Page 104 of Mantle

Perhaps he was still in shock about the presence of the Wrath of Hades on this plane, and how close somebody had come to accessing it to wield against Ariana—and then him, in all likelihood.

“I didn’t knowyouhad the dagger in your possession. I just knew that you were the last one to lay eyes on it after Draco and Mia fell by it years ago.”

“I had no choice. I couldn’t risk returning a weapon to the Celestial Plane that could be used against my granddaughter—my granddaughter who they wanted on a leash, as you well know.”

“Who they really wanted to eliminate,” Cassius spoke. He shook his head in utter dismay.

“Yes,” Cornelius admitted, heavily. He shoved his hand through his long, silvery hair. “The blade cannot be destroyed. The safest place for it was with me.”

“Or so we thought,” I ground out. “All the while that blade exists, Sylas’ warning can come to pass.”

“We will develop a defense against it,” Cassius spoke. “Mia, Jaxon, and I will incorporate it into our work toward finding a way to break the connection that the Celestial Plane has to the mortal world.”

“Until then, I will bury it beneath cloaking and layers of magic, including the remnants of death magic that we were able to extract from the serum Sylas provided us. It means that another spell like that by Corvin will be repelled.”

“Hurry, Cassius. Because we all know, none of you are safe now that Corvin has acted. He is tied to Ketheronandthe Celestial Plane… beings who can conquer what should not be conquerable. Including layers of cloaking and magic. Find a way to destroy that fucking thing. For Ari, and for all your sakes.”

A heavy look passed between us.

Nods of understanding were exchanged.

And then the hologram faded away.

I shoved a hand through my hair.

Fuck!

I slammed my fist into the bookcase, the hard, solid wood thankfully absorbing the impact. It shook the books, though, and as a couple fell out, a piece of folded parchment slipped from between the pages of one.

I swept the books and the paper off the floor and put one book back in its place on the shelf. But as I went to open the remaining one to reinsert the parchment, I stilled as I caught sight of the scrawled words on the back.

Maven Coven – Legacy Blood Binding.

“Hmm… the fact you found that in amongst all those books says a great deal.”

I spun around with the paper in my hand at the sound of Sylas’ voice.

“You were meant to, it would seem,” he said, as he walked out of the bedroom devoid of his usual swagger. He was weary and clearly also traumatized by Corvin’s brutal attack. “That wasn’t my intention, but sometimes there’s a higher power guiding things—and I don’t mean the Celestial Plane.”

I unfolded the piece of paper and took in what was inside.

Holy. Hades.

Magical markings and formulas, incantations, glyphs… and death magic.

I studied it for several moments.

It couldn’t be.

“I don’t… how did you… how did you even know about this? About my parents binding me to the Maven Coven in this way?”

“Because after we were together that night, I received a warning about you:‘Death is the key. Freedom from the binds of legacy borne from Maven—a Coven without one enslaved.’”

“Why didn’t you come to me with this?”

“Why do you think, Kai?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I would have interpreted that, in my desperation to be free, as needing to literally lay down my life.”

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