Chapter 60
Chapter sixty
Dominick
His hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
Theo, his Theo, was… Dom couldn’t think it. His condition was barbaric. His beautiful face marred and bloody. They had beaten him, tortured him.
Alistair instructed the guards to lift the steel gate from the tower’s entrance. As soon as Dom was able to pass, he ran and vomited in the bushes. “I’ve got to get to Sera’s room. There’s a book…”
“Do I want to know what’s in this book?” Al asked.
Dominick wiped his mouth. If they destroyed the evidence, Theo might have a chance.
A mastria had probably already broken into Theo’s mind, but at least there wouldn’t be physical proof.
The last thing he wanted to do was get Al mixed up in this.
“Do I want to know what went on in the Council chambers?”
Al shook his head.
“Then no, you really, really don’t want to know what’s in it.
” The streets were bare of anything living.
Most of the coven seemed to have escaped into the Citadel proper.
Crackling flames and sulfur surrounded them, and still, projectiles crashed.
Most of the Citadel was stone or marble; the worst damage wouldn’t be from fire but to the buildings themselves.
“I’m going to get Sera, but I’m doing it somewhere that’s not going to collapse any minute.”
“Doesn’t seem to be anywhere safe to me,” Dom said.
“We’ll go outside the Ogdelo.” Al had his hands on his hips.
“And how do you know the main complex won’t fall?”
Alistair just shook his head. “Remember what you just said about what I heard in the Council chambers?”
Dominick rolled his eyes.
“They won’t let the main complex fall. That’s all you need to know.”
“Fine.”
They trudged past the barracks, then the Council chambers. Dom and Al walked another stretch of block, and then there was silence.
He slowed while Alistair looked skyward, worry etched deep in his brow. The clear dome of the coven guardians’ barrier had been re-warded high above them. Cheers erupted far ahead in the Menage.
They shouldn’t have let the barrier fall in the first place. Dom knew of the strange hours the coven guardians kept. His father had been one for his entire life. A guardian was always on duty.
Al had an air of violence about him. Clenched jaw, tight fists: he looked like he had when he was younger and brawled with Colton. Dom was grateful Alistair had come home. It almost felt normal—almost.
“I want to see what’s going on,” Al said and jogged toward the cheering.
The amphitheater was packed. Everyone seemed to have sheltered within the structure during the attack. Slews of witches and warlocks, some bleeding, others attempting to soothe children, sat in seats across each level.
Chair Renata stood atop the platform in the middle of the arena. Her voice boomed. “Coven members! We’ve had a trying day. The barrier fell, that is apparent, but with the help of our allies, the aliato, we are safe once again.”
The crowd was near deafening. Alistair raised his brows in question at the mention of allies. Dominick listened on.
“We owe our lives to these beings, and in return, we accept their aid and influence on the Council. May I present to you the newest Council member, Chair Raphael.”
Dominick sucked in a breath as the winged being crossed the stage. Only then did he realize that Council Elder Corbin was not among them. “Chair Corbin hasn’t publicly stepped down,” Dom whispered to Alistair.
Al shook his head and put a finger to his lips. “Not here.”
The new chair, Raphael, addressed the crowd. “May the glory of God bless those who worship the light. May the earth yield its life for the sake of the Holy. May your sacrifice not be in vain…”
How was the coven not seeing this? The crowd hung on his every word, as if the being wasn’t spewing blasphemy against their entire race. There was only one God the coven worshipped, and that was Shadow. She was the Holy.
It had taken over an hour to get out of the Menage and around the Ogdelo. The garden was as beautiful as it had ever been, flowers blooming, topiaries tall and regal. It was as if that piece of the Citadel hadn’t been touched.
Smoke curled high into the sky, and Dominick flinched every time a new projectile crashed into the wards.
“We’re here. Now go get her,” he said to Alistair. He needed to get Theo out of there, and if somehow Sera could convince her mother to let Theo go, then he’d take it. It would be the least she could do for the information he’d given her.
