Chapter 60 Rowan
Rowan
Horror glinted in Adrian’s gaze, despair warping Elias’s face. Barely concealed rage played in Maeve’s reddening eyes, and the rest…
They only stared.
I couldn’t see what they did, but even still, what I could make out made bile rise in my throat. Ivy’s stomach was more prominent now, the once gentle slopes I used to dream about and the softness of her curves gone. To the naked eye, she looked like she might have been bloated, but I knew better.
It was the clear proof of what he’d done to her—what he’d taken away from her, from us.
Even her breasts looked swollen and bruised. Dark lines ran up them, veins clearer than they’d been before. I could clearly remember the last time I’d seen her naked, and that version of her didn’t match the one I saw before me.
She hadn’t even been given underwear. The bastard had forced her to walk around without them.
The collar around her neck seemed so much realer now that it was the only thing she wore. It created an urgency within me to find a way to get it off her, because there was no way…
How was she able to stand there without breaking?
Ivy stepped out of the nightgown and walked towards the tub, but her eyes were locked on her own reflection.
Slowly, I rose to my feet, swallowing hard as I took in more of her body.
There were handprints on her upper arms, bruised but healing.
They’d been covered by the nightgown, and the darkness had hidden them from sight.
But now they were on full display, so clearly from her treatment in his compound, so obvious on her now mortal body.
With her magic, they shouldn’t have left a mark.
But Ivy wasn’t filled with power that could heal or protect her, anymore. She was as human as the day I ran into her on that street.
As she moved to the edge of the tub, I offered her my hand, breath catching in my throat as I watched her consider it for a moment. And as she did, I finally noticed what the others saw.
A mirror stationed across from me caught some of the damage, most of it hidden behind the knots of her dark hair. But it was too obvious, too harsh.
Scars, barely healed, lining her back, carved by some sort of knife. Marks I recognised only from my studies on the God Runes scarred her flesh. They were harsh and dark, covering her mate marks. Cutting into each one with efficiency, destroying each beautiful tattoo that symbolised our bonds.
I didn’t even need to guess what these runes were designed to mean. Their placement told me enough.
That was how Dante cut us off from her. How he made sure our bonds were gone.
And I had no idea if I could fix that.
I almost jumped when Ivy placed her hand in mine, her fingers icy cold. I dragged my eyes from her reflection, meeting her stare.
There was no hint of tears. She didn’t say anything as she stepped into the water slowly, hissing when her feet hit it, then her legs. As soon as the water hit her knees, the blood and dirt that covered her disappeared.
I helped her as far as I could before she let go of my hand and sank into the water.
Behind me, the others moved to the edge of the bath, eyes locked on her, like if we let her out of our sight, she might disappear.
That was how I felt, anyway. I had no doubt they were feeling the exact same way, though.
Ivy didn’t look back at us as she moved to the very end of the tub.
Her arms went to the edge, and I watched silently as she rested her chin on her arms, eyes staring out over the field and storm beyond.
The quiet of the bathroom almost became too much, too tense.
I itched to strip and get in with her, to try and wash away the remnants of her time with Dante.
But I knew better than that. It would take more than a warm bath to get rid of him.
What she needed was a key to the collar around her throat, a remedy for the scars on her back.
I could give her those. I had to. I had the puzzle pieces. Now, I just had to put them together. If Dante could do it without an ounce of charm magic in his blood, then my years of rune study should help me.
The manor was fucking eerie with the flashes of lightning illuminating unlit hallways. I could see where Black had prioritised his time, and where he hadn’t.
Like the creepy hallway I decided would make a good place to hide my research.
An entire wing of the manor that hadn’t been touched, clearly. It looked like it might have been guest housing for whoever owned it before, but it wasn’t necessary now. Though, with all the bodies here, I had a feeling taking some time to fix this space up might be worthwhile.
Mates plus three kids and two more on the way.
I shook my head and stepped into one of the forgotten bedrooms. None of the furniture had been cleared from here.
The window was broken, glass scattered across the floor.
Wards around the building kept the rain from coming in, thankfully, but I used a spell to clean up the worst of the debris.
A quick check of the old hardwood floors told me it wasn’t going to collapse beneath me as I walked in.
An old bed, broken at the legs, had been pushed into a corner of the room. It wasn’t nearly as nice as the ones upstairs. I had to admit, he’d done good. And all of it on his own.
For now, though, I grabbed what looked like an old desk that still stood strong, and dragged it into the centre of the room. I’d find a chair later, because I didn’t trust the one in the corner by the bed that looked one breath away from toppling over. The cushion also had an odd brown stain on it.
So, table it was.
When it was in the middle of the room, I finally shrugged off my pack and set it down. In the corner of my eye, I watched the door open with a soft creak, stopping me before I could empty the contents of my bag into the surface.
I blew out a shaky breath, shaking my head as I pulled the research free. “What are you doing?”
The demon king ducked his head as he entered, followed close behind by the Primal and Adrian. “When you disappeared, I had a feeling you were going to sequester yourself away with those runes.”
