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"I'm much better than I was," I answered.
Draven moved a chair closer to the bed and Lyric sat down. "Cas allowed Draven to see what you two experienced. Did you tell her yet?"
My fingernails dug into my palms. "I entered the room a minute before you did, Lyric. I haven't had enough time to tell her anything."
"That's actually good since I'm faster at relaying information. Here's what you missed while you were out of it–"
"Wait," I interrupted. "How long was I out?"
"A couple of hours." Casimir kissed the top of my head and began rubbing circles on my back.
"A little less, even," Lyric added, "so not long. As soon as Cas took off, we immediately secured the pit then came here to check on you. Cas showed us what happened, we all agreed Dolan is a fuckboy who must die. Your mate called dibs but I spoke up on your behalf so he doesn't take that joy from you if you want it."
The blood-thirsty blonde looked at me like she'd asked a question and needed a response.
"Thank you." It was the only thing to say, really.
"I have your back, Ray-Ray. Next, we agreed, as a Council minus Talia and Emile, to allow the two witches we have on the grounds to take a look at the super thoughtful gift the fae-fucks gave us. I mean, can you believe the audacity? Balls of steel, I tell you. Or iron. Or–"
"And who else, Angel?"
Lyric looked up at her mate. She sighed. "And the shifter."
"You let Nik touch the stone?" I blurted incredulously, knowing the memory he’d be pulled into would probably be the one where his own father tried to kill him.
"No, we didn't let anyone touch it just in case it had some other bad juju in it. He sniffed it. The hope was he could pick up on who'd touched it, and maybe how many."
Nik was familiar with a lot of fae, but I didn't know how many of the court he'd ever come into contact with. "Did he pick up someone he knew?"
"Oh yeah. There were two distinct fae scents. The evil queen's, of course, and one other he couldn't identify. Though, that's not all that surprising compared to what Vera told us."
A chill scuttled down my neck. "What did Vera have to say about it?"
"You tell her, Draven. I need water."
Draven watched his mate retrieve one of the stored jars of water from inside a cabinet, as though he were waiting for something to jump out and attack. Though subtle, the action sparked a heavy dose of guilt to burgeon and settle heavily upon my chest, far more cutting than Dolan's knife.
What the hell was I doing, allowing them to take any sort of risks when this was my problem? I couldn’t allow that to happen again.
"Cousin?" Casimir prompted when Draven had let the silence settle for a beat too long.
Draven's regard reluctantly left his mate. "Vera recognized the spell."
I sat up straighter. "As in, the fae who created it?"
"No. As in the Dianic witch who created it."
Blood rushed to my head. "Did Sersha pay one of them for a spell that would harm me?"
Draven looked at Casimir, whose arms tightened around me.
"Tell me, Draven. Delaying won't make it any easier."
"Circe. It was Circe’s spell."
My pulse hammered, pushing blood through my body and heating my skin. My mouth went dry.
"Circe.” The name tasted like ash on my tongue.
