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R aphael stiffened and came to a reluctant stop. He didn't bother turning around to respond. Instead, he kept his gaze forward in desperate hope of manifesting his way out of the room without more trouble than necessary. "Jax, I'll find a way to make amends later, but right now—"

Bitter laughter cut him off. "You think you can make amends? Once a traitor, always a traitor."

Nova turned and let her gaze drift meaningfully between them before her brown eyes, pupils lined with a delicate line of brilliant silver, landed on him.

"What's he talking about?"

"The fact that the lovely Ruby was right all along. He played me. Used me. All he wanted was to get close to me to learn the secrets of our family and steal from my collection to sell to the highest bidder. Let's not forget, you also sabotaged every attempt I made to help Irina."

With each word, a new layer of tension choked the room. Raphael summoned the courage to meet Nova's thunderous glare.

"Not everything he says is true." His face felt hot. "That's why Stella came before me, to explain—"

"Don't listen to him. He's playing her, just like he played me. The only difference is it took him months of work to gain my full trust and friendship, and all it took to get Stella to chase him was a single touch." Jax scoffed. "If she was a little bit smarter, more court savvy, she might have seen through him. Clearly, the rhodiola's clouded her better senses."

Raphael spun to face Jax. His vision was a sea of grey punctuated only by the blue and red aura surrounding Ruby and the red and inky black of Jax's.

"Keep her name out of your mouth, or I'll shut it for you permanently," he snarled softly.

Nova whistled low behind him.

Jax rolled back his shoulders. "I'll do whatever I want. Want to know why, mate ? Because I can."

Hostile magic saturated the air like a storm conjured at will. Static electricity bristled around Raphael. Every minuscule movement goaded or reprimanded with a biting cold. Raphael's muscles twitched in agitation under the onslaught.

"If you think that I'd let a pathetic sycophant tell me what to do, or anyone else for that matter, you've lost your goddamn mind. No one in this court can match me. No leash or collar to hold me back anymore."

Raphael ground his molars painfully together to keep his tongue in check, but Gods . Hearing the words he'd used to manipulate Jax in the first place and witness those seeds plant roots and grow…

A new shroud of guilt fell over him. His demonic vision blurred at the edges with technicolor.

"This isn't you."

"Isn't it? Maybe I've finally grown up as everyone in this room has been telling me to." Nova let out a hiss at Jax's remark. "Or maybe you're jealous because I'm embracing my potential. That I refuse to hold myself back anymore. I can fix her—" Jax pointed upward and took a step in Raphael and Nova's direction. " Me . With my magic."

"Jax, I'm not going over this with you again. You had your shot. Now it's River and Valdora's turn," Ruby said with finality.

"They have no idea what they're doing!" Jax shouted, both hands thrusting upward in emphasis before slapping down against his thighs. "They aren't going to use what's necessary to reverse—"

"Dark magic isn't necessary, Jax." Ruby's voice barely fell below shouting.

"It's part of the original curse; of course, it's necessary."

Ruby's glare was a warning. "Jax. Don't ."

Jax shook his head, and a distant roll of thunder somehow crept into the room. Raphael sucked in a sharp breath and glanced toward the staircase. He hoped Stella stayed upstairs and avoided whatever shitstorm was about to descend.

"Family first, always. That's what we say, but apparently, I'm the only one living by these words. I've given my entire life to this family. Since I was a boy, my potential was used to serve this family's goals and ambitions. But the second I try to claim that potential as my own… To live up to the greater purpose I'm being called to—you turn your backs on me."

Raphael swallowed thickly as silence greeted Jax's emotion-packed speech. He knew he shouldn't be here for this, and yet his feet were glued to the spot. Some tether kept him in place, unable to leave behind the man who once called him brother.

Jax sneered. "It's time this family stands behind me for a change. Not the other way around."

"Irina could be dead in the next 24 hours if we don't get things right, and you're seriously making tonight about you ?"

Ruby thrust up a placating hand in Nova's direction. "Please, don't—"

A biting laugh cleaved the room of any side talk. When Jax quieted, he directed his sneer at Ruby. Raphael swore a chill swept through the room.

