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Her skin itched; her stomach dropped. Ari’s calls filled the air, much stronger now and so hard to resist.
Then Devon’s deep rumble of a voice broke over Ari’s screams. “Is Arkimedes B. Valeron the one opening the portals for the Zorren?”
Wait. That wasn’t the question they needed answers to.
“No!” Nava screamed. The surge that blasted through the room in the next instant cut her words off, rattling the glass cases and blowing loose parchment from the tables.
Devon snarled, holding the glowing sphere aloft with both hands. His long black hair fluttered behind him, blown out of his face by the force of the magic from the artifact.
Arkimedes strode toward his brother. Was he readying himself to intervene if needed? The sphere’s outer edges still glowed in a silver shade, but it was turning bright red at its center.
Nava didn’t know how long they stood there, paralyzed by the intensity of its power. Of an old magic that smelled so similar to her own.
Then one of Devon’s hands fell away from the glowing ball, dangling lifelessly at his side. His eyes glowed bright white. “No mortal can stay in Dargan’s world and speak the demon’s tongue,” Devon said in a distorted voice, and from a far shelf, a book flew out and landed with a bang on the floor.
Its pages flapped like a fan, moved by air that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.
Devon gasped, his body shaking.
Arkimedes’s wings popped out of his back, and he flew forward just as Devon stumbled and placed Vulcan on its pedestal—and then dropped like a dead weight.
Time slowed as Arkimedes’s immense wings closed in around his brother’s body. He slid across the polished floor, barely getting underneath Devon before his head hit the hard ground.
For a long moment, the rustle of paper settling on the floor was the only sound in the room beyond the fast beat of Nava’s heart. Then Arkimedes rose, carrying an unconscious Devon to a settee beside the blue door. He placed him against its cushions and turned to Nava. Shame twisted his features as he averted his eyes.
Anger bloomed hot in her stomach. How could Devon believe that Arkimedes had done it? They’d talked it through in the kitchen. This had not been the plan.
Undoubtedly, Arkimedes needed some space to lick his wounds and make peace with his brother’s actions. Nava had to keep herself busy so she wouldn’t swoop in and try to console him. To reassure him that she believed he was good…
She also needed to resist the urge to smother Devon with a pillow. So instead, she turned to the book that had fallen to the floor. This was the answer to a useless question the god’s artifact had given them.
10
ORION
Orion didn’t know how long he stood there, unmoving. He breathed deeply, trying to quiet the whispers from his shadows. To ignore the sting of betrayal.
A part of him wanted to give in to the anger simmering in the pit of his stomach, threatening to boil over. Why would Devon think he was capable of causing this disaster and hurting Nava or Aristaeus?
Orion always feared he was teetering on the edge of some wicked act. His nature demanded it. But he tried to rise above the darkness of his power. To not take life for granted, not for a moment.
And he loved, fervently. This world, and especially Nava.
He’d told Devon while they were training what they needed from the mirror: a way to shut the portals permanently. Devon shouldn’t—couldn’t—use the Vulcan again or it would poison him.
Even if they had access to the Society’s potion, they wouldn’t be able to ask another question for at least half a year. Fuck, they were in trouble. Orion dragged his eyes over his brother’s unmoving body, and his heart ached. It shouldn’t hurt this badly…but it did.
“Ark,” Nava called from the other end of the room. She was kneeling by the book on the ground, her arms draped over her legs, not touching the pages.
He made it back to her in a few strides. Better to mask his disappointment with something that would bring her hope. “Is the book useful?” he asked, leaning forward to glance at the ancient book, its parchment thin and waxy.
She raised her head to meet his eyes. A crinkle appeared in between her brows. “It seems to be about the history of our world. Not sure how it can help?”
Orion grabbed the book, turning it around so he could read the elegant calligraphy.
The Creation of the Kingdoms:
The people of Caztian destroyed the land. They murdered and burned the land. The gods were angry and caused all that once was alive to perish.