As he said that, I spread everything out on the table, which wasn’t much. “You saw what he did to her,” I replied, barely looking at him. “She doesn’t need pity. Ivy is stronger than that. What she needs is that fucking collar off and those scars—” My throat tightened with emotion.
If only I’d worked harder at understanding my visions. If only I’d done more to stop this. If I’d just pushed myself to understand the runes, then maybe…
I sighed, the door creaking as it closed and they all came to stand around the table.
“Look, it’s not much,” I stated, scrubbing a hand through my hair.
“But if we could just test what we have and the runes on Ivy, we might be able to figure out how to get the collar off. I just need to compile everything we do know, then…” I trailed off.
It felt futile.
“Maybe we can get the agents to go through the compound. I doubt Dante is going to stay there now that we know about it,” Adrian suggested.
“Whenever he moved her, he always added chains,” the Primal murmured, looking down at the notes. “They were always different to the ones he used on the shifters. The cage, too, was covered in runes.”
A shiver rolled down my spine as I looked at him. “How much did you see?”
“Enough,” he replied, meeting my stare. “Before he put me in a cage of my own, I had a chance to assess hers. Not the isolation room he had her in initially. He kept her there to make sure he could break the spell on her and undo the charms. You would need to speak to Hawk about that room, though I doubt he’ll remember much. ”
Nash. Once again, he was at the scene of the crime. Of course, he’d been given access to her while she’d been trapped in a cell.
“I know you don’t like him,” the Primal said, “but he was completely under Dante’s control. I don’t know how, especially when I was not.”
My eyes narrowed on him, but I just shook my head. “Do you think you could draw out the runes you saw?”
“Yes.” He nodded once, though uncertainty flared in his dark eyes. “But why? How will they help?”
Before I could respond, Adrian cleared his throat.
“We need to know all the sequences of the runes. The exact way they’re used, and where they were put.
It’ll give us a better indication of their uses.
If we can recognise patterns, we may be able to recreate them, which should give us a better chance at creating a way to undo them—or find the reversed runes. ”
“I can remember all the ones I saw,” the Primal said.
“And I will draw them out. They were clearly very different to the others. I also noticed only a certain few guards had a way to unlock her cage. It was kept secret. You should also ask the other prisoners we escaped with, and the soldiers who helped us. The Fae male might have a key.”
“Do you think we’ll be able to send word to my father from here? He’ll know—he’s a charm master,” Adrian asked, looking at the demon king.
Rhadamanthus scratched his chin as he shrugged.
“The shadows should be able to. I have a feeling I can pull from other places, including the Underworld. Jumping is difficult with these wards. That Luna Prince was quite efficient with his charms. Transporting the witch back to Elysian was hard enough.”
“Yeah,” I muttered, eyes straying to the window. The view from here was nothing but trees and the deep creek bed we’d walked over entering the manor.
A small part of me expected to see soldiers through the trees, Dante’s men with their lifeless eyes, the feral beasts he’d tortured into their shifted forms. Part of me couldn’t believe we were safe here. That we could be protected this far out, away from our own army and those dedicated to Ivy.
But then again, out here, we were away from anyone who could betray us. Those who could report our plans to Dante couldn’t. Out here, although we were alone, there was no way we would be betrayed—unless the Primal, bear shifter, or Hawk proved otherwise.
They were the loose cannons. The ones I didn’t fully trust. And I hated to admit that I trusted Rhadamanthus enough to know he wouldn’t betray Ivy, soul or no soul. He had no intention of hurting her. I doubted it was even in his vocabulary.
The other three, I wasn’t sure.
I released another shaky breath and tore my eyes from the window. “Alright. You want to help? Then help. We need to figure out how much of this we can understand. The runes on Ivy’s back are clearly there to sever the bonds.”
“How do we know that for sure?” Rhadamanthus asked, arms crossed. “He has silenced them before, has he not? There is no real way to sever bonds—at least to my knowledge. But silence them, yes. He might have decided this was the easiest way to keep you from communicating with one another.”
I hoped that was the case, prayed to the Goddess our bonds weren’t gone forever. But I also didn’t trust Dante.
“He carved them into her skin,” Adrian said, voice thick. “He used a knife, and he made sure they wouldn’t heal.”
“Exactly.” The demon looked between us, meeting each of our stares.
“He could have put those runes anywhere. But he knew to keep you out, he needed to make it appear permanent. We have no idea if once that collar is off, she’ll heal naturally.
Ivy is the Daughter of Nyx, the Queen. She holds all of Nyx’s power now.
It just isn’t at full strength because her bonds are incomplete.
Nothing will stop a mate bond from appearing.
That is why we have that bear. She recognised him as hers, even without magic.
Nothing, not even God Runes, can sever that power. ”
“We need a healing balm, something to start the process. The longer it’s left to scar, the more permanent we should assume it becomes,” Adrian said, quickly. “We need the potion from Cyrus, anyway. So, we should get that, too.”
“Prepare a message for your father and I will send it through the shadows,” the demon said. “In the meantime, the Primal should tell us what he knows.”
“If they’re the same, I will reverse them,” I said quietly, grabbing one of my scrolls. “I’m getting that collar off her. No matter what.”