"I know things have been different since the Otherworld. That you've felt stifled." Jax scoffed at Ruby's reasoning. "But all we've ever wanted was to keep you safe."

"Is that what tonight's about then? Keeping me safe? Or is it that you want to keep Irina safe from me ?"

It was immediately clear that his low blow found its target as a different kind of silence fell in the wake of his words. A rather telling silence that went on a heartbeat too long, in Raphael's opinion.

" What ?" Ruby choked up as Jax's expression went flat. "No, Jax. We'd never. I love you. We love you."

"Can there be love without trust?" He countered coldly. "Can there be love without respect?"

Ruby hesitated before taking a step toward him. "You're not listening."

"Because I'm fucking through with listening to your excuses! You're either with me or against me. Tell them to clear out what they've set up, and I'll come upstairs and do what should have been done from the start." Jax pulled out a chain from beneath his collar and dragged the jewelry on its end out from under his shirt. It looked like a gray crystal. "And you might as well bring him —we'll need fresh blood."

The room's chill dropped another ten degrees. Then another. Raphael sucked in a breath that felt like it formed icicles in his lungs. His amateur magic rose to answer it, warming him from the inside out as he watched his breath cloud before his face.

"You're out of order, Jax," Raphael said.

"You're unwelcome and unwanted, Raph."

With a fair amount of trepidation, Raphael watched Jax's aura spread and writhe as if it had a life of its own. His regard narrowed suspiciously on the piece of jewelry he wore. Clarity struck.

It's not his. These emotions aren't his.

Raphael let his demonic vision drop. It took a stilted moment for his eyes to readjust, and when they did, he cursed. "Damnit, Jax. What are you doing with that?"

"I'm going to do what I should have done a long time ago."

Time came to a crawl as the stifling magic around Raphael intensified. He sucked in a sharp breath. Raphael held no illusion as to what was to come next. It was round two of their fight in the lab. His certainty was rounded out with a gut-wrenching sadness. A grim determination filled him. It wouldn't stop him from defending himself like he had earlier.

Raphael shifted his weight back onto one foot. He knew he'd done wrong, but he had more to protect tonight than just himself. Stella. Layla. Adrenalin poured through his veins.

The room's arctic temperature vanished a half-second later, only to gather in the form of an ice spear before Jax's hand. With a charged roar and thrust of his hand, it carved through the air directly at Raphael.

Shock and fear flitted through him before a foreign instinct took over. Raphael threw up his arms in the shape of an X with a short-lived battle cry. Flames erupted across his forearms and fists just before the ice hit.

"Holy Gods," Nova muttered as Raphael careened back into her from the hit.

He hissed a dark oath as pain shot through his right wrist. His magic deflected the icicle spear for the most part with its unnatural flames, but his wrist took the rest of the blunt force. Raphael flexed his fingers tentatively, and another hiss erupted from him.

It was fractured.

"What the fuck was that, Raphael?" Nova whispered in his ear.

Raphael didn't get a chance to respond, nor retaliate, as Nova righted him and then stepped in front of him.

"What the actual fuck , Jax?" Nova raged. "Can we skip the rest of your temper tantrum?"

Raphael spotted the small jump at Jax's temple. The little pulsing vein only spelled more trouble.

Despite Nova's interjection, Jax's eye remained fixed on him. It took everything in his power to keep his expression neutral and mask his discomfort. By Jax's glare, he was doing a good job of it.

"Stealing my God now, are you?"

"No," Raphael rebutted, but something in his chest twisted, telling him he was wrong. Raphael swallowed. "I don't know," he corrected with frustration.

Jax rolled his eye as he tipped his head back with a mocking groan. When he leveled his gaze on Raphael again, it was dripping with malice.

"How… predictable ." His gaze raked him over the coals. Raphael let his loathing roll off his shoulders, reminding himself Jax's emotions weren't his own. They were being manipulated from afar with the crystal necklace. It was a nearly identical match to the one worn by Kat.

I need to get that necklace off his neck.

