CHAPTER 27

Nika

I never thought I'dbe going back to the same place where I was tortured and imprisoned only weeks ago. After telling Silas and Lev everything my parents said inside my head, our mission was clear.

When I left the Dark Fae Society the night Lev helped me escape, I was convinced my fate was either to die at the hands of the Dark Fae or reunite with my father. But now, I was about to undertake an entire society to hopefully locate the Box of Black Souls before that bastard Rilas could.

Silas had gotten his list of targets and wrote their names in silver, taking a few notes about where they could be found when we finally went back. "There's only five names here, lad. Is this a bloody joke? She's been alive long enough for this list to be twenty or more names, easy. You're holding out on me, and I want to know why." Gold became silver when Silas's eyes cut over to Lev, demanding an explanation.

"Silas," I growled, ready to lay the man out for making this into a bigger issue than it needed to be.

We didn't need to go after those Dark Fae. I'd seen them fight. The only reason they got a hold of me that day was because they came when I was asleep and there were too many. But one day, their number would be up. The arrogant types never lived long in my experience. And if not, I knew what lies Yuma told. I was the villain in their eyes—the forsaken. Like my grandmother, they believed I was coming for them to do what Yuma promised would destroy them. It was only natural they'd want to strike before I could.

"Those are the ones you want most, trust me. They've done it more than once, and they're the reason for many of the scars I'm sure you've seen by now." His little dig at our relationship didn't go unnoticed by either of us, but he went on too quickly for me to give him hell over it. "The rest won't live long if what you've told me is true. Not if that bastard brother of yours comes looking for the Box of Black Souls," my friend promised.

Lev finally understood how grave it'd be for Rilas to get a hold of that box; that Silas's brother was brought back and could collect souls. One way or another, people were going to die. One way or another, Death was coming for them. So, I couldn't argue with the logic.

Neither could Silas because he quickly pocketed the list without another word, then kissed me like Lev wasn't watching. After, the mercenary detailed his plan to get into the room my friend drew a map to.

"Those overconfident tossers sleep like the dead," my companion murmured with a wicked smile stealing his lips upwards. "I much prefer a torture-and-kill approach myself, but it'll bugger it all up, so I'll refrain from getting a little too heavy-handed with the torturing bit."

Saying it like that insinuated the jovial assassin often got carried away with the so-called "torturing bit," and it was just another side of Silas I couldn't reconcile with the man I'd come to know.

The subtle affection he carried in every glance my friend's direction, and the way Silas never kept one thing he felt about me secret, made it difficult to think of him as a ruthless, stone-cold killer.

I was convinced it was something the contract killer did to punish himself; to serve as a glaring reminder of his sins to convince himself that he didn't deserve anything other than a lifetime of pain and loneliness. I could only hope I was given the opportunity to show him otherwise. But I wouldn't get the chance if tonight didn't go as planned.

So much of our future rode on what happened when we went back to the place I never truly called home. The fact that it might be our last night together sat on my chest and made it difficult to breathe. If not for Lev being here, I would've made this final free moment with Silas count.

I looked over at my Marked...my Foretold, desperate to kiss him again, and his answering glance perceived it all. "Don't look at me like that, little rebel, or I'll be forced to find that box we talked about for our little friend..."

Lev looked on in confusion, but I knew exactly what the cheeky mercenary meant. He'd bury our companion to have a moment alone with me, and I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I thought about the pure horror on Lev's face if he knew what Silas was insinuating.

"She's kinkier than we thought, Sally." Ryker cackled in my head before Bear Claw growled in warning.

"Never call me that disgusting name again, Ryker, or I'll find a way to banish you to the deepest recesses of the After."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Clearly, Ryker was used to the venom Bear Claw spat. But then again, so was I.

"We don't have much time. We'll need to leave soon or miss our chance." I stared down at the map. "There will be guards posted here, but you can deal with those, right, Lev?"

