Page 63 of Queen of the Crimson Throne

“Let’s keep going.” She shrugged out of my hold and nodded toward Lennox. “Luka and Lennox got the tower up.”

I turned to find the pair staring up at the column of flames balancing on Lennox’s palm.

“Well, that’ll do it,” I murmured.

We walked forward, straining our ears for directions from Declan. Maybe we wouldn’t be able to hear him through the mist after all.

“Keep straight.” His deep voice came from faintly above.

Kara let out a sigh. “Worried about bird boy?” I elbowed her.

“You weren’t?” The tone in her voice was cutting—a rarity coming from Kara.

“To the east.” Was his next direction.

We all shifted slightly, Lennox and her flames guiding us from the front with Luka by her side. Lennox might be determined to keep Luka at bay, but he was determined to stay by her side. Lennox stumbled slightly, her foot hitting a small rock. She righted herself, but not before Luka’s hand reached out, grasping her arm.

She gave him a tight-lipped smile before continuing. Luka released her arm, his hand flexed by the small of her back before moving back to his side.

“A little more to the east.”

We shifted again. “Now continue forward.”

We continued through the mist.

“Stop.” The mist swirled around us as the sound of Declan’s wings drew closer before he dropped to a crouch beside us, the mist parting around him.

“Well, that wasn’t dramatic at all,” Nico said.

“From what I could tell this looked like the center of the bowl. The entire area is shrouded in mist.”

“Nico, you still have my pack?”

“You know it.” He set the pack beside me and I opened it, pulling out my relics.

“You’re going to do a spell?” Lennox asked.

I looked up from where I knelt. “I need your and Kara’s help too.”

Kara knelt next to Lennox. “Tell us what you need us to do.”

“My hope is if we all combine our power, it will amplify our ability to sense which cave is the entrance. And if we use my half of the spellbook as a beacon, it should help our magic search for the other half.”

“Seems easy enough,” Lennox said.

“Is it dangerous?” Luka peered over Lennox’s shoulder.

“I’m not using Ichor Magic,Your Highness. You can back off, I’m not putting your bride at risk.”

I didn’t look up from the bowl I was mixing the ingredientsin. I had no desire to see the scathing looks they were both throwing my way. If they wanted to live in ignorance, fine, but I wasn’t going to play into their game.

“I need some of both of your blood in the bowl.” I directed the sisters. Lennox didn’t hesitate, pricking her finger with the tip of her dagger before handing it off to Kara. Lennox let the blood pooling at the tip of her finger drop into the bowl as Kara repeated the action before handing the blade to me.

“Lennox, can you ignite the bowl?” With the flick of her fingers, the bowl erupted into flames. I placed the blazing bowl on top of my half of the book. The mixture hissed, sending up a plume of smoke that moved to mix with the mist above us.

“Ready?” Lennox, Kara, and I joined hands.

I closed my eyes, inhaling the scent of the smoldering offerings before I started my chant.

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