Now, Goibniu’s hidden volcanic forge was long dormant.
But, there had been other times. Times when Kyan had come across beings so powerful and enigmatic that he’d known they weremore. Whether they were forgotten gods, he didn’t know. The tales claim that divinities left the world to humans and creatures long ago. There were many stories to explain what might have happened. One claimed they’d left the world protected by Empyreals.
But … was he to believe gods were still here? That they would do something like let an organisation like the Wake rise to power?
No, he was certain no gods still walked this earth.
But that didn’t mean this Druid thought the same. Not when the other thread of Freya’s last clue returned to Kyan’s mind.
‘If there’s a chance,’ Kyan said, ‘even the slightest, that this Druid is still able to contact the gods, then perhaps they could contact the God of Oaths.’
Perhaps they could be the key to bringing down the Wake.
Perhaps that was the reason the Wake wanted them dead in the first place.
Callum shook his head softly. His eyes, usually glittering with mirth or scheming intelligence, were filled instead with the strangest look of – grief?
It was gone in an instant, replaced by charm.
‘So what’s it going to be? The Druid or Nicole?’ Callum asked.
The answer rang through Kyan’s entire body. ‘Both. I can’t let Logan kill the last Druid, just as I can’t let the Wake take Nicole.’
‘And if you find the Druid, will you kill them?’
Could he?
Obviously, hecould. If the Druid was in the middle of killing someone, his body would have no choice. But he wasn’t sure he could bear it, not if they were the last of their people.
‘Maybe they’re actually dangerous,’ Kyan said.
‘Is that what you believe?’
Anger and confusion whipped through him. ‘I don’t know what to believe! I’d hoped maybe—’ Heat burned his throat. Grief, regret.
He should have been faster. He should have had his mind on his family. Should have acted on the intuition that whispered about thewrongnessbrewing in the background of the battle that distracted him from their plight.
‘If the Wake knew it was us who’d broken into the lab, why wouldn’t they just bring me in and kill me?’
Callum’s eyes glinted. ‘Why indeed? But first things first: we get the blood of the “Huntbringer” to a Vampire, then find the Palmers.’
‘We?’
His friend’s brow rose. ‘You didn’t think I’d let you rediscover my favourite new troublemakers without me, did you?’
‘You just want to piss off Dylan.’
Callum’s grin burned away the darkness in his eyes like a celestial echo. ‘What can I say? You know me well.’
‘All right, Vampires first. Do you know someone?’ Kyan started to pace. He knew a few creatures that dabbled in supernatural medicine,but they needed someone who could read the secrets of the blood and not tell another soul.
Callum shook his head. ‘I don’t like our options. Any one of them could be bought.’
A name surfaced in Kyan’s mind and the realisation on his face must have been clear.
‘I don’t like him,’ Callum said immediately.
‘You just don’t like that he can see through your bullshit, and your charm never works on him.’
