Page 84 of Wicked Thirst
The room went black, cutting off whatever Kylian was about to say. Shadows of creeping spiders covered the walls of the library and crawled up toward the ceiling. They weren’t small, average spiders. No, these were huge with legs as long and thick as my own. Webs dangled down from the ceiling and fell all around us like curtains.
“Always with the dramatics, Mom,” Adrienne grumbled.
Astrid gave a visible shudder and stepped closer to Beckett. “I hate spiders.”
A shadow slowly dropped down from the ceiling. My first reaction was to kill it with fire, but then I realized it wasn’t a spider at all. It was a woman who was exotically beautiful. Her skin was as dark as night with a golden shimmer all over it. Her hair was cut short to her head, and a gold diadem came to a small point between her eyes. Her lips were full and so red I thought she might’ve been eating cherries. Her dress was impeccable, with thick golden straps that held up a loose-fitting, shiny golden dress that pooled around her feet. She held on to the webs and used them to drop down in front of us.
She narrowed her eyes at Astrid. “And they feel the same way about you. Rightly so, I might add.”
“I still maintain my innocence.” Astrid held her hands up in surrender.
“Do you?” She pursed her lips. “Perhaps?—”
“—Mommm, please,” Adrienne cut her off.
My eyes widened in realization. This was Athena in all her perfection and glory. Power rolled off her in waves, yet she was so much calmer than Morpheus. In total control.
Adrienne pointed toward the book in front of them. “Can you please help us translate this?”
“Yes.” She didn’t look at the words, she just stared at Adrienne.
“What’s it going to cost me?” Adrienne sighed.
“Is it so wrong for a mother to want to spend time with her daughter?” Athena pressed her hand to her chest, trying to sound so innocent. She batted her eyelashes and ducked her chin shyly.
What an act. It was almost perfect the way she phrased her request and made herself look so innocent. . . almost. If it didn’t visibly make Adrienne so uncomfortable the act might’ve worked.
“Fine, I’ll extend my trip this summer by two weeks in exchange for this one page.” She slid the book toward her mother.
Athena didn’t look down at it. “Three weeks. You clearly need a lesson in ancient translations.”
“Deal.” She shoved the book right in front of Athena. “Now what does it say?”
Athena glanced down at it, then waved her hand over it. The words and images moved on the page. She placed a long, elegant finger on the page and suddenly the spell was written in modern English. “That should help. You see this symbol here? The circle with the shapes in it? It needs to be drawn on the ground of the cell you wish to keep your vampire in. You’ll need salt, bone grindings, and blood of his own. Plus, all the powers of the Queens. It will take quite a bit of magic to pull this off.”
“Can he be moved once he’s trapped?” I needed to know where exactly this was going to happen, because there was only one place Grayson should be in this state . . . The House of Shade.
“No, go to the dungeon you want to trap him in. Guardians outside the cell. Witches inside the locked cell. Make a circle as directed in this picture. Witches stand outside of the circle of course. Unless you want to be trapped within the circle with him. Which I don’t think you do. Then perform the spell as directed. You’ll need all the Witch Queens for it to work.”
I pulled my cell from the pocket of my jeans and fired off a text to Moira. ‘Prepare the cell. We’re bringing our guy home.’
Zinnia glanced down at the book. “Nova is trapped in the underworld and won’t be allowed out for this.”
Athena shrugged and motioned toward me. “Piper can represent death as she’s already died once and is still kind of dead. Summon your vampire and he’ll be trapped within that circle. Seems simple enough.”
Grayson had slipped past us so many times. I needed to make sure this time it would keep hold of him. “Can the circle be broken?”
Athena barely looked at me as she spoke, as though it pained her to explain things. She held her chin up higher and gazed down her nose at me. “Who has more power than all of you? No one. So, no. Unless The Fallen want him . . . But if that’s the case, you’re screwed regardless.”
“She does have a point.” Tucker crossed his arms over his chest. “We’re all in on this. We need to help Gray.”
Athena didn’t acknowledge his words. She only turned toward Adrienne. “Three additional weeks.”
“A deal is a deal, Mother.” She didn’t look happy about the prospect of being trapped with her mother. Judging how cold and exacting she was, I really couldn’t blame her.
My phone buzzed with Moira’s response. ‘The cell is ready.’
I shoved it into my back pocket and looked at all the Guardians and Queens that had come this far to help him and were willing to do more. I sucked in a deep breath, feeling the first threads of hope. Maybe we could help him, maybe we could break this curse, and maybe I would get my love back.
