Chapter Fourteen

R ival takes over from me and holds the towel on Reaper’s chest while I walk over to the chair and to wake up the book, “Xerxes? We need the ingredient quantities and the spell words.”

“Xerxes?” Grey questions. “That’s its name?”

“No,” Loki replies, “he never had a name; Farren gave him that one.”

“I’m awake, one second,” Xerxes replies, and his pages flip open rapidly. “If it helps, I can read the ingredients out to you as well as you reading it. I know you won’t trust me to read it without you checking.”

“Yes, that would be helpful,” Mayhem replies as I carefully carry the book over to where he’s set up the copper bowl and the ingredients so they’re easy to access.

We all watch tensely as Zev and he quickly follow the directions in the book as the Xerxes read it out to them as well. It’s obvious they both have incredible skill in alchemy.

As they throw the last thing in, which is purely an educational guess on my part because Xerxes has stopped talking, Mayhem turns to face us as he explains, “We need to burn it with magical fire that matches his strength. Mine is a different kind entirely. Ideally, we’d use dragon fire, but we don’t have that. Grey, and Rival, I’m hoping that your combined fire will be enough.”

“If you both place a drop of your blood in the bowl as well, then it will help to solidify your connection with him, and the fire will work,” Xerxes explains.

“And why should we trust you?” Storm snaps, a ball of angry fire between his horns, as his wings move agitatedly, “You did this to him.”

“Whoa, calm down, it’s not entirely his fault, and he’ll explain it, but we don’t have the time right now,” I reply firmly.

“You trust him?” Storm asks incredulously.

“I trust that he’s telling the truth right now, and if he doesn’t, he knows that I will burn him to ashes,” I reply, trusting my instincts.

“Guys, his heartbeat is fucking fading,” Loki yells, “we’re only going to have one shot at this, and if Xerxes says this is the best chance he has, then we need to take it.”

Without any more argument and a sense of urgency riding us all now, Grey and Rival both draw blades that they clearly carry with them all the time, slice their palms and drip blood into the bowl with the other ingredients making them sizzle and smoke. They then both send a small stream of their fire to the mix. The whole consistency of the mixture changes, becoming thick, iridescent purple and moving without being disturbed. Zev quickly decants the mixture into a small bottle, and both Mayhem and he quickly make their way over to the bed. I rush forward, helping to manoeuvre Reaper’s head so that we can get the potion into his mouth easier and then hold my breath as I watch them pour the whole bottle into his mouth. I feel two different hands thread through each of mine, but I refuse to take my eyes off Reaper to check whose hands I’m holding.

It feels like forever until I watch his wounds close up, and as the largest one across his chest seals shut, he suddenly gasps, rapidly sitting up, his eyes roaming the room like he’s looking for a threat before they land on me, and a serene smile crosses his face. He reaches for me, pulling me down on the bed next to him, his arms wrapping around me tightly as my head lands on his chest.

I try to sit up slightly so I can make sure that he’s okay, even if I can feel the reassuring thump of his heartbeat under my head, I can’t move though, and his arms just tighten around me.

“Erm, Reaper?” I ask.

Loki appears in my line of vision with a grin on his face, “I think you’re stuck there for a while Love. He’s gone to sleep.”

“He’s okay though, right?” I ask, not bothering to hide the worry in my voice.

“He appears to be okay,” Killian replies, relief suturing his tone.

“He will be fine. He’s just going to be asleep for a while; the healing will have taken a lot out of him, not to mention the ordeal he’s just been through thanks to the poison,” Xerxes explains.

The tension in the room suddenly evaporates, and from where I’m lying, I can see Rival, Loki and Zev all slump in various seats next to the bed.

“Fucking hell, that was close,” Mayhem curses.

The room falls silent, and although I feel slightly weird that they’re all gathered around the bed watching as Reaper holds me close, I know that they all need the same reassurance that I do, that he’s okay again. Plus, it doesn’t seem as weird as it probably should.

“Would you like to hear my explanation?” Xerxes asks quietly.

“Yes, I want to understand why I shouldn’t burn you. Although, you were helpful and gave us the suggestion of adding Rival and Grey’s blood to the antidote, so you have that going for you at least,” Storm replies, his tone not quite as sharp as it was before.

“Of course,” he replies and then launches into the same story that he told Loki and me earlier.

Since I’ve heard this explanation before, I tune out, feeling soothed by the strong sound of Reaper’s heartbeat, that is until Xerxes says something that has my interest peaking.

“You’re looking for the pieces of the Underworld gate key, yes?”

“And what if we are?” Grey asks, sounding somewhat suspicious.

“Then I can help,” he replies.

