Chapter 2 Elias
Elias
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her in chains.
Saw a collar around her throat, the cuffs around her wrists, her ankles, trapping her against cold cement walls in a darkened place I couldn’t reach. Any time I tried to sleep, it was her scream I heard as Hyperion Black killed my mate’s first love, her first bond.
I hadn’t been fast enough to stop it.
War was on the horizon, and King Rhadamanthus had an army forming in the Elysian Palace.
An army of demons from all the houses; Lust and Wrath joined forces, as did Pride, Sloth, Gluttony, Envy, and Greed.
They dusted off armour that hadn’t seen the light of day since the war that supposedly destroyed the Old World.
As Dante’s army grew, one made of Nyx’s creatures also developed on the outskirts of Elysian as survivors fled Avalon and sought refuge in the Underworld.
“This place is safe for any loyal to Ivy,” the demon king said, standing beside me on the balcony overlooking the Elysian city. There were demons everywhere, but also more creatures of Nyx than I thought possible. “When we left, Sao opened the gates for any who sought refuge.”
When I’d first met the demon king, I hadn’t trusted him—hadn’t wanted to.
And although he’d been there when Ivy was taken, I didn’t blame him for it like I thought I would.
I’d smelled his devastation on the wind.
In his own way, he cared about my mate, and I knew she at least tolerated him.
If he were our enemy, he would have left us in the Old World and locked himself away in his palace again.
But here he was, creating a refuge for anyone who needed it.
“How bad is it in Avalon?” I asked, voice rough in my own ears.
I watched the demon straighten, rolling his shoulders back. “Bad.” He barely glanced at me as he continued, “He has full control of the Phoenix Compound and palace. My sources tell me he hasn’t, however, taken the academy.”
I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. “How?”
“The Headmistress found a way to escape during the attack, and with the help of several professors, got students and faculty back to the academy and deploy their attack wards. Apparently, the gargoyles have taken out enough of his soldiers to keep him away.”
Sylvia Kingsley, headmistress of Oberon Academy and absolute badass. She was strict, being the Headmistress of the most prestigious and bloodthirsty academy in the realms. But she was a damned good one, and an ally we needed if we were going to win.
Kingsley would be relieved to know his sister was still alive, but with the way he was acting, I doubted it would get through to him. Not with the guilt dragging him down.
I wanted to blame him. He was the one inside the ruins with Ivy and Dante. It was his job to protect her.
He should have been with one of the other teams. And yet, I couldn’t fully blame him, just as I couldn’t completely blame Rhadamanthus, either.
Could I have protected her if it were me there?
Kingsley still wouldn’t tell us exactly what happened. Other than Hyperion appearing with another Fae female—dead, from what we’d found, thanks to Ivy’s lightning—and Orion bleeding out, Kingsley hadn’t opened up about everything Dante revealed to them.
And there was definitely shit he’d said. Otherwise, Kingsley wouldn’t be drowning himself in demon wine and guilt.
I scrubbed a hand over my face and turned away from the Elysian city at the smell of vanilla and blood. Grey appeared, emotionless and hard, in the doorway of the makeshift war room Rhadamanthus set up with the Houses of Sin’s generals.
“He’s awake,” she said, voice just as emotionless as her features. “And he demands to speak with the king.”
The demon stepped up, rolling the sleeves of his pressed white dress shirt as he did. A dark smile played at his lips, and his red eyes flashed. “Oh, this will be fun.”
I never thought I would be glad to have the Elysian King on our side, but fuck, he was right: it would be fun.
Hyperion Black was all shades of blue and purple by the time we reached him in the dungeons beneath the palace, chained to a chair.
It appeared the High Lord of the Luna Court wasn’t dead yet.
I couldn’t help but wonder if Dante put a kill switch in the male’s head.
How long would we have the Fae Lord for before his brain melted at the command of his coward of a king?
After whatever it was Grey had done to him, he could barely lift his head.
Blood soaked his silver hair, turning it a dark shade of red.
Saliva dripped from swollen lips, and once the door to his cell closed, I heard his rattling, laboured breaths, each racing beat of his heart.
Not even the stench of blood could overcome the powerful fear that perfumed the air.
