Page 233 of The Bonds of Indigo

“I don’t give a fuck what he says.”

“I’m not risking it.” Kai’s tone is final.

It’s during this exchange that I hear footsteps approaching. Amarah and Xeraphine join us, and I wish they’d stayed in their conversation a little longer.

“I’m not good at this girl st—” Xera cuts herself off. “Kai, what’s wrong?”

It doesn’t surprise me that she’s perceptive with him, even if he looks relatively neutral.

He gives her a weak smile and grabs her hand, pulling her down into his lap. “Let’s test out your training, my love.” His gaze lifts to Amarah, who moves to sit slowly between me and Kayn. “It’s Atlas. He wants to talk to you and only you. Pretend you’ve walked away from us, but come sit beside Xera.”

She nods and moves quickly to do as he asks. Kai lifts the phone back to his ear. “Here’s Ivy.”

As he passes the phone to her, the Succubus shifts and leans against Amarah.

Our girl waits for a few silent moments, before putting the cell to her ear.

“Atlas?” There’s worry in every letter of his name as it falls from her mouth. “Yeah… it’s just me.”

I shift between her and Xeraphine, watching their expressions to try and read what’s happening. There’s a blocker on cell phones—specifically for us Dylox—that prevents us from hearing anything unless we’re pressed against them like the girls are. I’m guessing he had Xera do it because she can tell when someone is lying, but Kayn mentioned she can only do that when she sees their aura.

“Please tell me you’re alright…”

Bloody Beyond—no.

I grip Kayn’s wrist, trying to cease him from moving. He nearly reaches for the phone, but it isn’t just me holding him back. Kairhyse has his hand stretched out to stop him.

We all stay quiet; the last thing we want is to put our girl or Atlas in danger on the other end of the call.

“Where?” Her lips tremble as a tear rolls down her cheek. “I’m so sorry… I told you…” She squeezes her eyes shut. “I told you…”

I’m surprised when Xera places her hand on Amarah’s chest, as though keeping her from collapsing forward. Or maybe not. Her hand is right over where Amarah’s heart is. She taps her index finger, like a reminder…

Our girl takes a deep breath. “You know I can’t come alone.” She never looks at us, staying focused entirely on the conversation. “Atlas, you know Kayn. He won’t. They can have it, but I can’t bring it alone.”

The sky above us, once a slate blue, washes red.

I turn and grab Kayn’s jaw, pulling his face to mine. His eyes bleed fully red, the way most Vampires’ do when they overindulge, but this—this is pure rage pulling the blood to the surface.

I shake my head, silently urging him to calm down.

“Alright. They have a deal, but… they aren’t to lay another finger on you. Tell them that, or utramque in speculum mittam. I fucking swear to Vendra herself!” she shouts, and the moment she does, Kairhyse leans over, yanks the phone from her hand, and hangs it up.

“Or I’ll throw both of them into the mirror with her.” Shit…

Kayn immediately grabs Amarah and pulls her into his chest as she screams.

“Little demon?” Kairhyse asks.

“It’s really difficult because I don’t know the guy… but he’s telling the truth from what I can gather.” She sighs. “He’s in trouble.”

Our girl trembles violently, and I stroke her hair just as Kayn looks up at the couple before him. “Where is he?”

Xera hums. “Some warehouse in Ambarka, Nevadia. He said it’s near the hotel you stayed at…” I glance at Amarah, who’s crying uncontrollably and apologizing over and over. “Two Witches have him, and he said they’ve kept him alive in exchange for…” She hesitates—likely because she isn’t sure how to say it.

“Verraketh,” I provide, because there isn’t any other mirror she would threaten them with. There’s no way she’d risk using it unless they’d already brought it up.

“That…” She looks to Kairhyse. “They told her to come alone with it, as you heard.”