Chapter 63 Ivy
Ivy
“Well, we don’t need plates, cutlery, or glassware,” I muttered, closing a cabinet. “Or, thankfully, mugs.”
Much to my delight—as much as I could muster, anyway—there was a section of the kitchen that looked like a mini coffee bar in the making. Mugs of different sizes and design lined up in an upper cabinet, and a suspiciously perfect counter for a coffee maker.
Too bad we didn’t have one of those. I would kill for a latte.
I might be having my first real craving, and nothing to kill it with.
“How he got a refrigerator here is beyond me,” Elias said, opening the two cabinets I’d suspected to be a pantry and revealing a stark white interior with nothing but a rotten apple within.
Immediately, my nose wrinkled, nausea rising in my throat at the sweet rotten scent. “Please get rid of that,” I said, taking a step back. “Immediately.”
Elias spared me a look, eyes widening. “Are you…?”
I waved a hand before covering my mouth, which did the trick, because he grabbed the mushy rotten apple and walked out of the kitchen, likely to throw it into the storm.
The smell lingered, but Maeve closed the fridge doors. “That can be cleaned.”
I lowered my hand from my face as Elias returned. “Yeah,” I replied, sighing.
“We should find the others. Rhadamanthus will have to use his shadows to get supplies, but we’ll need to send word to someone,” Elias said as he washed his hands, eyeing me carefully. “Anything in particular you need?”
“Shoes. Clothes. Coffee,” I replied, ticking each thing off on my hand. “Chocolate.”
He chuckled, turning the faucet off with a sigh. “At least we know the water works in most areas.”
“I’ll need to make a request for blood,” Maeve murmured without looking at me. “And no, a mhuirnín, I will not feed from you.”
Thor stepped in close to my side, chest rumbling lightly. “It’s okay,” I murmured, looking up at him.
Thor’s eyes narrowed, but of course, he couldn’t tell me what he wanted to say. Once again, his nostrils flared in frustration, but he huffed.
“And I get it,” I told Maeve. “I won’t push, even though…”
“Your bond and magic would tell you otherwise.” She nodded once, concern flashing in her eyes. “I sense the others. They aren’t far. We will have to pass the poltergeist, though.”
My eyes narrowed on her. “Funny.”
An amused smile tipped her lips, the first smile I’d gotten out of her since she found me. It brought me the same kind of comfort as Elias holding my hand. It gave me hope that maybe we could go back to before.
But then her gaze flickered to my throat, to the vice circling it, and the smile fell away. I was used to it, but she wasn’t. None of them were, except for the males who’d been with me.
I tried to swallow, but it was difficult. With a shake of my head, I started for the kitchen door, but it opened before I could take a step.
Damon entered first, his red eyes finding mine immediately. They filled with a short-lived relief as he took a step towards me, but he stopped short, hesitating.
Next, Xerxes entered, still in his non-Primal form. His dark hair was mused, and he looked almost as tired as I felt. At least now that I was fully conscious, I could tell he hadn’t been hurt during the escape.
The final two to enter had me tensing. I couldn’t get a read on either of them, which had me anxious.
Both stopped near Damon, with Rowan taking a hesitant step towards me like he wanted to pull me into his arms. Adrian, though, just stared at me sadly.
But why?
Before I could ask, Maeve cleared her throat. “We need to get supplies,” she stated, looking at Damon. “You think you can summon them?”
The demon king nodded once, gaze flickering to me before meeting her stare completely. “Yes. We have already discussed as such.”
Discussed amongst themselves without me. Disappointment weighed heavily in my chest as I leaned against one of the counters.
“We’re going to need help from Theon,” Rowan said hesitantly, but I didn’t look at him. “He’s going to be our primary point of contact there.”
“Let’s keep our communication with the others as minimal as possible,” Maeve replied, crossing her arms. “I don’t want anyone able to track us.”
