AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Another reminder of the family his father had stolen from him. He could keep the reality of him regaining his memories to himself, so it wouldn’t detract from the bigger problems at hand. But he craved honesty between them. Her happiness was the most important thing.
“I bet Cameron will like it here. There are creatures neither of you have ever seen before.”
Nava nodded and then froze. Her eyes widened as she seemed to realize what his words meant, but she didn’t say a thing. Instead, she threw herself at him across the old book, barely giving him a chance to catch her.
She laced her fingers behind his neck and crushed her lips to his in a bruising kiss. He could taste the salt from the tears that were streaming down her cheeks on her tongue.
The kiss was too short. She withdrew and hiccuped before taking a deep breath. “How much do you remember?”
“Not everything. Just fragments. But they’re coming back faster now that I’m away from the castle and my father.”
She ran her hands over her face, wiping away all traces of her tears. Then she flashed him a blinding smile. Now they only had to defeat the man in the shadows before the Zorren destroyed the kingdom. It seemed easy enough, with her looking at him like that.
“When can Devon use the mirror again?” Nava settled on her knees, wincing as she spotted the wrinkled pages of the book wedged between them. She flattened her palms over them again and again, attempting to get rid of the creases, but all to no avail.
Orion sighed, glancing at Devon’s pale form on the settee. His chest was rising and falling with slow, shallow breaths.
“We can’t use the Vulcan again,” he said, and the burning frustration returned like an old foe that had never left him. “It will kill Devon. Or hurt him very badly.”
“So Devon ruined our chance to learn how to stop the man in the shadows and all we got out of it was a useless history lesson?”
Well, when she put it like that…perhaps hurting his brother wasn’t such a bad idea. But maybe all wasn’t lost. Devon had asked the wrong question, but the mirror had given them one useful answer. Even if it wasn’t the one they’d been looking for.
“No mortal can stay in Dargan’s world and speak the demon’s tongue,” he repeated.
It made little sense why this book had flown over to them when Devon had asked whether Arkimedes was the one opening the portals. Nevertheless, the Vulcan had answered clearly by speaking through Devon’s lips.
It couldn’t possibly be Orion because he was mortal.
Whoever Nava had encountered in Dargan’s realm was immortal, able to stay in Dargan’s realm and talk to demons.
“He is an emissary of the gods.” The words left his lips before the thought had fully formed in his mind. He looked up to see Nava’s blank expression and grabbed the book from the floor, carrying it to the nearest table.
She scrambled after him. “A what?”
“Emissaries are the messengers of the gods. They walk both this world and their realms and deliver the gods’ messages to the royals.”
Orion found the sentence he was looking for. He reread it, his heart lurching in his chest.
The benevolent gods accepted the leaders’ offerings but demanded one last gift of sacrifice from all rulers. In return, they would grant their bloodlines great power.
“A gift of sacrifice.” He pointed at the swirls of ancient calligraphy. “The Society of Crows believes the emissaries are magic-wielders. That families across the world offer sacrifice to the gods to gain something holy.”
“So…you think the shadow man is a sacrifice to the God of Shadows?” Nava’s voice came out strained, but she nodded as if it made sense. “If that’s the case, then he has to be your kin, not a shapeshifting demon.”
They stared at each other in silence. Orion knew with a terrifying certainty what Nava was thinking.
What if the man in the shadows was Orion’s twin brother?
Maybe that was the reason his mother had whisked him away? Perhaps she hadn’t realized what would happen until it was too late, and in her terror at losing one child, she’d wanted Arkimedes as far away from his father’s reach as possible.
“If he’s an emissary of the God of Shadows, Nava, it would explain why he was there each time you crossed.”
“How are we supposed to defeat him if we can’t kill him?” Her face twisted with shame, and she swallowed hard. “I mean…I don’t mean we have to kill your blood brother, but?—”
“He’s trying to kill you,” Orion growled. “I will do anything—and I mean that—to protect you.” The words burned in his mouth, and dread squeezed his throat tightly.
But how? Without the Vulcan, they wouldn’t be able to get a straightforward answer to that question, and finding another mirror was nigh on impossible.
