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Arkimedes scratched his chin. “The gods’ realms are a mystery. Only those with the ability to open portals, like Devon, can access them. There’s no way for a mortal to stay there. So we can’t bring the fight there, either way.”
No mortal…
Nava gasped, her eyes darting from Arkimedes to Devon and back again. “Could he be an immortal? A god?”
“Let’s hope for all our sakes that he’s not,” Arkimedes said.
Could Aristaeus visit the shadow world and fight there alone? Perhaps that was why the demons singled out the Beekeepers. She made a mental note to ask Ari the next time she saw him, whether he was, in fact, an immortal.
“So, what’s the plan, brother? We wait until the Zorren come to hunt Nava, our precious Beekeeper?”
For the first time since she had met Devon, he didn’t sound cold or flippant. There was a touch of reverence in his tone. “I’m still the same woman you imprisoned on the island.”
“If I had known you were a keeper of life, I wouldn’t have done that.”
“Why does it matter? You just thought I was a dirty deserter, like Caden in the bakery.”
Devon lowered his gaze, staring at the table. “I don’t see how that’s the same.”
“That boy you were so cruel to warn me about who was bringing the Zorren into this world. He gave us a vital clue we were missing.” Was Devon following her? He was completely avoiding eye contact. “He deserves the family he lost because of that gift.”
Arkimedes had once told her that Devon’s family had abandoned him when he was not even ten and that the Society of Crows had taken him in. It was rare for the Society to take responsibility for children. Usually, they went to the armies.
What if the Society had killed Devon’s family, exactly like Caden’s? Both Ark and Devon were children of the Crows. Both had immense, unusual powers.
“What if the Crows were aware of your lineage all along?” she whispered and met her soulmate’s gaze from under her lashes. “You said not all the Dark Ones possessed the Curse of the Fallen, except for the king—and you, his heir. Wouldn’t the Society know that someone with your power was the lost royal of the Copper Kingdom?”
Arkimedes drew a ragged breath and leaned against the table. His brows scrunched together as if he were struggling to find a response that made sense. Perhaps he was attempting to revive lost memories. “I’d always thought it strange. Devon and I were the only children in the Society. All the others were taken to serve the royal guards.”
“That’s an imaginative idea.” Devon’s voice shook, and he cleared his throat before he spoke again. “But I don’t think so.”
Obviously, her imaginative idea had cut them both deeply. Nava only had to use her eyes to read them like an open book: their hunched postures, how they were struggling to speak. And beyond that, she could tap directly into Arkimedes’s emotions through their bond.
“The gift of opening portals is rare, Devon,” Arkimedes said. “In fact, I’ve only met three people who’ve had it in my lifetime, and they are all members of the Crows.”
Nava closed her eyes and tried to sort through her jumbled thoughts. Some magical gifts, such as being a soothsayer or having Devon’s power to control storms, were rare. But portal making—she’d never known that even existed.
Her sheltered upbringing had caused yet another gap in her knowledge.
“Let’s stop talking nonsense.” Devon’s nostrils flared as he lifted his head and struggled to mask his emotions with false indifference. “The Society of Crows is unrelated to the Zorren.”
“They might possess knowledge we lack, although I’m not implying that they’re connected to the demons.” Nava glanced around the room as if she might find the answers hiding in plain sight or in some dusty corner. If only it could be that simple.
“Each safe house has an archive,” Arkimedes said. “We can try to find out what the Society knows about the royal prophecy, or how we can stop the…shadow man…from opening more portals.”
“What is an archive?”
“They’re libraries that only Society members can access. Every year, the librarians catalog prophecies, new spells, historic events, and so on.”
“And there’s one here?”
“A smaller version, yes.” Arkimedes shifted on his feet.
“We should not step one foot inside that place unless you want the Crows to come here,” Devon said, a warning infusing his tone. He slammed a hand on the table, and Nava’s half-full glass of wine rattled in response. “You can’t seriously think that’s a good idea, Arkimedes.”
“Do you have a better suggestion on how to move forward?”
“Sure. How about we don’t go in there?”