“Letters sent through the shadows should do the trick.” Damon moved to the centre island and set down a piece of paper and a pen. “We’ll make the list and give them an hour to gather our supplies. We will need weapons—”
“No need,” Elias cut in. “Orion already made sure we’d have plenty.”
“There are trunks upstairs full of them,” Maeve added. “As well as some limited supplies down here. It appears he left certain things for later, never getting the chance to unload them. I’d imagine he might have a supply of other necessities somewhere.”
Knowing Orion and how well he thought through all of this, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Maeve grabbed the pen and paper and started her list. I couldn’t read what she wrote, but I had a feeling it was more than just coffee, clothes, and blood bags.
“What else?” Maeve asked, looking up from the page and glancing around the room.
Rowan and Adrian shared a look I couldn’t read, which annoyed me more than I expected it to.
I was so used to Adrian and Rowan being at my side when things were hard, that them running off felt like a betrayal. When there were plans to be made and battles to be fought, it was usually Elias and Maeve disappearing to handle it.
The reverse felt strange, and although I liked having Elias and Maeve at my side, I also wanted Rowan and Adrian there, too.
“A note to my father,” Adrian said quietly, eyes finding mine briefly.
“Ask him to write out the runes he remembers from Ivy’s cage and chains.
Whatever he saw, he needs to tell me what he knows.
What he thinks they meant. That’ll take him longer, that’s okay, but we need to know what he saw and felt specifically.
He might know more about the magic than us since he was there. ”
My heart dropped into my stomach as I stared at them. “Why do you need that?” I asked, wrapping my arms around myself.
For a moment, I saw a flash of the bars.
Their thick metal, old yet carved with runes I didn’t recognise.
The power they’d radiated, the energy they’d sucked from me.
I hadn’t realised before how weak I’d felt inside the cage until I was out of it.
The cage in the Pit had been nothing compared to my cell in the shifter prison.
A shiver rolled down my spine, so I tightened my arms around myself, looking away from my mates and down at the checkerboard flooring.
“We’re going to reverse the runes so we can get the collar off, Ivy,” Rowan said.
“I should have done this before we rescued you, and I’ll blame myself for the next five hundred years for making you stand there with that thing around your neck for another moment longer.
But we’re working on a way to get it off. ”
I swallowed hard, glancing towards him, taking in the desperation darkening his hazel eyes. “It’s not your fault,” I sighed, shaking my head.
“The Goddess gave me those visions for a reason, and I still wasn’t prepared,” he replied, taking me by surprise. “But I’ll work day and night to get that off you and heal your scars.”
“We will need healing balm for your back,” Damon said, looking sharply at me. “And the potion Cyrus has been making to stop the spell Dante placed on you.”
An hour later, Damon used his shadows to summon our supplies. The large area in the back of the house went from empty to full of a different assortment of things I didn’t expect.
“Who put this together?” Rowan asked, scratching the back of his neck. “We didn’t ask for that much, did we?”
“Sao likely added his own flare to ensure we asked for nothing else,” Damon muttered, taking a step towards the pallet of trunks, boxes, and things. “Ah.”
He pulled something off the top, which looked like a note.
Unfolding, Damon read aloud, “To my King and Queen, I have ensured all you asked for is present, as well as additional medical supplies, clothing, weaponry, and the tomes Sir Rowan had been working his way through in the palace library. There is food, as well as the potion. Sir Theon is working on his end of the request and assures me he will have it done within the day. Your loyal servant, Sao.”
“Do they know we’re hiding elsewhere?” I asked, moving to the pallet. “That we aren’t in the Underworld?”
“Only a select few know we aren’t there,” Maeve replied, joining me. “To everyone else, we returned. That way, if Dante asks around, he’ll think we’re there.”
My stomach twisted uncertainly as I grabbed a duffel bag. “Which means he’ll probably attack the Underworld.”
No one responded right away, but there were wary looks shared around the room.