I really wish I could fucking sit up right now. It feels weird as hell to be lying here, unable to see what’s going on around me properly and if my men are sharing any looks.

“How can you help?” Killian asks.

“I was given the task a long time ago to guard the knowledge of the location of a piece of the Hellgate key.” He announces.

Silence reigns, and I know they are all sharing a look that no doubt questions the legitimacy of Xerxes’s claim. I hear nothing but truth ringing in his words though, and although we got off to a rocky start, I trust him.

“Where is it, Xerxes?” I ask.

“Here, in the Shadowlands, Temperance has it stored at her stronghold,” he answers immediately.

“The leader of the west part of the main city,” Grey replies.

“Please tell me that it’s not one of the factions that we’re worried are being controlled by dark magic?” Loki asks.

Grey moves into my eye line, and I see him wince slightly, “Erm, unfortunately, I can’t tell you that.”

“Fantastic,” Storm mutters sarcastically.

“If they’re being controlled by dark magic, as you say, then there’s a strong chance that whoever is behind it is also using them to spy on what’s going on around them,” Xerxes explains.

“Which means if we succeed in breaking this stronghold, whatever that may be, then the princes are going to know what we’re up to, and we want to keep them in the dark for as long as we possibly can,” Killian points out.

“Yes, but it’s the only one that we can get a hold of while we’re stuck in the Shadowlands,” Rival replies.

“Is there any way that we could break the hold the dark magic has over them before we get the key fragment? That way, we could at least stop the princes from realising what we’re up to,” I ask.

“I don’t know of anything that could do that,” Rival frowns.

“There’s most likely an object that’s being used to channel the spell from the Princes and is the catalyst for the spell. If we can find it, then we should either be able to destroy it, which is a bit hit and miss. It might break the spell, but it might not, and since we’re most likely only going to get one shot at this, we want to make sure that what we plan to do to stop Temperance and her faction members from being controlled by the princes through dark magic, fucking works.” Grey starts to explain.

“What’s the other option?” Zev asks.

Grey’s eyes move to me, and I start to understand where he’s going with his explanation.

I smile, “Well, I’m good with unravelling spells so I’m guessing the other option is for me to pick apart the spell so that we can ensure that it’s completely disabled and all of them go back to normal.”

Grey nods, “And so that the princes stay in the dark for as long as possible about what we’re up to.”

“Do you think you can do that?” Loki asks, “It’s going to be magic from the Princes, so it’s going to be intricate. It’s probably going to be hard to pick it apart.”

I nod, or at least try to, but Reaper is still holding me tightly, “Yeah, I can handle it. I’ve had quite a bit of practice with picking apart dark magic. Remember, my father used to like to use it a lot. That’s why he started to drain my magic more, so that I couldn’t pick apart his spells. Although, he had no idea how I was doing it,” I smirk, “he fucking hated that.”

It's silent for a while; I can tell from how tense it’s suddenly become that none of them are okay with having the reminder of what’s happened in the past. They don’t even know the half of it. I can feel Zev’s eyes on me, and as I meet them, it’s clear that he’s seen some of my past. He looks devastated before his eyes flash white again, and I’m guessing that he’s just got more of an idea of my past than he ever hoped for.

I expect him to ask questions; however, it must be evident to him that the others don’t know. Instead of saying anything, he tries to communicate with his eyes, and I pull a face. I don’t really know what to say or do. I know what he’s seen, or at least I have an idea of what he's seen, and no one needs to witness that, so I hold my hand out to him, and he practically stumbles in his rush to get closer to me. He sits on the bed on the other side of Reaper and grasps my hand tightly.

“What’s going on?” Storm asks, and as I glance behind Zev, I see that they’ve all gathered in my eye line and are watching me curiously.

“Not for me to explain,” Zev replies firmly, his eyes flashing with steel.

Grey’s eyes fill with respect, “Good man.”

“Farren?” Kill asks.

I sigh, “I will tell you one day when I’m ready, but for now we have more pressing matters. I know that I can undo the spell that is weaved into the object but how do we find the object?”

Although they don’t look happy about it, they all agree to let it drop, and the conversation turns back to the problem we have at the moment.

“I should be able to create a spell that can locate the object, but I’d need plans of the stronghold where it’s likely to be located. We are assuming that it’s there, right?” Mayhem asks.

Grey nods, “Yes, it would need to be close to them, especially for when they sleep since they’ll be more susceptible to the effects of the spell then.”

“Great, so all I need is a map of the stronghold somehow because I’ll need it to narrow down the location inside the house,” he replies.

“I’ve been inside, she gave me a tour, and I did my own explorations as well. I can draw you a map of the inside,” Grey replies, and when I raise my eyebrow curiously, he adds, “It’s always better to know those who are considered the strongest. That way, you can learn their weaknesses as well, should you ever need them.”