Fuck, Grey had done a number on him. His legs were broken precisely to do damage and cause pain without killing him. The wrong bone broken, and he’d die. But Grey knew that, and she’d done it so that even if he was given a chance to escape, he wouldn’t be able to.
Of course, I would have just taken his legs entirely if it were me. Arms too, just to be sure.
But Grey also made sure those limbs were useless, too. And based on the staining of his pants, maybe she’d torn something else off during her interrogation.
The blocks in his mind had to be strong to withstand the kind of torture she was putting him through.
Grey stepped close to the male, who immediately tried to shift away from her. Instead, he jostled some other wound. A whimpering groan passed his bloody lips, fearful and pathetic.
“I wonder,” she said, skimming a claw over his shoulder, “is this what you did to your own son?”
Anger rippled through me, but I stayed back. The male whimpered again, bloodshot eyes lifting to find mine, then Rhadamanthus’s. His features crumpled—well, as much as they could considering the damage Grey had inflicted on his face.
Grey’s clawed fingers wrapped around the High Lord’s throat, and her face contorted, the mask of indifference falling for a split moment. “Is this what your master is doing to my mate right now?”
“No,” the male choked out. Grey’s fingers tightened around his neck. It took all my strength not to walk over and rip his heart from his chest.
My breaths came hard as Grey’s eyes flickered up to meet mine. This was probably the only time where I didn’t care if she lost control, if she let the bloodlust win.
Rhadamanthus took a step towards them; Grey released the male’s throat with a snarl and moved backwards, taking up position against the wall behind his chair.
The demon king stopped in front of Hyperion and finished rolling up his sleeves, revealing his tattooed forearms. A scorpion ran across his wrist, but the snake that tied him to Ivy—the brand he had given her when they’d married—remained still. Red.
“I don’t take kindly to those who call upon me,” the demon king said, voice dark. “If you think you are owed any of our time, then you are sorely mistaken. You might have thought yourself important before, but down here, you’re hellhound chow.”
As if on cue, a growl rumbled from somewhere deep in the tunnels of the dungeon. A different prisoner screamed, but it was cut off quickly, replaced by gurgling before going quiet.
Hyperion made a sound in the back of his throat. This time, it wasn’t a whimper, but a choking laugh. “He has your mate,” he said. “And you think I don’t know where she is?”
We didn’t give him any reaction. “You think you are important, and yet here you are. How long do you think you will last before he lets the bomb in your head go off?” Rhadamanthus asked, head cocked. “How long before he decides that you are also as disposable as his soldiers?”
Despite how swollen his eyelids were, he narrowed his eyes. “I’m his right hand—”
“I’m sure he let you think that,” the demon laughed, “but we all know what he does to those who stay out too long past curfew. I give you…a few more hours before your brain melts and you bleed from every crevice in your head. He has everything he needs now; Ivy, the skull, and from what I hear: your court. Why would he need you?”
I stiffened, eyes darting to the demon king, then to Grey. Her eyes remained glued to Hyperion like he was her prey…or like she was seeing something we didn’t.
“The Luna Court is locked down, but he isn’t there, you fool,” Hyperion spat, blood dribbling from his black lips. “He’s smarter than you think.”
“Or dumber. Of course he isn’t there.” Rhadamanthus waved a dismissive hand as he crossed his arms. “I heard enough, being locked out of that cottage. At least he is consistent. Coward to the core.”
The High Lord tried to bare his teeth, but all he did was reveal how badly Grey had fucked him up. I was surprised he still had a tongue.
“I have a feeling you have no idea where he is keeping her, which is why you are so desperate to make a deal now. You know you are expendable, that he will kill you, and you know if we get the right spells in place, we can protect you from his attacks.” The demon bowed his head.
Even though he had his back to me, I had a feeling I already knew the expression playing across his features; it was probably the same as Grey and me. Disgust, rage, desperation.
Rhadamanthus uncrossed his arms and dropped them to the armrests of the chair, bringing his face close to the Fae lord’s. “Dante needs the Luna Court for the next lunar eclipse. So, tell me, High Lord, when will your court be graced with one?”
Hyperion tried to pull back, bucking in his seat, but the demon king didn’t move. “What he needs is blood,” the Fae male gasped. “And you won’t find that in Luna.”
