Portal Lake bridged the circles. To travel to a specific one, he’d need a way to connect with it.
“They’re sigils,” I said. “They guide your travel to the circle of your choosing.”
“Yes. My most recent sigil represents Earth. Yours represents the Immolation Circle.”
I snapped my head up. “Why would Ni try to send me there?”
Lucifer’s jaw tightened as he dropped my hand. “That’s what the general is working on now.”
“But why would she even think it would work?” I pressed, my mind spinning.
Unless Ni knew how Portal Lake worked—and she knew I was Lucifer’s daughter. But for that, someone would’ve had to tell her.
Lucifer’s stern expression told me he already suspected who that might be.
“I haven’t told anyone!” I protested.
“Someone did,” he replied, sitting back and crossing his arms. “Perhaps your Nephilim friend?”
I shook my head. “No.” Oliver wouldneverdo something so reckless. He knew the stakes. Still… he had a tendency to run his mouth when he wanted, and hedidenjoy gossip. He could’ve let something slip while training with Ni. “I don’t think so,” I muttered, less certain now.
Lucifer stood, the rings of his irises glowing. “Well, you better find out who else he spoke to, or a maimed palm will be the least of our problems.”
He left without another word, and I collapsed back onto the bed in frustration.
A few moments later, Sam walked in. He started scolding me again, but his was different. Less angry. More concerned. He handed me another small crystal.
“Why only one?” I asked, eyeing my saving grace.
“Because,” Sam said with a shrug, “it’s a fragment of a dead Virtue’s pendant. They’re rare and difficult to come by.”
Angels didn’t die of old age. That meant this crystal had come from someone who’d been killed. Possibly someone close to Sam.
I swallowed, feeling the weight of the unspoken loss. “Thank you,” I murmured.
He gave me a small smile, followed by another scolding, then released me on the condition that I’d take better care of myself.
I sighed and picked up the book on the end table, reading the cover. I recognized the title.
I smiled.
So he did visit me.
Chapter
Twenty-Six
LUCILLE
Isearched high and low for Oliver. I checked my rooms, his, the arena, the library, random hallways, rooms I didn’t even know existed, the kitchens—then I did it all over again. Hours passed as I combed through the entire castle, and it wasn’t until my second round of searching that I found him.
There he was, sitting on the counter of the pastry kitchen, legs dangling and casually munching on a lemon bar, powdered sugar all over his navy sweater.
No one else stood in the pastry kitchen, but chopping and sizzling echoed from the other side of the wall, the main kitchen preparing whatever dinner we were about to have tonight.
I narrowed my eyes at his knowing grin. He didn’t even look up in surprise, like he’d been expecting me. “You knew I was looking for you.”
“Yep,” he replied, unbothered.
