Page 87 of The Crown of Nyx

“Welcome to the space between worlds,” Damon said.

Wind howled around us, lifting my hair and whipping it around my face. This time when the males either side of me closed in, I didn’t think much of it.

Dark clouds filled the sky. As soon as the words left Damon’s lips, the sky opened up with rain.

We stood somewhere familiar this time, though. I recognised the landscape. Dark rock from the volcano spread out around us. When I looked over my shoulder, I caught sight of its dark silhouette against the grey sky. To our right was the ocean, waves crashing against the rocky shore with a vengeance.

I wrapped my arms around myself as the rain ripped into me. Each drop was hard against my skin, almost cutting through the fabric of my gear like glass.

Damon stood at the front of our group. For the first time, I noticed a hint of exhaustion on his features. The rain should have been enough for me not to be able to see him at all. It came down hard and fast, crashing into us. In the distance, thunder rumbled and lightning—violet like my magic—cracked across the black sky.

The demon king met my stare. “I’ll need you for this next jump,” he said. No amusement, no exaggeration. Just a simple statement.

My heart rate picked up as he held out his hand. Warnings came from all my bonds. Elias and Maeve wanted to keep me from taking his hand. Adrian tightened his hold on me as Rowan moved in closer behind me with Hawk.

“You said you could get us there,” I said, raising my voice to be heard over the pounding rain and the howling wind. “Why do you need me?”

“You are the key to enter the Old World, my Queen,” he replied. “The balance between all the worlds. Not just Avalon, Faery, and the Underworld. But the Old World only opens to you. It was your magic that closed the doorway. It must be your magic that opens it again.”

Then how the hell is Dante going to enter?I thought, looking away. I glanced at the raging ocean with a frown. If I was the only person with the power to open the doorway, then how was he supposed to be getting in? I doubted Damon was wrong. The demon was over three thousand years old and remembered a time before there was even a Queen of Nyx. He’d outlived everyone but the Goddess Herself.

So, he couldn’t be wrong about this.

Turning back to him, I tried to get a feel for what my magic wanted. But it agreed with him. It knew what he said was the truth.

A cold chill ran down my spine.

Dante can reach the Old World because he has a fraction of my magic.The realisation hit me hard. The mage. He’d admitted as much in the club. I shot Damon a wide-eyed look.

“He used the training room explosion,” Orion said, glancing at me sharply from where he stood beside me. “That was why he and my father were planning it. Why they were unconcerned until I mentionedhim.” He pointed behind me at Hawk, who stiffened.

“What’s wrong?” Elias growled, turning to face me. “What is it?”

“If Damon is right, I’m supposed to be the only person able to enter the Old Word,” I whispered. “But then why am I so worried about Dante?”

“Because he has a part of you that can also enter,” Maeve replied, looking from me to Orion. “And you didn’t know?”

The Fae male beside me shook his head. “No.”

I glanced back at Damon, who pursed his lips. He still had his hand outstretched. “You’re absolutely sure?” I asked, mind racing. I hadn’t paid much attention to itbefore, to what the mage told me, because it hadn’t made much sense then.

But now it did.

He was planning for this all along.

“Yes,” he said simply.

“Then I trust you.” There was no fight from the others as I moved to stand in front of the demon. They followed close behind me, keeping to my back.

I held my breath as I placed my hand in his. The tattoo binding us glowed as it formed between us.

The shadows rose, larger and darker, to wrap around our group.

And this time, when the darkness consumed us, I thought about the connection my magic had with the different realms under Nyx. The death and demons of the Underworld. The life and magic of Avalon. Even the ancient power that came from Faery.

I pulled all of that into me as I thought about the one land I never thought I would see.

The place where my magic had been born. Where the rift formed, and Nyx chose her first Queen.

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