My friend nodded, smirking at Silas. "I'll make sure all the guards nearby have something else to worry about. You're not the only one with stones, mercenary."

Silas seemed intrigued to hear it. "What kind of stone, you little devil?"

"A summoning stone so they're plenty occupied," Lev answered with a smug grin. "Figured it'd cause enough of a distraction and give me a reason to go have a little chat with my mother...uninterrupted."

"Cheeky little plonker," Silas taunted, but the pride was beaming in his golden irises. He crossed his arms and nodded his approval. "None of these will be called to help?" He pointed to his pocket.

"Not for this low-level disturbance. You're good." Then thinking, Lev added, "But they might not be asleep, either."

Silas's lips rose in wicked delight. "Aye. Then I'll get to have a little fun before we get on with the nasty business of the box."

Infiltrating the Dark Fae Society in the middle of the night gave us the edge we needed to go about everything undetected, and the secret access tunnel where the Box of Black Souls was kept wasn't far from where the stone would take us—the hidden escape tunnel in Lev's room. From there, the blue-haired Fae could quickly calm the alarm magic placed on his quarters and then go cause the disturbance he boasted about. Lev would keep his mother distracted and only sneak away when the communication stone in his pocket was activated. That would be his signal we'd gotten what we needed to leave.

Lev snuck away relatively quietly when he came to find us to tell us about the box, so it wasn't likely that Yuma was worried where he'd gone, especially if he found her to talk about the "trouble that had followed him home." My friend was prone to wandering and went days without reporting to her on a normal basis. The blue-haired wanderer always returned a few days later, so Lev showing up tonight would fit the usual timeline.

He'd claim he was followed and send the guards to deal with it while he told a story about the "hideaway" he destroyed in search of me. Lev was good at playing to his mother's affection for him, so she'd believe every word about his determination to deliver the traitor who got away on a silver platter to her.

No surprise, Lev had planned his escape and return in the craftiest way possible. His insistence we get back made more sense now that he explained the fail-safes he put in place to get access to the Box of Black Souls undetected.

He had a story already prepared, the summoning stone in his possession to bring beasts right to their doorstep without anyone knowing he'd summoned them, and the infiltration points mapped out ahead of time. He'd weakened their barriers and secured access to the best tunnels to infiltrate. Lev even toyed with the guard schedule for the week so those access points would be easier to come and go through.

Of course, many of the things he'd put into place were moot now thanks to Silas's traveling stone, but it was clear in Silas's grin that he was impressed Lev had organized our infiltration with such attention to detail.

"That's a clever lad." Silas beamed and gave my friend another head rub.

Lev escaped looking like his hair had taken a spin in a windstorm, and I covered my mouth because I was almost certain the heated glare my friend sent Silas contained the wrath of the After and his entire arsenal of curses. But he didn't utter a single one. Maybe because he knew it wouldn't matter, or perhaps because a little part of him was still afraid of what Silas could do to him should he get cheeky again.

"You'll make a fine mercenary, you will. When we live through this, I'll have my very own crew of lethal rebel Fae."

I rolled my eyes. Silas had meant it as a compliment, but Lev would see every word of it as an insult.

"And who said I'd ever join your crew? In case you've forgotten, mercenary, some of us don't agree with that way of life," Lev quickly asserted, dragging a little laugh out of me.

Called it.

Silas crossed his heavily muscled arms, his strong upper body exposed in nothing but a thin, black tank top. But when we infiltrated, the assassin would don the usual cloak and mask to become the Shimmering Assassin of the Dark Fae's nightmares, I had no doubt. "Oi. How else are you going to earn your keep, you adorable bugger?"

"If we live through this—"

"When we live through this," Silas corrected, the humor all but leaving his expression. "She needs us, so you're not allowed to die. I won't let you."

I hadn't expected the pivot from playful to serious, and by the look on Lev's face, his forest-green eyes dropping quickly in shame, he hadn't either. "You're right. When we live through this, I'll do what my mother never did."