"All you are is a waste of space. You don't belong here. You're a mongrel. You and your sis—"

Ruby's slap barked through the room as it connected with the side of Jax's face. One moment, she was at the mouth of the oversized mantel, the next in front of Jax, chest heaving with her rage.

"Do you hear yourself?" she demanded with quiet fury. "I don't even know you anymore." There was a sharp intake of breath from Ruby as Jax slanted a defiant look her way. She took two steps back. "The greatest sorcerer of your age?" Ruby scoffed. "I've seen more greatness in River in the past few months than you've ever achieved. We should have let her try to reverse the curse sooner and saved the family from your narcissism ."

She spun on her heel and strode toward Nova, chin tipped high with a glossy look to her eyes and a slight tremble to her lips. Nova didn't hesitate to meet her in the middle, her stride eating up the ground.

The two were so focused on each other that they didn't see the angry scrawl of red climbing up Jax's face.

Nor the way the vein at his temple stopped its throbbing.

Time drew its seconds out into minutes in an eerie mirror of Jax's last attack. Raphael was more aware of it the second time around. The electric cold charge rippled through the air, making the hair on the back of his neck and arms stand on end. It also made his stomach clench. He knew somehow there was something different to this magic. It felt putrid. Tarnished.

It felt wrong .

He expected his magic to rise once more to defend him.

Instead, it urged him to run.

Raphael's eyes drew wide as he realized Jax's new target.

"Get down!" Raphael shouted and lurched toward the vampyrés. He thrust out his hand, willing fire to create some kind of protective wall in front of the pair, but nothing came to life save for a blistering reprimand that took him down to his knees. A wave of dizziness crowded his head as the power of Anubis curled back up inside him.

Now he wants to take it all away?

The desperate thought was followed by an equally desperate cry as Raphael bore witness to Jax's downfall—for that's all it could be described as. The tainted lightning gathered in Jax's waiting hand, and just as before, he threw it like some kind of spear.

This time at Ruby's back.

Terror surged through Raphael. Where he had magic to defend against Jax's, the girls had nothing. Nothing except for uncanny speed.

The lightning bolt was fast.

But Nova was faster.

There was a whirl of color and flying hair as Nova switched places with Ruby and thrust her back to safety. Only Nova didn't stumble as Raphael did when Jax's ice spear hit him. She froze. Black lightning convulsed over her entire body, leaving scorch marks in its wake.

"No," Ruby said breathlessly as each strand of lightning dug its way into Nova's paralyzed body. " No! "

Once the last bolt found its home under her skin, Nova collapsed into Ruby's waiting arms. They went to the floor in one motion.

"No," Ruby repeated tears streaming down her face as she hiked Nova up higher in her lap. "No," she growled. "What did you do? What did you do!"

"I—" Jax stumbled back several steps, his face clearing of all its previous rage. "I didn't mean—"

"What did you do?" Ruby screamed.

"Ruby," Nova choked out. She tried to lift her hand, but it stiffened with every inch gained toward her lover's face. "Love you."

"Don't you dare," Ruby warned with a sob. "Don't say things like that like you're going to—" another sob choked out of her. "Just hang on. We'll fix you, okay?"

Raphael sank back onto his hunches watching in muted despair. There would be no fixing of Nova. The magic Jax had used was unlike anything he'd witnessed before. Dark magic, his mind filled in. His regard slowly shifted to Jax, unable to watch the strange web of black collecting under the scorch marks across Nova's stiffening body.

Jax looked… horrified. Tears ran down his cheeks and the color drained from his face.

"Hold on. Jax will fix you. He'll fix this." Ruby's voice turned sharp as she turned her attention to Jax. "Fix it. Come here and fix this, right now ."

"I—"

"Ruby," Nova rasped.

Ruby shushed her, attention snapping back down to her lover. "Whatever this is, he'll fix it. You need to conserve your energy. I don't know what spell this is, okay? Just… just hold on." A new sob bubbled up and out of Ruby, drawing Raphael's gaze back to her. "You're turning gray, Nova. Why?" Ruby looked back to Jax. "Why is she turning gray? What did you do?!"

