Chapter 78 Adrian
Adrian
“This meeting can wait,” Maeve said, turning from the dark clouds towards Ivy and Orion. “A full night’s rest might do everyone good. Especially after the events of the last several hours.”
The rest of the room was tense, quiet. Just from the flush of Ivy’s cheeks, I could tell what they’d been doing up in the bathroom, and I couldn’t tell if the dark, twisted emotions that swelled within me were jealousy or something else. Maybe still shame and guilt.
“Orion needs to catch up on everything we already know,” Ivy replied, offering Maeve a tight smile as she helped the Luna prince into a seat.
The male looked better than when he’d been asleep; there was colour back in his cheeks, a light in his eyes that I could only assume was his proximity to Ivy.
Even I could admit that just being in her presence had somehow healed most of the damage left from Dante’s intrusion into my mind.
“And the last thing I want is more sleep,” he added, taking Ivy’s hand when she joined him at the table. “I want to help.”
Before anyone could respond, Rhadamanthus leaned forward in his chair. “Why all the books?”
Orion frowned, staring at the demon. “What do you mean?”
“I have been trying to understand why you have so many random books in these trunks. We thought you were hiding something within them, but I have yet to find an answer.” Rhadamanthus steepled his fingers in front of him, and even Ivy looked curiously at the Fae male.
The others were less interested, though they waited for Orion’s response quietly.
Elias abandoned his file and pushed it aside, though he didn’t do more than that.
Rowan rubbed a hand tiredly through his hair as he sat back, crossing his arms. He looked between Black and our mate, though he remained silent.
“The names of those Dante hunted,” Orion said, clearing his throat. “Anytime I learned of one, I would take a book from the academy library and put the name inside. Then I would bring it here.”
“Well, that is interesting,” Rhadamanthus murmured.
Even I had to admit, I was curious, especially because I never even considered going for that information while I’d been in his mind. “His list?”
Orion glanced at me before nodding. “It’s not all the names. Most I heard in passing from Hyperion. But there are a number of them. You’ll find them on page sixteen of each book, written in the margins.”
Before anyone could comment further, the demon was gone. Ivy, though, sighed. “Writing in library books and stealing them is a crime,” she said, looking at Orion with a shake of her head. “Why?”
He shrugged, their joined hands moving to the table as he rested his chin on the other.
The hand that held Ivy’s was bare, allowing us to see the damage his father had done to him over the years; scars from crushed fingers, mottled skin that’d been burned and not healed right, each one silver after years of abuse.
The other hand, though, was covered by his normal glove.
“Well, I knew none of Dante’s idiots would check the library.
And I could take them without notice. I always replaced them, though.
You can buy almost all of them in town.” He drummed his fingers on the table for a moment before sighing just as Rhadamanthus returned, carting with him a mountain of books.
“Page sixteen of all these have a name. Found your own within one, Agent Grey.” He tossed a tome at Maeve, which she caught with ease.
Without looking at anyone, the vampire skimmed the front of the book. From where I sat near her, I could read the front of the textbook, which was on herbs and healing. It was common enough to find—Orion was right about that.
Maeve skipped to the sixteenth page, silent as she locked in on her name. Then, she closed it and set it down, taking the seat across from our mate and the Fae prince. “How many?”
Orion glanced over his shoulder at the stack. “That’s not all of them.”
The stack had to have had over fifty books. How was that not all of them?
And how the hell did my brother get this list in the first place?
My first thought was that he’d somehow gotten records from Phoenix. But my brother vehemently refused to do his year of training there.
“What kind of list?” Hawk asked from the other end of the table. “How is it important?”
“You should know,” Orion stated, staring at the other male. “Your name is on it.”
Hawk glanced at the books in confusion, but Ivy said, “He has no memory. They were wiped when we were in the compound.”
“Speaking of which,” Rowan said, leaning forward, eyes narrowed. “Did you know about the secret underground prison Dante had at the edge of Luna, right near the old High Palace?”
Orion frowned, looking from Hawk to Rowan with darkening eyes. “No,” he replied slowly. “To my knowledge, there was nothing of the sort.”
“But you knew your father was working with Dante somewhere,” I said, crossing my arms as I sat back.
The Fae prince pressed his lips together. “Obviously. But not where. I knew it had to be Luna, but I was never taken there. My father sent me on missions with soldiers, but he was my handler in those scenarios. If I ever went to this compound, it was wiped from my memory.”
“I believe him,” Ivy said, voice firm. “He never indicated he’d been anywhere near the compound before, either. And Dante would have mentioned it.”
Orion’s jaw ticked as he sat back, still clutching Ivy’s hand, but he said nothing else. Even Rowan somehow kept his mouth shut despite the warning looks Ivy sent him and the others.
I didn’t need the bond to tell me she was stressed and feeling the pressure of our inability to get along. The group dynamic had shifted entirely, though now I had the feeling this was it.
This was the final formation.
And I had no idea what to do with it.
Ivy was our centre, the one that bound us all.
Without her, we’d have nothing to do with each other—I would know most of them, but I wouldn’t have chosen to be friends or allies with half of them, except for Rowan.
But now, they were my bond mates. We shared one single common goal: protecting our mate.
And we couldn’t do that when we were constantly at odds with one another.
“Perhaps we should compile these names and cross reference them with the prisoners,” Rhadamanthus suggested, holding up another text. “There are two names in this one.”
“They were twins, telekinetically linked shifter males,” Orion said without looking at the book. “My father mentioned how useful they would be on missions. Especially more complex ones.”
I hesitated for a moment before asking, “Do you know why Dante was searching for creatures with unique abilities?”
“So he could replicate them,” Hawk said, looking at the bear shifter. “Apparently, that was talked about a lot around the shifters.”