I let my gaze flicker from Rhadamanthus to Grey, who finally met my stare.
There was nothing in the redness of her eyes; any of the guilt or shame she would have felt for the male being tortured was gone. The Maeve Grey who appeared to be in control had disappeared, replaced by the vampire new recruits whispered about in the halls of the Phoenix Compound.
And that should terrify anyone who crossed her path.
“I’m sending a demon into the Luna Court undercover to see if they can find anything about Dante’s plans for the war,” Rhadamanthus said as we left the High Lord’s cell, giving Grey more alone time with the male.
“Those parting words have left me wary about what comes next. Dante never mentioned blood to us in the cottage.”
My jaw clenched, hands fisting at my sides.
“Make sure whoever goes in confirms the timeline,” I replied, voice low.
The halls of the Elysian palace were eerily quiet; the demons who had been here the night of the wedding were gone, and very few souls—only those trusted completely by Rhadamanthus—remained.
“I don’t want him to have the upper hand. And now I’m worried, too.”
It would have been too easy. Of course, there was something we were missing. Dante knew we’d work with the eclipse, but if there was something else…
Rhadamanthus made a sound in the back of his throat as we came to a stop outside the war chambers. Within, I heard the mutterings of the mages I barely saw now that we’d returned to the Underworld.
“He won’t outsmart us, not again,” the demon promised. “But we need to find where she’s being held in the meantime. If we wait until the eclipse, it could be too late.”
My stomach bottomed out. “He also has two of Ivy’s unbonded mates,” I murmured. “We don’t even know if they’re alive.”
The Primal from the Old World and Hawk Nash.
The former had been a surprise addition to Ivy’s mate circle, an unknown in a realm of threats.
But he was a formidable shifter, a creature none had ever seen before, and we didn’t know the extent of his power.
There was a chance Dante would keep him alive for that alone.
We knew he was testing magic on shifters, and who better to study than a creature who shouldn’t exist?
But then there was Nash.
The half-Fae, half-demon male who refused to accept the bond with Ivy.
Who had strung her along for months, hurting her at every bend.
And he’d been a target for our enemy, a desired soldier for their war.
We still didn’t know why they wanted him, what they needed him for, but he’d been taken alongside the Primal and vanished.
I had a feeling he was alive. They wouldn’t kill him now that they finally had their hands on him.
We just didn’t know what the hell they wanted him for.
But I knew what they’d wanted me for.
I’d tried blocking out the familiar demon since returning from the Old World, but desperation made it hard. There was no proof, other than some deep, hidden fear and panic that awoke at his appearance.
I wasn’t even sure if it was worth mentioning to the others. I had a feeling if it was, Grey would have brought it up by now.
But she’s lost to the bloodlust, I reminded myself. Her focus was on Hyperion and getting whatever information she could out of him.
I held up a hand, stopping Rhadamanthus before he could enter the chamber. His red eyes found mine, brows furrowing.
“What is it, wolf?” he asked, crossing his arms.
Under other circumstances, the use of wolf in place of my name would have pissed me off. But instead, I sighed. “We need to get our hands on a mind witch,” I said. “Orion Black had one as a friend. She might help us.”
The demon’s frown deepened. “And why would we need a mind witch?”
“Other than the obvious?” I raised a brow.
Only a mind witch would be capable of counteracting Dante’s power.
Though not spoken about much, it wasn’t a secret that witches were a hell of a lot more powerful than their mage counterparts.
“Her name is Blythe Windermere. Original Bloodline. She’s the one hiding the island for Orion. ”
It was probably yet another layer to Dante’s victim mentality; his belief that he was owed something. Hatred because even as the son of the Queen, he would never be as powerful as the witches who came before him.
Rhadamanthus pressed his lips together. “Alright,” he said. “I’ll have Sao send for her. Anyone else?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “Find Vanya Blackwood. She’s Ivy’s friend, and her family is—”
“An original Bloodline,” the demon king finished. A smile briefly touched his lips, but he quickly shook his head. “Done.”
He didn’t ask any other questions as he turned on his heel and walked into the chamber. He had no idea why I really wanted Blythe Windermere.
I needed her to search not just my memories, but my mind for anything that could prove I was ever in Dante’s clutches.