"Love. You."

"Don't say that," Ruby cried, face crumpling as she hung her head. "Don't say that; I know what it really means. It means goodbye and this is not goodbye."

"Thank you. For the. For my best. Part. Of life." Each agonized sentence ended in a wheeze as whatever curse or hex Jax sent her way choked the life out of her. "Forgive. For me."

"What the hell is going on?"

Raphael's attention whipped over his shoulder. Valdora stood in deep purple robes with her wide-eyed gaze traversing the room as if it were a crime scene. River stood at her side, lips parted and face ashen.

"Jax?" Valdora's voice cut to him. "What have you done?"

"I—I don't know. I was just so mad, and I—I couldn't think, and I… I think I used dark magic. I didn't mean to, though."

"Jax, fix this now, " Ruby demanded. "She's not talking anymore. Fix it. Undo it. Please ," she begged. Each word came out more slurred and grief-stricken than the last as she clutched Nova closer to her. "Please, Jax, please. She can't die. I love her."

"I don't know how." Raphael's gaze shot back to Jax in disbelief. His hand was lodged in his hair, and he pulled it by the fistful as his body visibly shook. "I'm so sorry, I don't know how."

Jax made a beeline for the entry hall. He's running away , Raphael realized.

"Wait, Jax," River called. Raphael's gaze shot back to the dark-skinned witch who hurried forward to intercept Jax. "We can do it together."

Jax slowed and cast back a sorrowful look. "You don't understand. The magic I used it was—"

"I know what it was," River said breathlessly as she reached him. Jax stopped reluctantly as she stood before him, partially blocking his path. "And I know that chances are small that we can undo it together, but that's more of a chance than doing nothing at all."

The knob of Jax's throat bobbed. "What I've done… it's unforgivable."

River's head quickly shook side to side then held out her hand to him. "Let's try. Together." Jax stared at her hand, indecision pulling his features together in a cringe. River offered him a tentative smile. "Come on, Jax. What do you say? The greatest sorcerer of this age and the world's most promising witch—what couldn't we accomplish?"

Raphael's heart slowed as River's gentle insistence coaxed Jax's gaze to lock with hers. Then he witnessed the world melt away from the pair as their interaction continued to play out in silence. His eyes widened as he caught the subtle shifts in their posture and the way their loaded stares bore deeper and deeper into one another. Raphael gulped. There was a growing charge in the air, but not of magic. No, it was something different that stirred between them. Some greater force Raphael somehow recognized yet didn't know.

"I can't," Jax repented hoarsely. "I'm sorry."

River's expression fell as he darted around her, but it didn't stop her from reaching out and snatching his wrist as he passed. Her fingers had only just latched around him when the two let out simultaneous gasps and lurched away from one another. Their gazes locked once more in astonishment, but neither said a word.

Raphael watched, dumbstruck, unsure of what could cause such a reaction. Before he could begin to speculate, Jax turned heel and all but ran from the room. This time, River didn't try to stop him.

"Where is he—" A pained noise came out of Ruby's throat as the door opened and slammed shut. Ruby twisted. "Valdora?" Despair echoed about the hollow utterance of the sorceress's name, striking Raphael soundly in the heart.

Valdora wasted no time crossing to her and knelt on Nova's other side.

"Be careful how you hold her," Valdora instructed.

"I am being careful with her!" Ruby snapped like a wounded animal.

Her voice wasn't the only thing to do so.

A decisive crack went through the room. Raphael heaved to his feet and shuffled back. There was a fissure drawn like a slash across Nova's face. Another crack sounded. Another fissure appeared, the second one across her neck.

" Oh, my Gods. Oh, my Gods. Oh, my Gods ," Ruby breathed in panic. "Do something!"

"I don't know what's happening," Valdora replied in equal panic. She pulled a wand from the folds of her cloak and held both it and her other hand over Nova's body. But the cracking wouldn't stop.

The floor creaked off to the side. Raphael glanced in the direction of the stairs and saw Sebastian. He eyed him and the scene with concern.

"We're all waiting. What's going on?"