“Which sounds like the experiments he was running,” Elias grumbled, crossing his arms. “I guess the question is: how many of these creatures did he actually recruit?”
There was no answer to that. I wanted to say none, hoped he never had a chance to convince any of joining him. But there were dozens of creatures in the dungeons of the Elysian palace that said otherwise.
The night passed by catching Orion up on what he missed, filling in the gaps and introducing him properly to the bear shifter, explaining his strange ability, and telling him what we knew about Dante. Like his stronghold at the palace in Avalon, how close we were to the eclipse.
Maybe for the first time in days, there was no fighting between us. Orion asked measured questions about our progress, our understanding of Dante’s ranks, who stood amongst his High Council and the power they held.
That was still something we knew little about. Not even Thor could answer those questions, despite the information he’d already provided us. The male might have been quiet, but he’d been observant in a way that helped us.
The army was already fractured—fragile. Ivy’s escape and those who’d been undercover within had caused serious damage, though Thor believed it could have created more of a divide than anyone realised.
But whether that divide actually helped us, we weren’t sure.
Maeve could plan small missions, attacks. Elias could lead them. Rowan and I could strategize. But this was war. Even I had to admit I felt way out of my depths with this.
But every glance at Ivy made the uncertainty clearer, settling me. She trusted us—me—to help her win this. And we would.
“My father must have always suspected I wasn’t entirely trustful,” Orion murmured as he flipped through one of the files. “Otherwise, I think he would have revealed more to me about the High Council and their plans.”
“I doubt it,” I said, sitting back with a sigh as I felt the weight of not just his, but Ivy’s, eyes on me. “Dante kept everything low-key. Not even I could get a read on it.”
Across from me, Ivy stiffened, gaze shifting to where I sat at the other end of the table. “What does that mean?”
I went still, eyes widening. “Nothing,” I replied quickly with a shake of my head. “Don’t worry about it.”
Hurt and anger flashed across her eyes. “No,” she snapped. “I won’t leave this alone. No fucking secrets, remember? No hiding shit. Seriously.”
I flinched like I’d been slapped, but the others quietly held their tongues. It would be easy for them to jump in and tell her what I didn’t want her to know.
I swallowed hard, gaze steady on hers. I wanted to brush it off, but I also understood the damage that would cause. It would only make the rift between us bigger.
“Dante found a way into my head. Not just reading a thought here and there, but could actually control me,” I said, voice breaking. “I became an actual threat to everyone—especially you.”
Ivy stilled, the colour draining from her face. “What?”
I laughed darkly, scrubbing a hand down my face. Orion didn’t look too surprised by the admission, but then again, he’d walked through the Old World believing he had a living bomb inside his head that could go off at any moment because of his betrayal.
My eyes closed for a moment, and in the darkness, I saw my own cell.
Felt the darkness in the back of my head again.
“I had to be imprisoned for a while. Every so often, Dante would appear and mock me. Tell me shit. Especially about you.” I opened my eyes, tears filling them as I met her stare.
“I was there when you escaped. Saw it all through his eyes. And that’s how I found out about… ”
Ivy’s hand slipped beneath the table. “That’s how you all knew about the pregnancy.”
I gritted my teeth, looking away. I couldn’t hide my fear or my shame.
“I’m sorry,” I said, voice quiet. “But he used me—”
Ivy pushed out of her chair, the sound echoing through the living room. Everyone stilled as she hesitantly made her way around the table, only to stop beside me.
I knew Ivy couldn’t hold a grudge for long; it was one of the few things I did know about her. But in this moment, if she did choose to hold this against me, I would get it. The thought terrified me, but without our bond, I couldn’t tell what was running through her head right now.
In her position, I would wonder how much more had Dante seen. Had access to. What he knew because of me.
But none of those thoughts seemed to bother Ivy, not as she sat in my lap and wrapped her arms around me.
“I’m so sorry that happened, and I wasn’t there for you,” she murmured, burying her face in my neck.
“But you can’t hide something like that from me.
I was starting to think you hated me. Which I know is dumb, but I’m hormonal times two. ”
I released a shaky breath as my arms went around her. My heart raced from her words, from the way she held me. It took all my strength not to cry, but I bit down on the tears.
I didn’t need the others to see that again. Or her.
“Well, I have an unfinished list of names, if anyone cares,” Rhadamanthus announced, pushing the list towards Grey. “But there are more, you say?”
Ivy and I glanced at the paper Rhadamanthus gave Maeve, though it was Orion who leaned forward, eyes on the dark ink. “Yes,” he replied. “I guess you didn’t find the trunks in the basement.”
“We have a dungeon?” Ivy said, sounding sick. “No.”
Orion grinned. “Chains and all.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Ivy murmured, shaking her head, eyeing the Fae prince warily. “Anything else down there that we should be aware of?”
The male drummed his fingers on the table for a moment. “I left more supplies,” he said after a moment, looking down at his gloved hand. “Weapons. Charms for the island, marked with wards, illusions, glamours. Just in case.”
“We should get them out,” I said, for the first time sounding more confident and less afraid, less like I was going to break at any moment. “Set them up around the island. He’s getting desperate trying to find Ivy. He’ll be searching everywhere for her, and we can’t let him have her.”
Ivy visibly shuddered, the movement having all of us tensing. I could almost feel her shame, the torture going through her mind so vivid I didn’t need our bond to tell what she was thinking.
“He’s going to hurt so, so many creatures to find me,” she said, looking around the table dimly. “He won’t care who he kills—who gets in his way so long as he has me.”
“It won’t matter who he kills,” Hawk replied. “If he gets you, the world ends anyway.”