If Theo hadn’t looked for Nora’s thread in the pool, then none of this would have happened. He wouldn’t have noticed that there were discrepancies…
“You’re not going to do anything stupid while I’m gone, are you?”
“My parents’ house is rubble, my lover is imprisoned… I’ve got nothing left to do.”
Alistair pointed at him, his arms bulging, his eyes icy. “You do not move from here until I get back. Do not try and get into the tower without my help.”
“I’m not an idiot. Now are you going to—” The warlock was gone before he could get the rest of his sentence out.
For the first time in twenty-four hours, Dominick pulled in a deep breath. His muscles twitched. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten, not that he’d be able to keep anything down until he knew Theo was safe. Theo… his poor Theo.
It was supposed to be joyous. He’d prepared an entire speech about how happy he was, despite all the shit around them.
Dom lifted a kernel of his magic. “Shadow, I don’t know if you can hear me or even give a shit, but if you are out there somewhere, help me get him out.” In answer, his magic was sucked from the very air into the ether and on to the goddess.
Dominick dozed in the shade of a phallic-looking topiary, desperate to escape the hot sun overhead.
He let himself hope a little, think about what they would do as soon as he got Theo out of there.
The healer first, although he’d need to be discreet if they didn’t get full approval from the Council.
He’d break in. Between the three of them, they’d figure it out. They’d get through this. They all would. Theo, Sera, Nora, and Al. Hope: It was all he had left.
A fluttering of wings had him cracking an eyelid. A raven with a rolled-up piece of paper in its beak. The bird hopped over to him, threw the paper in his lap, and squawked.
“What in the world?” he whispered.
Dom unrolled it, and Sera’s looping script covered the page.
Dominick,
Alistair shared news of the war and what happened to Colton.
You must be devastated. I can’t imagine what your parents are going through…
what you’re going through. I am so sorry I can’t be there, but you and I know the Council won’t help me get Nora back now that we are in active conflict.
I’ve become allies with someone who can help.
I can’t promise when I’ll be back, if ever, but I’ll try.
I love you. Keep your head up, and mind the bird.
—Sera
Dominick stared at the paper, reading it over and over again.
Mind the fucking bird?!
Screaming in frustration, he kicked at the raven, which hopped just out of reach. “I am going to fucking kill you, Sera!”
“Hey!” A Legion guard approached him. “What’s your business here?”
Dominick cursed inwardly and pushed his hair back. “Didn’t realize I needed to have business here to take a small break in a public area.”
The guard shrugged. He looked just as defeated as Dom felt. “Suppose you don’t.” Dominick smirked. “You’ll either need to move or head inside, though. There’ll be another traitor getting their due tomorrow evening.”
A knot formed in his throat. “Any word on who?” His pulse pounded in his ears.
“No, the Council likes to keep it close to their chest.”
Dominick nodded and stood. “I’ll leave you to it, then.” The guard strolled back into the arena, and Dom kept to the dwindling shade.
As soon as the guard was out of sight, Alistair materialized, panting, with his hands on his knees. “She’s gone.”
“I know.” Dominick crossed his arms.
“The fuck you mean you know?”
Dominick sidestepped, revealing the raven, which seemed to be growing in size as it croaked at the two of them.
“Oh.”
“Oh?” Dominick asked. “Oh? Sera has a bird, and your response is Oh?”
Alistair stood to his full height, stretching his neck. “A lot has happened. That bird is her familiar. Don’t ask me how she got one because I don’t know, and now she’s most likely halfway to the underworld with a demon lord.”
“A demon lord?” Dominick hissed.
“Believe me, I’m not happy about it. The bastard ruined everything.” Alistair’s jaw ticked. His features were growing more stern.
“You fell for her, didn’t you?” Dom asked.
“As if I had been pushed off the fucking ramparts.” Al wiped his forearm across his forehead. “I need a wash and a drink.”
“Let’s see if my place is still standing. Then we can figure out how to get Theo out.”