Chapter 41

G ideon was glad that his mother had stayed behind at the campsite with Lorta and Kaydence. It wasn't the most comfortable journey to the Temple of the Gods when the newest joke of the clan was that his brother and Emara had destroyed a tent consummating their marriage. And to top off his splendid situation, Sybil was ignoring him now too.

He had witnessed the disappointment in her eyes as she stood in the clearing with her rugs, ready to go stargazing. It had shifted something in him that was confusing and brutal. How Sybil had been so far off about his relationship with the Empress of Air had frustrated him a bit too, but he knew it was his fault for not being clear.

Yes, it was complicated, and he couldn't just switch off how he once felt. He still cared for Emara. But his heart had eased up on the pain he had once felt at the sight of her and his passion for her. He knew it wasn't right; Emara was not his to love. And he was okay with that, because somewhere down the line, his heart had taken a beat for another, one with hair that could rival a sunset and eyes of the truest green.

But for whatever Gods-awful reason, he couldn't

convey that to her last night.

The Gods really did hate him.

It was more complicated than just having fun with her. It was more than just kissing her and letting the temptation of their chemistry unravel. He was her guard. Had he not been burned in a situation like this before? He had jumped in with two feet and sunk straight to the bottom like a broken ship in a storm. He had made so many mistakes before and he had sworn to himself that he would find the better man within himself before he gave his heart to another.

He sighed and ran a forearm over his brow as the Skyelir sun reached his skin. Gideon had set a pace faster than anyone else to get to the Temple of the Gods. By Thorin, he wanted to get this mission done and be granted some alone time.

That was what he needed.

It had been on nonstop training sessions, guardianship, and hunts, fatality after fatality, blow after blow. His soul was being pulled in all different directions between his family's unrest to the new birth of his brother in the commandership. Gideon's body wasn't as exhausted as his mind, but every hunter knew it was your mind that kept the body going. And if his mind had to conjure up any more thoughts of his brother's marriage consummation or the memory of Sybil's disappointment, he was likely to drown himself in Rhiannon's Lake.

They had been trekking for hours, and he had taken a few breaks to refuel. Torin hadn't questioned it when Gideon had kept walking without them.

Hopefully, with the rate that he was travelling, he would reach the temple before sundown.

Gideon saw the peaks of the Skyelir mountain range, and he knew that he was closing in on the temple. He let himself find a slower pace, and shortly, the clan caught up from behind him. He felt a large hand on the back of his neck, and he turned to find his elder brother walking beside him. "Everything okay, Gid?" Torin checked in.

Gideon kept his hands tight on the straps around his haversack. "I'm good."

"Are you sure? I normally set the pace for the clan and you scout from our tail for danger. But our tail has lost its best stinger today, and you are marching on like a man possessed—"

"I am fine, brother."

Torin nodded, acknowledging that he would push him no further. "I have put Marcus at the tail of the formation; he is the second best with a bow."

Gideon said nothing as he marched on for a few moments, trying to pretend that there wasn't an unnecessary awkwardness between them.

Torin's jaw clenched as he strode toward, placing himself in front. He held out a hand, and it hit his brother's chest gently. "It was never my intention for any of this to hurt you."

Gideon's hands fell from the straps of his cargo. "Let's not talk about this now, especially when we have so much to do. The clan is right behind us."

Torin's eyes narrowed. "I don't give a fuck if the clan is up my ass, I think you should air your frustrations with me. Go on, punch me."

He sneered. "I am not going to punch you."

"Then talk to me. I can command you to, you know."

Gideon pulled in a breath through his teeth. "You don't want to hear what's happening in my mind."

"Believe me when I tell you that I do." Torin shifted his weight and folded his arms across his chest ready to listen. "I need you to vent. It's not healthy to bottle up all your thoughts. I know you."

Distant chatter from the clan could be heard as they moved through the trees a few throws back.

"Honestly? I don't really need to talk right now. I just need a break. But warriors of Thorin aren't granted that grace, are we?" Gideon asked his brother.

"No, we are not." Torin's mouth slanted as if he knew the feeling well. "You know I am here when you want that chat, Gid."

"I know," Gideon assured him, and he was grateful for the effort. "Maybe someday but let me focus on the mission. My head's a mess and I need it not to be."

"Okay, then. Let's talk business. When we get to the temple, I am going to need you to lead some of the clan in a different direction. I need someone I can trust to be my second-in-command, and I choose you to lead them. I know you are tired, and your head might be a mess, but you are my brother, and persistence runs in your veins. You are the one I trust."

