Chapter 12 Adrian
Adrian
It was strange seeing these familiar faces standing before us when I knew Ivy should have been here to greet them. Vanya, her only friend from the academy, standing with her mother, Elara Blackwood. And with them was Blythe Windermere and her grandmother, Hilde.
I couldn’t ignore the tension coiling around me. It burrowed, tightening around my stomach, my lungs. Each breath made it worse, somehow making it burn.
I had no idea what Blythe would find if she looked into my head. And I didn’t want to know. How much damage had Dante done to me? Had he stolen memories? Replaced them with new ones? Had he done anything else to me, to my mate circle, that we didn’t know about?
How many times had he gained access to us, to Ivy, while we were in Avalon without our knowledge?
I shuddered at the thought, at the invasion of his presence within my mind.
I fucking hated it.
I hated him.
“What do you want me to do, exactly?” Blythe asked. Her voice ripped me out of my thoughts, forcing me back to the present and what was to come.
Rowan, who wouldn’t look me in the eye—hadn’t since he called me out—spoke up. “We need you to go through each of our heads and find any sign of Dante. He admitted to being in Adrian’s head, but he could have influence over all of us. We want it out and new blocks formed.”
I could barely look at him, not with the shame swelling within me. Slowly, I released a shuddering breath. “He used me to take Ivy. I need you to get him out,” I said through gritted teeth, unable to hide my desperation. “I want you to find any trace of his influence and destroy it.”
The throne room fell silent at my declaration. Not with surprise, but maybe pity.
I didn’t deserve their pity. Not with the guilt eating me alive every day we didn’t get Ivy back.
Beside me, Elias sighed. “You will also need to enter my memories,” he told Blythe, voice stiff. “And unlock ones from my childhood.”
For the first time since we returned, Rowan glanced at me, and we shared a look. “Why?” Rowan asked.
“Because,” Elias said, “I think I was there. In the Luna Court with his army. Before I was left at the Phoenix Compound. Which means I may also have a kill switch in my brain like Black did.”
“It might take me a while to find any sign of him, but I’ll start with Adrian,” Blythe said, standing while the rest of us took seats around a table in the centre of the throne room.
It felt like an entirely different space compared to what we’d walked into when Ivy had to marry Rhadamanthus. Now, it felt like the walls were closing in, despite there only being less than ten of us here.
Where there had once been crowds of creatures gathered to watch the union of the century, there was now a long table close to the stairs leading up to the throne. There were enough chairs for everyone present, almost too perfectly set.
As I pulled out a seat, Vanya hesitated. She and Blythe shared an odd look, though I couldn’t sense anything different between them. It wasn’t like they were friends—barely acquaintances. But I could tell something had shifted between them.
Maeve slid into the chair beside Elias, appearing just as uninterested as she had any other meeting. “Do what you can for now. But we do this as fast as possible.”
Blythe moved to stand behind me, pressing her fingers into my temple. The tips of her fingers were surprisingly cold, but not uncomfortable. Almost nice compared to the dull ache in the back of my head.
My eyes closed without meaning to as I drew in a breath. Behind me, she inhaled sharply, matching my breathing.
In the back of my head, I felt her. Chilled, calming fingers searching through my memories, pushing past what we already knew, searching for the hidden pieces Dante left behind.
“How long do we think this will take?” the Windermere matriarch asked, her voice coming through dully.
Blythe pushed past memories of Ivy, of my training at the academy, going deeper. I couldn’t tell what she was doing, but I felt her like a whisper, a cool breeze of air tickling my skin—only it was my brain.
“It’ll take as long as it needs to,” Elias replied. “We know Dante has had unfiltered access to Adrian for years. Had been planting himself in Adrian’s mind for just as long. Who knows how much influence he’s had over Adrian? How much he’s learned from his head since—”
Pain exploded inside my mind, sharp like the strike of a knife. I gasped as it sliced through my brain, cutting through the walls and barriers I’d been taught to put up by my mother’s mate.
All those blocks came crashing down, ripping Blythe from my head. Her gentle touch was replaced by dark, sticky fingers that tore into my memories, shredding my control over myself.
“Get her out of his head!” Rowan shouted.
Blythe’s hands were torn from my temples.
It gave him control.
Through my eyes, I saw them all. But I had no power over myself. He moved my hands to my lap. He made me smile.
And I couldn’t stop any of it as my gaze landed on Elias across from me—us.
“Dante,” the wolf growled.
Chairs scraped the marble floor as everyone leapt from their seats.
Maeve appeared behind me and took hold of my shoulders. There were shouts from the two matriarch witches, who called for binds to keep me trapped.
But Dante kept my eyes trained on Elias. Everyone else was afraid, but he remained seated. Careful.
“What have you done with Adrian?” he asked, sitting back, barely keeping the growl from his voice.
