Page 1 of Left Hand of the Divine
Prologue
Erebus
The door closed behind me, sealing me in a darkness of my own making. My heart still grieved; each beat was a painful thud in my chest as I stepped further into the shadows. My footsteps echoed down the stone corridor as I walked deeper into the heart of the Vault.
My final resting place.
I scoffed at that. I was never going to rest, never going to be at peace until I united with my other half.
I could feel the magic of this place weaving itself into my being. As if it were being stitched into my soul, becoming a part of me. I had never been down here before, but somehow I now knew every corner of it, intimately knew every twist and turn, every dead end, every brick, and every creature that lived down here. I was now the Master of this place, and everything down here would obey my commands.
I stepped into the centre of the Vault. A huge room with a domed roof. Floating above me was a night sky, and my heart broke anew.
“Soon, my love,” I whispered to the stars. “Soon we will be together again.”
I had to hold onto that hope, however small it may be, because without it, madness would claim me. Without her, I’d slowly lose myself until I became nothing but a mere shadow of the man that I was.
I reached into my bag and pulled out her Diadem. Her presence still lingered within the gems, and it brought me a modicum of comfort, knowing that I could still feel her essence, but it was like an echo. She was everything. Bright and beautiful and so much more than the remnants I could feel in her Diadem.
I placed the jewelled crown on the pedestal beneath the stars and prayed that we had done the right thing. That all this heartache and suffering would be worth it in the end. And, as I turned my back on my stars, I vowed to destroy the Gods for parting us.
One day, we would return, and we would be unstoppable.
Chapter One
Roux
“Hello, little thief. I’ve been waiting for you.”
My body froze in the darkness as that deep, smoky voice whispered against my skin like a physical caress. “You guys all heard that, right?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Thane said slowly.
Atticus stepped beside me, his unusual eyes glowing like two small nebulas in the darkness. “Who is he referring to as ‘little thief’?”
Recognition hit me with those words, but I couldn’t place why. The voice sounded familiar. I closed my eyes to try and chase the memory, but it was like trying to reach for the moon. It was so far out of reach that it was unattainable.
Rough hands wrapped around my face, and I opened my eyes to a pair of bright red orbs and alabaster skin. “Magnus?”
“You were whimpering a little,” he said, his handsome face close to mine. His dark brows were pulled low into a frown as his gaze roamed my face. “What is it?”
“I… I think I’ve been here before.” I pushed more death magic into my scythe—which was actually Thane’s scythe but in my care for now while he was under investigation for stealing souls—and stepped back from Magnus. The runes carved into the handle of the scythe glowed brighter as more of my magic flowed through it.
A corridor built from large white marble blocks stretched further than I could see in either direction, disappearing into thick dense shadows that the light didn’t seem to be able to penetrate. I was staring into the maw of a void. An endless pool of nothingness just waiting to swallow us whole.
“What do you mean you’ve been here before?” Rafe growled.
His eyes were bright amber, reflecting the light in the darkness. Normally, they were a vivid blue, but he must be calling his hound to the surface to use its night vision. Not sure that would make any difference down here, to be honest. The darkness didn’t look… normal. It looked too dark to be natural.
I stepped towards it, approaching it with caution. “I mean, I think I’ve been down here before.”
“Is this like when you were in the forest?” Rayne asked, reminding me of that familiar sensation I’d felt when we had approached the Mansion of Night.
The feeling of cominghome.
“Yes,” I said, as I walked closer to the darkness.
Atticus placed his hand on my arm. “Be careful, kitten. We don’t know what or who this is.”