A little shock sprung in his heart. Gideon and Torin had not always seen eye to eye, but they were brothers, and no matter how many fights they had, no matter how many punches or harsh words they threw at each other, they had a bond like no other.

"I would be honoured to be your second-in-command," he said as he looked to Torin's icy eyes. "What do you need me to do?"

Torin grinned back. "You were always going to be my second, Gid." He slapped his upper arm. "I need you to lead a split in the clan and work your way from the furthest entrance of the temple to the front, combing over what you can. If we split up, we'll cover more of the grounds. You can take the higher sections of the temple and I will take the lower. Do you remember the number of times we studied the Temple of the Gods in the Selection and thought that it was just pointless nonsense? Now it's a test for us to remember it."

"I just wanted to leave those lessons and shoot something."

"See"—Torin's mouth curved up at one side—"I knew we had something in common. Maybe you will even grow as handsome as me too."

Gideon finally found it in his heart to laugh. "Fuck you. Everyone knows I am the best-looking Blacksteel."

Torin chuckled. "Who are we kidding? We both know the best-looking Blacksteel is Kellen."

Gideon had to agree. "That is very true. Have you seen the size of him lately? Baby Blacksteel is more like Bulky Blacksteel."

Torin's laugh broke through the trees, and his piercing eyes found themselves back on Gideon's face. "The kid is massive these days."

"That he is," Gideon agreed before he cleared his throat. "Do you think the Fae guards will grant us access to the temple?"

Torin's gaze flickered with something that looked like uncertainty. "I am not going to take no for an answer."

"Of course not," he scoffed. "But they aren't just going to let us walk right in and search for an ancient relic."

"I know. But we can tell them that we are looking for something from an old clan. We don't always need to tell the truth, brother." Torin turned to finally begin walking again, and Gideon followed. "Besides, I have already had a conversation with the clan about where I want them stationed with whom. I just wanted to run it past you to be my second-in-command for this mission; and when we get back to Huntswood, I want it to remain that way."

Gideon nodded. "I am on board, brother. When I stood at your side days ago, that wasn't just because I wanted you to be my leader, but because I would follow you into any battle and be any station you want. Just tell me everything you want me to do."

Torin slapped Gideon's back in a show of gratitude. "I need you to find the Library of the Gods within the temple. That's where I want your team to find something for me."

Gideon kept his eyes on the ground as his boots crushed whatever was underneath them. "And does it have anything to do with where the Dark Stone might be?"

"You know my mind so well." His brother's hand fell from his back. "I am not only looking to see if the Protection Stone is within the walls of the temple, but if there is any information on the Dark Stone too. There must be something in the library that gives us an indication of where its resting place is or how we can retrieve it. That's what I need you to find. Use Sybil; surely, she can get a feel for the old manuscripts, draw it out somehow."

Gideon nodded. "When I gave her the old grimoire, she said she could feel its magic, its ancientness, from being in its presence. So maybe I can get her to pull on some of that magic and see if we can find what we are after."

Torin grinned. "Sounds like a plan to me."

As the Blacksteel brothers walked on, the clan inevitably caught up. The dense forestry began to thin out, and the moss-covered banks turned into gravel. They were so close to the temple now, and Gideon could see the huge limestone walls.

Torin held up a fist, and every member of the clan froze.

There were no birds singing their usual nighttime song, no animals grazing through the trees, and no marching boots on the stones.

Something was off.

Gideon could see beyond the long gravel path that led up to gilded gates, and where guards normally stood surrounding the temple, it was bare.

The gates should be heavily guarded; it was the most protected temple in the kingdom. Emara made her way to the front of the formation, standing between the brothers.

"What's wrong?" She looked between them both.

Torin didn't answer her as he looked above the trees and searched the grounds.

"Something is not right," Gideon whispered to her.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you see those gates up ahead?"

She nodded, gulping down trepidation.

"Those gates should be crawling with guards."

"And they're not." Her shoulders tensed like she could feel the strange atmosphere slide in and around her bones.

Torin looked at Emara with concern heavy on his brow as he reached up to unsheathe one of his swords. "Stay here. Gideon, cover me."

Gideon nodded, pulling an arrow from his quiver and setting it into the notch of his bow.

He was ready for anything to unfold. Anything could unfold. The sun was setting on the temple and soon it would be dark. Anything that lurked in the dark was always stronger when the moon was in the sky, and she would be full tonight.

Emara shifted on her feet beside him. "Tell me what I can do."

"When your commander tells you to stay put, that is what you should do," Gideon whispered.

