“They’re discussing me,” I cried, then slapped a hand over my mouth. Oops.
“They can’t hear you in this form.”
Right. Relief flowed into tense muscles, and I lowered my arm. As she questioned him about my fighting style, I muttered, “I’d really like to leave.”
“Very well.” Domino led me through a wall and into High Prince Summit’s room.
The prince reclined naked in a chair, grinning and sipping whiskey as two trainees kissed different parts of his body. “Good little war bunnies,” he praised, petting one’s hair.
Thankfully, we didn’t stick around here, either. We slipped through another wall, entering Felix’s suite. He was alone, standing at attention near the foot of his bed, all brawn and burden with his arms anchored behind his back and his feet braced apart. His eyes were closed, as if he were lost in thought.
We went through a series of walls and floors. Honestly, it was one of the weirdest things I’d ever experienced. The journey ended inside a gym where twenty or so young men and women exercised, pumped iron, and stretched. They wore determination like a second skin.
“These are the hosts already chosen by the gods,” Domino said.
Sympathy roused a determination of my own. If these people learned the truth, their acceptance would become refusals. Surely.
“Come.” My companion led me through other walls and floors, finally stopping inside a temple I’d visited before, with Cyrus’s father. Statues of Astan and his pet dragon lined the walls. Bala was her name, the namesake of CURED’s central base of operations.
The biggest statue featured a massive Astan behind a human-size golden throne, gripping its curved top. His wings, folded in at his sides, the tips brushing the arms of the royal seat. Before, his horns had curled downward. Today, they perched above the halfway point ... and might have just risen another inch, right before my eyes.
A shirtless, bleeding Mr. Vyle dropped to his knees before it and began mumbling the same phrase over and over. “Grant me power, my master, and I will accomplish your will.”
Revulsion pricked me.
An old man in a gold robe sat upon the throne, cackling with his head thrown back in abandon and his arms spread high and wide. “It’s mine, it’s mine, it’s mine!” A wild, insane sight.
Recognizing him, I blanched. “That’s the emperor of Ourland.” But the truly shocking part? Slithering shadows twined around every statue, the throne, Bala, and even Mr. Vyle and the emperor. Especially the emperor.
“He celebrates the capture of the berry field,” Domino said, determination hardening his voice. “He shouldn’t. We’ll get it back soon enough.”
“I’ll help you, however I can,” I vowed.
“Thank you.” The librarian gave my fingers a soft squeeze.
I unveiled a wry smile. “No need to thank me for doing my duty, Dom.”
He snorted, and it was a little too cute for my liking.
The shadows must have sensed us, even if the men did not. They drew together to form a wall in front of the pair, spoiling our view.
“Come.” Domino drew me up into the air, through the ceiling. The higher we went, the faster we traveled, until boom, we stopped inside a bedroom I recognized. The one I’d seen before, when I’d spoken with Ember’s boyfriend.
I stood beside the librarian, who sat at the foot of the bed with his dog perched at his feet, peering at him with adoration. No longer was Domino’s body solid against mine, but mist.
Frowning, I waved my handthroughhim. He wasn’t mist. I was.
“You’re the solid one, and I’m invisible,” I gasped out.
“Yes.” He bent over to scratch the adorable and increasingly more excited dog behind the ears. “This is Archive.”
“Hello, good boy,” I cooed, wishing I could pet the animal too. Cyrus owned cats who hated me. “You have a charming name.”
“It’s fitting. He helps me shelve books when he isn’t eating my shoes.” Domino stood and strode to a small area with a hutch, where he prepared a bowl of kibble.
As Archive chowed down, the librarian walked to a wall without decorations—then he walked through it.
Reeling, I followed him. One second I was in his bedroom, the next I was standing in a library.Thelibrary. A massive three-story room with thousands upon thousands of leather-bound books meticulously stacked along freshly polished shelves.