I cocked my head. “Taking a nap,” I said, voice distorted. It was my voice, but not. Like somehow, Dante was pushing more than just his conscious through me right now. Like somehow, he was becoming me.
I wanted to tell them I was here. That I could see—could hear—everything. But Dante had me in his clutches, tightening his hold on my consciousness.
He wanted me to see this, but he could cut me off in an instant if I fought him.
“How long have you had this kind of control over him?” Elias leaned forward, planting his hands on the table. Magic sparked from the ancestral witches as they formed chains for me, chains to keep Dante from getting out. “How many times have you done this?”
“Interesting questions. Thought you would ask about her.”
Don’t you fucking talk about her, I wanted to scream. I thrashed against his hold on my mind, feeling those dark fingers loosen. For a moment, an image of Ivy flashed across my mind.
Broken. Bloody. Back seeping from wounds that made me physically ill.
Dante shoved me down, taking over with force. “Brother has fight in him,” I growled in that same distorted voice. “Would be best killing him.”
To that, Elias snarled. “You know we won’t do that, and neither will you.”
“You sure?” I felt myself grin, blood filling my mouth. “He is…useless.”
“If that were the case, you would have killed him by now. But he’s fighting you. He’s going to keep fighting you. For Ivy. For his mate and Queen. He won’t give up,” Elias said.
Chains coiled around my arms, chest, and torso, before snaking up to wrap around my throat. I reared back like I’d been burned, but no sound passed my lips. It fucking hurt, but I could tell it threw Dante off-kilter.
The magic of the binds glowed a deep, unforgiving red, swirling around me until there was nothing but ancestral magic.
Elias sat back, crossing his arms. “You came out to play for something. Why are you here?”
“I’m going to break her,” I said, unable to stop myself. “So close to learning your secrets.”
Elias kept his features neutral, despite the storm of rage building within his eyes. But somehow, he maintained control.
“Considering keeping her alive after power transfer,” I continued, each word like glass cutting my throat. “She has something I will need. Something that will keep you all in line. I just need to uncover it first. Seer hid it too well.”
From the other side of the table, Rowan slammed his fists into the wood. “You’ll always be ten steps behind my mother,” he sneered. “She knows what you’re doing, and you will not win.”
Goddess above, I hoped he was right.
But Dante said, “You hated her.”
Rowan stormed over to me—him—and sneered.
“You seem to think you know a lot, Dante. But I never liked you, and the only reason I put up with you was for Adrian’s sake.
Which I deeply regret.” Rowan grabbed the back of the chair and leaned down to get in my face.
“If you’ve planted yourself in my head, I will make you regret it.
If you touch my mate again, I will make you yearn for death.
And if you do not leave my best friend, you soul sucking piece of shit, I will hunt you down personally and create for you your own personal hell.
You might think you’ve won, but we haven’t even started yet.
The war isn’t over, and my mate isn’t the weak human you think she is.
She’ll break free of your hold, and she’ll take everything down with her. ”
There was no response from Dante immediately, but I made a gurgling sound, head snapping forward as more blood filled my mouth. Rowan pulled back, stepping away as I thrashed against my chains.
Dante fought to maintain control, but I felt him slipping. There was still more he wanted to do—to say. I felt those intentions rushing through me as if they were my own. And it was horrifying.
“He was waiting. Like he knew I would try to break through,” Blythe said, voice trembling. “I am so sorry.”
Someone responded, but I couldn’t hear those words as I shoved Dante out. I fought him for control, something I knew he couldn’t maintain for much longer, no matter how hard he tried. His grasp was slipping, even if I knew my own struggle was weak.
When I lifted my head, blood dripped from my nose, the corners of my lips. But for a moment, I could use my voice. “Don’t let him out again.”
Rowan took a step towards me. “Adrian—”
“No,” I growled, wincing as Dante tried to take me again. “He’ll keep coming back. You need to—you need to lock me up.” I squeezed my eyes shut, skull pounding. “Or put me down. He knows too much.”
He knows everything, I wanted to say but couldn’t make the words pass my lips.
We hadn’t anticipated him being so ingrained in my head that we hadn’t taken any real precautions against him. I’d attended every meeting, every discussion about our plans to storm Luna and get Ivy back.
Now, Dante knew it all, too.
Everything we’d done this last week was for nothing. Because Dante had been here the whole time. He’d picked at all my memories in an instant and pulled free the ones he needed most.
My head snapped forward again, and I let out a pained groan. When I lifted my chin, it wasn’t me in control.
“Listen to him, don’t. Either way, she’s still mine,” I said in that same, distorted voice.
Before Dante could say any more, darkness crossed my vision, the smell of something sweet tickling my nose. I welcomed being free of Dante, even if only briefly. Because he couldn’t control me when I was unconscious.
He wasn’t a threat if I was gone.