Ruby's cry of anguish was accompanied by a strange clatter. Raphael didn't know if he had the stomach to look… not when Valdora herself looked ready to wretch.

"Ruby?" He flashed over to her side. "What happened? What happened to her?"

Nothing intelligible came out of Ruby's mouth, at least not to Raphael's ears. He cleared his throat lightly and caught River's eye. All he wanted was Stella. To have her safe in his arms and know that she was alright. Where was she? He was about to ask when another figure zipped into the room.

Briar.

Raphael stiffened. He had no bad blood with the vampyré, but he was well aware of her dislike for him. For all demons. Briar took in the scene stoically, eyes gracing each figure with a kind of calculation that made his arm hair raise again.

Then her eyes landed on him.

She stood in front of him and before he could blink, her cold as marble hand a vice around his throat.

"Why are you here?"

Raphael flailed, his fractured wrist protesting angrily as he tried to pry her off him. "Stella," Raphael croaked.

Briar sneered. "She's not here."

"Let him go, Briar," River commanded as Raphael wheezed.

"In a minute."

"Now, Briar."

The red-haired vixen threw a glare over her shoulder at the witch. "Since when do you give orders around here?"

"Since Ruby is in no state to tell us what happened, and he is."

Briar's icy grip vanished momentarily, trading his neck for his bicep as Raphael sucked in breath after breath. "So then. What happened?"

"Stella's not here?" Raphael asked once he regained his equilibrium.

Briar glared at him. "No. She never showed up."

She never showed up.

The words bounced through Raphael's head but didn't seem to stick. "What?"

"I won't repeat myself a third time." Briar squeezed his arm until Raphael let out a cry through gritted teeth. "What. Happened. Here?"

Raphael opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out.

She never showed up.

A frightening realization stole the next breath from his body. Raphael reached through their bond for her, only to find a wall of her own making blocking him.

"No," he whispered to himself.

Briar made a noise of affront. "Excuse me?"

Stella had never shown up because she had gone down instead. Oh Gods. "I have to go."

"Like hell you are. You're not going anywhere until you—"

"It's the demons, all right? A demon—Kat. She gave Jax some kind of necklace to influence his anger tonight. Now let me go because if Stella isn't here, she's in much worse trouble," he rushed out all in one breath.

Briar studied his face coldly, then said, "No."

She squeezed his arm again. Raphael released a strangled groan, teeth clenching against the pain. He wasn't strong enough to fight her off, and there was every chance his demonic influence would backfire if he used it. His strangled cry grew louder as her vice-like grip increased.

But magic?

A whisper of it teased his senses. Raphael focused on it and slammed his eyes closed.

I accept you. I will be your willing servant.

I'll be anything you want me to be.

Please.

Raphael didn't expect his plea to work so effortlessly. One moment, the magic gifted to him by Anubis was nothing more than a shadow of a flame; the next, it lit up his entire body with a fire that could never, and would never, be extinguished—if his vow was true. Astonishment flooded him as he easily conjured a mass of sparks and embers in his palm and slapped it over Briar's hand.

Briar released him with a yelp. Raphael wasted no time in putting distance between them. Fire lingered in his veins, converging on his wounded wrist and side and all the cuts he received in the Ether. It healed him.

A gift. The words were not his own but some omnipresent voice in his head that made him still.

Thank you… my Lord.

Raphael shifted back another step, more than prepared to leave and find Stella, when Briar's snarl grabbed his attention. He held up a warning hand, and she flinched. Oddly enough, Raphael had the distinct impression he wouldn't be able to repeat his magic trick with the ease he had before. He needed some kind of instrument to concentrate and direct the flow of his magic, like Valdora's wand.

"If you try to stop me, I'll put you in the ground," he told her with deadly calm.

River stepped forward quickly, eyes wide and face pale. "Wait, where are you going?"

"To get Stella."

Raphael didn't bother to wait for her reply, turning swiftly and striding back to the front door. He swiped Jax's forgotten cane as he went. He was going to find Stella and make Kat pay for all she'd done. And if it meant burning the whole damn castle to the ground, so be it.