“That’s smart,” Rival replies.

“If you can make a spell to find the location of the object spelled with dark magic, why can't you use the same spell to locate the key?” Loki asks Mayhem.

“Instinct,” Mayhem replies, “I can’t properly explain it, but I just know that it won't work with the key fragments, which is why it never occurred to me before now.”

“He’s right,” Xerxes interrupts, “The key fragment is understandably very well-warded so that it can't be easily found. However, as I was made one of the guardians of the key fragments, I can help you find it. Here,” I can hear his pages start flipping.

I try to sit up again, and this time Reaper’s arms let me, he doesn’t let me get far, his arm slipping down around my waist and holding me against him, but it gives me just enough space to push up on my elbow and see the room properly, including Xerxes.

“You seem to have turned a lot more pages than you appear actually to have,” Loki says curiously.

“I’m an enchanted book,” Xerxes replies drily and then adds, “Now hush, I’m trying to find the right page.”

Loki holds his hands up, “Sorry, mate.”

My lips tilt up in an amused smile, he’s undoubtedly got a personality on him, and I think the more comfortable he becomes around us, the more his personality is going to show, and I have a feeling that it's going to be amusing as hell.

“Aha, found it,” he exclaims, and I can imagine him smiling in triumph, “here it is. This is the box that the key fragment will be in. It can’t be opened, so it is definitely still in there.”

The page has a box depicted on it, similar to the one that we found the first key fragment, but this one is made of black wood and has different carvings on the top.

“Is there no way we can trace it now that we know what it looks like? I imagine that the stronghold is fairly big?” Killian asks.

“The strongholds that the factions have are really like villages within the main city, they have large walls built around them, which are warded, and inside there are the homes of those that have agreed to have the factions protection or work for them,” I try to explain.

“Okay, so even getting over the wall is going to be difficult,” Storm replies with a smile.

“I’m sure we’ll work it out,” Loki replies.

“You know actually I might be able to track the box,” Mayhem suddenly says.

“What do you mean?” Zev asks.

“Well, I can't track the key, but now that I know exactly what the box looks like, if I’m close enough, I may be able to trace it, but the spell would have to be cast in close proximity,” Mayhem replies.

“Well, it’s worth a try,” Rival replies.

“Failing that, we’ll just have to check the usual places and hope we get lucky. I’d rather not have to ask Temperance for a favour, one she will get curious, and we need as few people as possible to know about this, but also, favours here come with high prices, and it would be best if we could avoid that.” Grey explains.

“Agreed,” Storm replies, and his eyes soften as he watches me yawn, “we’ve had one hell of a day, we have a plan for tomorrow, and we can work out the kinks then. For now, everyone needs to get some rest. Farren, I’m going to leave Mayhem in here with you, just in case you need to get up or the poison has some after-effects. I would just feel better if you’ve got someone with you.”

I nod, “Doesn’t bother me either way.”

“I can tell you’re tired because that was a perfect opportunity to go toe to toe with me, and you didn’t,” Storm smirks.

My smile is tired as I reply, “I’m just storing it all up for tomorrow, and then I’ll let you have it.”

He steps closer to the bed and leans down to kiss me on the forehead, which shocks me but is not unwelcome.

“Xerxes, are there any side effects we should be aware of?” Grey asks.

“In all honesty, I do not know. No one has ever survived the curse,” Xerxes explains. “I never had the cure before.”

“What?” I ask, suddenly a whole lot more awake than I was a second ago.

“The cure appeared as soon as you picked me up. That’s how I knew that I fucked up because that never happened before.” He explains, sounding confused as hell.

“Well, that’s interesting,” Grey mutters.

“Alright, let’s get to bed,” Storm says again as he walks toward the door.

The guys all say goodnight to me, and Zev squeezes my fingers once before he gently kisses my hand. Just before they all leave, Mayhem, Reaper and I, Rival pauses and turns back around, looking at Xerxes.

“Are you comfortable in here, or would you like to go to the library to rest?”

“Oh, the library, please?” he replies immediately.

Smiling at Rival and his thoughtfulness, I watch as he carefully picks Xerxes up and then strides out of the room, winking at me as he goes.

“If you aren’t comfortable with me being in here I can get one of the other ones to come back?” Mayhem asks, standing at the side of the bed and rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m as comfortable with you as I am with any of the others.” I reply honestly, and he instantly looks relieved. “I do have a favour to ask though.”

“Okay, shoot?”

“I really need to pee; any chance you can help me up?”

“I mean, I can try,” he chuckles, looking amused by the situation.