The thought of him going after innocents just to get to me made bile rise in my throat. I was about to lose my appetite all over again.
Before I could do more with the duffel, Damon grabbed it from my hand and swung it over his shoulder with a smirk. “No heavy lifting, wife. We can handle this.”
“It was a bag of clothes, probably,” I replied, hands going to my hips. “Nothing strenuous.”
“Until we know the state you are in and your health, no risks will be taken,” he stated, head cocked.
“We’ve no idea the effect this potion has had on you, and until we give you the reversal, we don’t know what state you are in, the trimester—anything.
Lifting a bag could put you into early labour for all we know. ”
I wanted to roll my eyes and call him ridiculous, but a small part of me was terrified he was right.
Lightning cracked across the sky, quickly followed by a loud rumble of thunder. I glanced out the windows at the darkness covering the landscape. “Fine,” I murmured, taking a step back. “Just give me the potion so I can take it.”
As soon as the words left my lips, the sky lit up again with another flash. I could almost feel it at my fingertips; the rush of electricity, the prickle of power. The hairs along my arms rose as I listened to the thunder following that flash of light.
Power licked at my insides, close yet out of reach. Mine yet not.
My fingers went to the collar, brushing the cold metal lightly. It still felt the same; cold, heavy, too tight. The weight it bore on my shoulders was too familiar now. But for the first time since it went on, it felt loose.
I let my hand fall from the collar, fear crashing into me as I stepped away from the glass doors.
Lightning lit the sky, cutting through the heavy, thick clouds, the strike dancing across the darkness before bidding its farewell with another crash of thunder.
This one was loud enough to make the chandelier above my head rattle.
“Hey,” Adrian said, voice low. “Come on.”
I frowned, glancing over my shoulder at him. He had a couple of grocery bags in his hands as well as what looked like a potion bottle, a hesitant smile on his lips.
My chest tightened with an unfamiliar emotion, but I nodded, starting for the doors leading into the kitchen.
I held them open for Adrian, who smiled a little warmer at me as we entered. As soon as they closed, the noise from the other room dimmed, leaving me and Adrian in our own little pocket of quiet.
My mage went to the centre island and dropped the bags on the counter.
Slowly, I made my way towards him, taking him in as I did; the dark circles around his eyes and the shallowness of his cheeks, the slight tremble in his hands as he unpacked food I’d forced myself not to think about while in the compound—including a huge block of chocolate.
And yet, it was easy to ignore the grumble of my stomach, the tightening hunger, as I realised there was something deeply wrong with my mate.
He barely looked up as I came to stand across from him. “Adrian?” I asked quietly.
He stiffened, eyes darting to mine. They were so full of sadness, full of fear and anger, that it nearly took my breath away.
“Yeah, Sweetheart?” he said, putting down a jar.
“What happened?” I searched his stare for anything, not for the first time wishing I could read his emotions, understand what he was trying to hide from me.
Adrian shook his head, a shaky breath leaving his parted lips. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”
“Clearly not,” I replied, moving around the island, stopping at his side despite him refusing to look at me. “Something happened while I was gone—”
“You weren’t gone, Ivy,” he snapped, eyes finding mine.
They glistened with tears, filled with frustration and anger.
“You were kidnapped. You were stolen by my brother, and I let it happen. I couldn’t fight for you, and I watched him take you away.
I failed you and our bond, and now…” His gaze drifted to my stomach, and he shook his head.
“I was too weak to stop him before. But I won’t ever let anything happen to you again. ”
Emotion thickened my throat, tears burning my eyes as I glanced down at his shaky hands. “I never blamed you, Adrian.”
My mate set the potion bottle in front of me; inside the clear glass, which was no bigger than my hand, was a murky green liquid that looked sickening.
“You should have,” he said, voice low, eyeing the bottle. “It’s because of me you were taken. It’s because of me that Dante was always one step ahead of us. He had full access to my mind, Ivy. You were never safe with me.”