He could hear the clan pulling steel from their scabbards and weapons from their belts. It was familiar, but it sent the shivers up his spine all the same.

Torin stopped moving, his knees bent, ready to spring. The clan stilled. A bead of sweat trailed down Gideon's forehead and into his eye, but he wouldn't dare blink it out of the way in case he missed something. "Do you smell that?" Torin whispered, still not turning his head to engage in the conversation.

Gideon pulled a demonic scent into his nostrils in one inhale. "Sulphur."

Torin cursed. "Fuck."

"We're too late," Gideon whispered, still aiming his arrow at anything that had the potential to move.

Torin pulled a second sword from his back. "They might already be here, but that doesn't mean they have found what they are looking for. They could be gone."

Torin made a good point.

"This is where we part, brother." Torin looked back for a second to meet Gideon's stare. "If you find anything—and I mean anything—that could be of use to them or us, I want you to bring it back to the front of these gates. If you hear the sound of a horn, I want you to retreat. I need you out of there regardless of what you have found. And we will do the same. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Gideon acknowledged. "Heard loud and clear, Commander Blacksteel."

Torin nodded in respect for Gideon.

"From this point on, our unit will split." Torin's eyes gazed over the clan that was at Gideon's back, but he didn't move to look at them. He kept his eyes on the walls of the temple. Who knew what lurked behind them, waiting to devour? "Coldwell, Kellen, Sybil, I need you with Gideon to search the library. The men from the back half of the formation, you will cover Gideon and his unit. The others, you are with me. This might be my first mission as your clan commander, but it is not my first mission, and you know how our unit operates. There are no differences. We are relentless, unyielding, and uncompromising." His eyes glittered with danger. "We didn't come here to spare the lives of the Dark Gods' army, so should they get in our way, remove them from this earth. That is my command."

An agreement of brutality circulated from the clan, and Gideon saw Emara take in a huge inhale.

"See you on the other side, brother," Torin said to Gideon.

Emara smiled politely at Gideon before moving with the men and Breighly towards the gates.

Gideon turned. "Marcus, cover me. We need to move in a different direction and enter from the back." He glowered over his clan for the first time as second-in-command. "We head north of the temple and we do so under the instruction of the commander. And how do we do that?" he asked.

"Relentless, unyielding, and uncompromising," the men said in unison.

Gideon's eyes slid to Sybil's, the first time she had looked at him all day. Something rushed through him, an energy untouched by this moment. But there was no time for matters of the heart.

"Let's move," he commanded as he began his journey to the back of the temple. "Stay vigilant."

He could hear their feet behind him, but his men were silent. Gideon looked up to the walls that protected the temple and assessed them as he led his unit away from Torin's.

The wards that had protected the temple had clearly been severed, and it would be quite easy to get over them if they could find a part they could climb.

"Sybil, whose magic normally wards this temple?"

In a second, she was by his side. "I believe it to be a combination of both Fae and witch magic to ensure that it never fails." She huffed a little as she held out a hand to touch the wall. "It must be someone whose magic is so old that it would surpass any of the new empresses and the Supreme. We know it's not Deleine; her magic would have died with her. This person would need to be powerful enough to build the wards for this temple without being one of the coven heirs." Sybil's bright green eyes lingered long enough on Gideon's face for his heart to quicken. "I have been reading a lot and studying the old grimoires, including the one that you gave me. There are only a few other witches out there that it could be. One is the Black Widow Witch; she lives in the mountains alone, unwilling to succumb to any coven. Although she did not vow herself to a coven, she still lives from the magic of our world, said to be born of both Fae and Witchling blood. The Fae respect her enough to grant her solitude here in the Skyelir Mountains. Your grandmother's grimoire seems to reference her a few times. She is alleged to be extremely powerful and maybe even an oracle, but she hasn't been seen in years."

"But she could have died in the mountains and no one would have known," Marcus Coldwell said from behind. "Would the Dark Army know of her and possibly try to kill her?"

"I would know if she had died," Sybil claimed as she brushed a curl from her petite face. "If a powerful witch like that had entered the Otherside, the whole witching kingdom would be talking, spirits and all. There have been no whispers of her death."

"It can't be her, then," countered Marcus. "Or the wards would still be up."

"She's definitely a person of interest," Gideon muttered. "Leave the wards for now. Torin wants us to look for anything that could shine a light on the Dark Stone."

"Of course he does," Marcus said with a spring of jest. "Because the commander can't just look for one thing at a time. The guy needs to go all in for everything."

Gideon gave one look at him and said, "He's a Blacksteel, what do you expect?"