The darkness in Silas's expression had already disappeared. "And what's that, lad?"

"I'll live honestly. I'll support Nika without fearing who might hear or know of it. She's been my secret for way too long already, and after everything she's done for me over the years, Nika deserves better. Unlike me, she's never stained her hands with the blood of the innocent. So, if...when I live through this, I'm going to live in a way that'd make her proud."

It hurt to hear him say so. The people Lev was forced to kill happened because he was under orders from his mother. If he hadn't, it would've given him away and made it impossible for the future change my friend had planned.

Cruelty was the way of the Dark Fae Society, and an expected trait of the son of Yuma. The expectations placed on him were insurmountable. She'd raised him to be ruthless—to strike before they could—but Lev found ways to save more lives than he took. It was what I admired most about him; that no matter how hard his mother tried to turn him to the Dark Fae ways, Lev stayed adamantly himself.

So, when my painfully kind friend talked about the innocent lives he took, I was desperate to correct him with how many he'd saved. How it was because of Lev so many were able to escape or find redemption in his mother's eyes. How he'd saved me time and time again from the brutality of his mother's misplaced rage. With cleverly crafted speeches and sense, Lev found ways to use his mother's logic against her. More impressive was how he always managed to do it in a way she couldn't refute or be angry about.

Which was the reason he'd be the only one who could distract her when we went back. It was his superpower. My friend knew just what to say to keep his mother sufficiently distracted.

But before I could say a word, Lev's eyes flitted over to where I sat on the bed, watching them. "But only after I've made damn sure my mother never hurts you again. Forgive me, Nika...forgive me for not doing this sooner. I was a coward, and now you're paying for it."

I didn't expect the ominous proclamation, and my eyes widened. "You don't mean—"

Silas laughed and slapped Lev's back hard enough it nearly sent the smaller Fae straight to the floor. "Aye! That's a good lad. I don't usually let anyone else steal the names I've written in silver, but I think in this case, it's only right. She's yours." Then the silver-haired assassin's smile faded. "But if you don't do it, I will. My soul is pitch-black, mate. Everything she's done to my sweet little rebel deserves death, and I'm not going to be kind. I'll kill her in the most torturous way possible. I'll make sure she begs for death before I give it to her. So, if you kill her and show mercy by doing it quickly, I'll keep my damn mouth shut. But if you don't..."

Silas didn't need to finish. The threat hung in the air, the deadly shift in his voice hitting differently tonight for some reason. I'd seen the killer sheen of silver slowly bleed into his eyes over the course of his speech, but it was the air he put out that was truly terrifying. Even to me.

But Yuma had made plenty suffer, me included. An eye for an eye as the Normies liked to say. She'd earned her torturous death.

The fact that Silas was giving Lev the freedom to end her the way he saw fit showed the true depth of compassion he claimed he didn't have. His soul wasn't pitch black. It was grey. And to someone like me who'd seen the ugly blackness of those claiming their souls glowed, I much preferred his grey to their concealed black.

Lev's gaze didn't falter, and the confidence in his eyes beamed brightly, not at all afraid he'd fail. "After everything she's done, this is the only way it could end. I'm the only one who can do this. And I will, Silas. I can get close enough and make it out quietly before anyone notices. So...leave this to me. Once you've done what you plan to do, I'll do what needs to be done."

It hit me then that when Lev first left, he knew when he went back, this was the only way he'd be free of her. He'd planned to kill her from the moment he came to find us. I wasn't sure how I felt about my friend being forced to kill his own mother, but I couldn't argue. It was the only thing she deserved. Still, I mourned for my friend. Unlike me who grieved the death of my parents, Lev had to become death itself.

I stood up and took Lev's hand. I didn't say anything. No words I said could take away the pain of losing someone, even someone he never really had, but I could lend him my strength. I could offer the support he'd given me too many times to count—the support he still gave me without hesitation.