Page 6 of Left Hand of the Divine
“Roux!” I shouted, but she was unconscious, her face pinched in pain. What the hell was that?
I shook her gently and patted her face. “Come on, Roux. Wake up.”
“What the hell happened?” Rafe snarled as he dropped next to me. I glanced over my shoulder, noting the other Lycaon had fled with the other beast.
“I don’t know. She touched the wolf and then collapsed.”
Rafe’s eyes darkened as he snarled in my face. “You let her touch the wolf?”
“Hey!” I snapped as I twisted my fingers in the front of his t-shirt and pulled him towards me. “Watch it, pup. I didn’tlether do anything.”
He held my gaze firmly, trying to force me to submit, but I wasn’t going to let him. I pushed a little bit more of my power into my gaze to get him to back down. Surprisingly, he held my staredespite how uncomfortable it was clearly making him feel. His jaw clenched, and I could almost hear his teeth grinding.
I directed a little more power towards him, knowing full well that I could push him into a sleep filled with nightmares if I wanted to. He knew it too. Eventually, his gaze stuttered, and he blinked and looked at the floor.
I was being an asshole; I knew that, but we didn’t have time for dick measuring contests.
I scooped Roux up into my arms and headed towards the door.
“What are you doing?” Thane asked as I walked by him. He was still in his Reaper form, and it was unsettling to look at. I was a nightmare demon, but the God of Death made me feel small and insignificant. It was also difficult to reconcile this version of Thane with the aloof, adorable and sometimes naïve version of him.
A prickle of heat curled low in my belly as I stared at him. We were soulbonded, which was a fancy way of saying our life forces were connected for eternity. I had been at death’s door, and I’d requested the Death Rights, but instead of just saving me, Death had claimed me as his own. We were still figuring out what that meant, and since neither of us had been in a soulbond before, it was going to be an interesting journey. Especially since we could feel what each other felt.
“I’m walking into the next room in the hope that there is some more light, or at least somewhere to lay her down where she’s not on the floor,” I said, answering his question before stepping over the threshold into the next room.
It wasn’t exactly bright in here, but I was relieved to see there were none of those wisps of shadow lingering and darkening everything. It was filled with all sorts of items. Furniture, chests, suits of armour. On the far wall was a shelving unit full of glowing jars and floating orbs. It would probably be wise to avoid that particular corner. What little I knew of bottled magic was that it was temperamental and explosive.
“Over here,” Magnus called out as he cleared a table that had been littered with old papers and scrolls.
I placed Roux down onto the surface gently and brushed her hair from her face. She whimpered and moaned, and her eyes moved rapidly behind her eyelids. What the hell had her in its grip?
“What is this place?” Rayne asked, his voice echoing around the large room. I found it strange that I could tell them apart so easily without even looking at them. When I’d first met them, it had been impossible, and I hadn’t had any inclination to try and work them out. They’d been assholes, and I was pretty sure they’d sabotaged the coffee machine just to fuck with me. But everything changed when I mated with Roux. I became part of their little unit, and I was starting to enjoy messing with them. Part of me wanted to see how much I could put them through before they broke. They interested me in a way that nobody had before, and that was a dangerous thing. The last time I’d had an obsession, it didn’t turn out well at all.
For them.
“Judging by the combination of highly dangerous objects and artefacts, I’d say we were in the heart of the Vault,” Thane said matter-of-factly as he shed his Reaper form.
“No shit, Sherlock,” I chuckled.
Thane frowned at me like he didn’t understand, and I had to hold back a smile. I was starting to learn that Thane didn’t understand sarcasm and had the habit of taking everything literally.
“What do you think used to be here?” Rafe asked as he stood staring at a tall pedestal in the centre of the room. It was waist-height and had a dark red velvet cushion with gold braiding perched on top.
Light glittered and shimmered above Rafe as he stared at the empty display. I followed the little shafts of twinkling lights upwards until my gaze rested on the high domed ceiling. Set into the roof were hundreds of tiny stars that flickered and glowed like a real night sky. “I think that’s where the Diadem should be.”
“How can you tell?” Magnus asked.
“Because it was set beneath the stars.”
Rayne went to stand next to his twin. “Where’s it gone, then?”
“It would appear that our mysterious thief actually stole it,” I said as I peered up at the stars. There was something bothering me about the stars. They didn’t look right, but I couldn’t quite figure out what was wrong with them.
“Do you think it was Roux?” Thane mused as his shoulder brushed against mine, electricity zipping through me where we connected.
“It’s entirely possible,” I replied, glancing back at her over my shoulder. “But if she stole it, why can’t she remember?”
Thane’s blue eyes met mine. “And where is the Diadem now?”
