Page 43 of Shadowed Spirits

They shake all three of their heads, but Bear is the one to answer.“We cannot. The souls are no longer on this plane.”

I swallow hard, unsure if I really want to know the answer to my next question. “Where do they go?”

“To the River Styx, like the rest of the condemned souls!”Russ informs me excitedly.

That sounds pretty fitting for Doyle. “Where do normal souls go?”

“Average souls go to the Asphodel Meadows, and exceptional souls go to the Elysian Fields. Both are where souls await reincarnation into another life.The condemned souls spend eternity trapped in limbo in the River Styx. Since you have the power to send souls there, you may hear the cries of the condemned when you’re near the Styx,”Cer informs me.

Well, that answers why the Styx whispers to me. I just hope I didn’t send Daniel to the Styx. His pure soul is the furthest thing from what should be there.

I open my mouth to ask another question when Levi lets out a pained chuckle as he ignores me and pushes until he’s sitting upright. “I’m fine, little raven. It’s barely even an injury.” He lifts his black shirt to show me a massive bruise covering his left side, from his ribs to just above his dark jeans. It’s an angry red that stands out against his olive-toned skin. “My magic deflected most of it. While the hit knocked the wind out of me, it didn’t do any damage.”

I scoff at him. “A massive-ass bruise isn’t hardly an injury. Are you sure nothing’s broken?”

“I’m positive. I’ve had many broken ribs and bones in my lifetime, and this isn’t one of them. I wouldn’t have bruised if my magic were at full strength. It’ll be gone by tomorrow.” He pushes to his feet and offers me a hand up. Shaking my head, I don’t take it and stand up on my own. Levi looks around the room and lets out a low whistle. “I assume they’re all dead?”

I wince as I look around the room because all the guards and Doyle do, in fact, look super dead. “Oops?” I offer with awhat can you doshrug. While I’m not sorry to see Doyle dead, that’s going to be a huge problem.

“Why do you think you ripped out their souls?” Archer asks as he walks around, curiously inspecting the guards lying prone on the floor.

“Because I did it once before and this felt similar. Cerberus seems to agree with me too.” While stealing people’s souls sounds cool and all, I have no idea how I do it. That’s a pretty serious magic to have no control over. The last thing I want to do is start ripping out innocent souls, like I did with Daniel. I grit my teeth as I think about my childhood best friend, but I push away the memories because now is not the time. “What the hell are we going to do about this mess? I doubt we have much time before Dad’s distraction stops working.”

“We have to get rid of the bodies. Maybe we can take them back to our house and deal with them there?” Luca sharply assesses the council chamber littered with dead mages, and I can see the wheels turning in his head as he tries to figure out what to do about this mess that’s entirely of my making.

Levi shakes his head. “I can deal with them here. We just need to make sure Doyle doesn’t have anything useful on him.” Red magic pours out of him and creeps over the ground toward each guard. When it reaches the first guard, the magic slowly crawls over him. The guard dissolves into tiny particles as the magic moves through him. Once Levi’s power is finished with the guard, there’s nothing left.

I gape at Levi’s magic before tearing my gaze away and starting toward Doyle. “That’s another problem. How are we going to find Lua now, with Doyle dead?”

I don’t get very far before Bishop’s arm snakes out to wrap around my waist. “Stay,” he orders as he moves toward the dais Doyle is slumped over.

“I’m not a dog, you know,” I call to his retreating back. Some days, I wish I were a golden retriever living the good life, with nothing to worry about other than treats, pets, and toys. Alas, ’twas not meant to be so. Maybe in the next life.

Bishop turns his baby blues on me. They’re burning with heat as he drags his gaze over me. “I’m aware, sweetheart. I alsoknow you can handle this, but you shouldn’t have to.” When he reaches Doyle, he shoves him roughly back in his seat. After patting him down and going through his pockets, Bishop jogs back to us with a notebook and a keyring.

I watch with morbid fascination as Levi’s magic disposes of the twenty-five guards and Doyle, like they were never here to begin with. Unlike dissolving bodies with drain cleaner, I’m pretty sure Levi’s method leaves no trace, so that’s one thing that’s gone right today.

“Doyle’s office will probably be our best shot at finding Lua. The notebook is written in code, and I don’t know what the keys unlock.” Bishop looks like he wants to chuck the book and keys across the room, he’s so frustrated.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. It’s my fault he’s in this mess to begin with.

Bishop closes his eyes for a long moment before opening them to stare at me blandly. “Sorry for losing my cool, Izzy.”

I frown at him. It’s like he shoved all his emotions behind a curtain to pretend to be okay. “Don’t do that.” I always thought Bishop just had it more together than I do. I’m a shit best friend and mate that I never realized how much he stuffs himself down to be there for me because I’m such a hot mess.

He tilts his head in confusion. “Do what?”

“Whatever the hell just happened.” I gesture with one hand at his disturbingly emotionless face. “I don’t want you to hide from me or make yourself smaller because I’m so damn dysfunctional.”

“You’re not dysfunctional,” he growls as he invades my space. Whatever calm he managed to find is gone now. I gulp as I stare up at his intense expression. His mouth kicks up in a cruel smirk as he takes in my nervous movements. “Trust me, sweetheart. You don’t want to see all of me. At least, not yet and probably not ever.”

I scowl at him. “Bold of you to assume what I want, St. James. Have you ever tried, I don’t know, asking me? For all your talk about me letting you in, were you ever planning to do the same for me?”

Bishop wraps his hand around the back of my neck and tilts my head back so I’m forced to look at him. “That’s not fair and you know it, Isabel. I let you in plenty, and I don’t keep any secrets I don’t have to. I’m who you need me to be, and that’s never been the darkest version of myself. You don’t need to see all the violent, bloody, and cruel things I’ve had to do to keep us safe.”

I jerk out of his hold, and surprisingly, he lets me. “Keeping secrets isn’t letting me in, St. James! You’re a fucking hypocrite if you’re asking me to bare all the parts of me that I hate to you guys while you keep an entire other personality from me.” I’m shouting at him at this point, but it’s hard to care when I’m drowning in hurt that he doesn’t trust me or believe I’m strong enough to share all of himself with me.

I know I hit a sore spot when he flinches minutely, and I feel terrible. Hurting Bishop has never been the goal, but hurting others seems to be what I do best. I don’t have time to wallow in it because his expression hardens as he leans down to snarl, “Call me a hypocrite again and see what happens, sweetheart.”

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