Page 154 of The Crown of Nyx

“This will end in a fight,” Damon said, his voice chilling.

I nodded. “It could also end how Rowan foresaw.” A lump formed in my throat as I turned to my mage, who stood off to the other side. Despair lined his features, darkening his hazel eyes as they met mine. “But I can’t let it end how it happened in mine.”

Rowan’s eyes narrowed, and a frown tipped his lips. “What do you mean? What happened in your vision?”

“They had all of you,” I replied quietly. “And you were dead.”

The air washeavy with tension as Maeve, Hawk, and Elias laid out a plan of attack.

It was a jumble of diversions, sneaking around, and getting to the cottage first. We would have to split up into three teams: I would be with Damon and Adrian. The former needed to ensure I was taken back to the forestsafely, and the latter was too weak to be in the diversion teams, but Adrian was more than happy to be with me if it meant he had a chance at going for Dante.

Then there were the two diversion teams. Maeve, Elias, and the shifter were going in one direction to draw the zombie-rats to the village to distract the army.

Hawk, Rowan, and Orion were diversion team two, and they were going to deal with the soldiers on the other side of the village. Setting fires, drawing them away from the ruins—and hopefully Dante.

My stomach tightened. I twisted my fingers in my lap as we gathered around a ring of witch lights that was our version of a fire.

In the early hours of the morning, we would go to war.

I couldn’t get past the feeling that something would go terribly wrong. That we weren’t going to make it out of this one.

Silently, I wove additional charms upon everyone, taking the threads of our bonds and carefully stringing together new protections while staring into the light.

“If anything happens,” I said, glancing up at the others, “get the hell out of here. I mean it. Dante only wants me, and I can’t…I can’t think of a world where any of you aren’t in it.”

The bonds warmed with a ferocious protectiveness, but I held up a hand. “There’s no point in you all being captured. I know what happens to you guys, and it’s death. He’ll keep me alive.” I met each darkening stare; Maeve’s nostrils flared with anger, while Elias clenched his jaw. The desire to refuse was at the tip of everyone’s tongues. Hawk looked away when I met his eye, and although I didn’t know what he was thinking, it was clear he wanted to saysomething.

Damon scoffed, and I met his stare sharply. “I’ll shadow you out before he even has a chance,” the demon king said.

“I want you to get them out, first,” I whispered, my chest aching as I tore my eyes from his to take in Orion, Adrian, and Rowan, who sat around me. “He might hurt me, but I think that’s the worst he’ll do. He can lock me in a cage, whatever, he doesn’t want me dead. But he doesn’t care about you. And he’ll use you against me. I can’t—I can’t risk losing you when you guys can actually do so much to help Avalon survive what’s coming.”

“We have no idea what he’s capable of,” Rowan croaked as he reached for me hesitantly. “Please. Don’t do this.”

“I won’t put my life in unnecessary danger.” If I could avoid being taken by Dante, then I would. Not only could I not leave my mates, but I wouldn’t make my sisters lose someone else they loved. But if I couldn’t be there for them, then at least they still had the team. “But we know what Dante wants.”

Dissent rolled down the bonds; they were angry—pissed we had to come up with a plan that split us up from one another, one that pulled them away from me. There was a reason Damon was with me and not with them, but that also meant they couldn’t protect me from Dante if he did somehow find us.

Tension and silence closed in around us. I went back to staring at the witch lights as pain radiated through me. If Dante found a way to block our bonds again, and they were hurt…

I’d managed to unknowingly save Rowan before our bond even appeared. I had to hope my magic would protect them if I couldn’t.

I wouldn’t be able to help Damon with my magic. But for Hawk and the shifter, at least I knew without being mated, I could still protect them if they were dealt killing blows.

“We can’t assume we’re going to be safe,” Adrian said, voice rough. “Dante has a way to hurt Ivy. He can hurt us, too.”

My stomach dropped as my prince laid his head on my lap. Through the bond, his exhaustion became all too clear as his blocks fell. Running my fingers through his golden hair, I said, “I won’t let him hurt you. Any of you.” I glanced over at the giant shifter, still in his wolf-man form. “You need to know how dangerous he is. He has old magic, the type that can weaken our bonds. There’s a chance he might be able to hurt you, and my magic won’t be able to save you.”

The shifter growled, though he didn’t say a word. It was his idea to draw out the zombie-rats—he said they had a name, but that it meantcursed being. Use his enemies against our shared one. The rats were a blight to his people, and if he could draw as many out to fight our battle, then he saw some use in them.

We also had to find a way to block the road going into the forest. Leave their souls to the witch, Damon said.

The shifter looked at me, and for a moment, something danced in his eyes. Uncertainty, mostly. But not fear. He wasn’t afraid of what was about to happen. Though, neither were my mates. They were more afraid of what would happen tome.

“You are worried about me?” he asked, cocking his large head.

I nodded. No point in lying; whether I liked it or not, he was my mate, too. As sudden as the bond was,neither of us were going to be able to escape it. My magic yearned for him, a pulsing need to be joined.

“My magic has the ability to protect you, even if we aren’t bonded,” I replied. “It saved both Rowan and Adrian before we completed the bonds—before we even knew about them, actually. So, because I recognised the bond with you, I know that if they do hurt you, the bond will protect you, even without being completed. Same goes for Hawk.”

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