“Oh, I’ll find some things for you to busy yourself with. But Maggie sent a call for help, and she needs a break from you moving the books around and crying on the pages. Consider that you’re on Archives holidays.”