34. Maven

It"sa shame I didn"t kill Hearst. If I had, I would have already known the incomparable surge of power that comes from killing off a member of the Immortal Quintet.

That heady buzz is humming in my veins, so rich and promising in its destructive capabilities that it almost lulls me to sleep. I"m groggy, and for some reason, I feel like I should be in a shit ton of pain.

But I"m not.

Why am I not?

My skin is tingling, not in a pleasant way, but it"s not bad either. Weird. This is the same sensation I used to experience whenever Amadeus would have his necromancers patch me up instead of simply letting me expire and come back. Did I somehow manage to heal myself after Somnus hurt me?

No, wait. Somnus didn"t hurt me.

It was fire.

Oh, fuck. Am I truly dead this time? Did I fail Lillian and the humans in the Nether?

But no. Even if I"m struggling to open my eyes, the air is still thick with smoke and the titillating scent of battle. Someone shouts nearby, and I hear a dragon growling—my dragon. Is he okay? Are any of them hurt?

Warm hands brush against my face, and someone lets out a breath of relief. Soft lips brush against my forehead.

"Thank the gods. I can sense you"re awake, love. Open those beautiful eyes for me."

I do, and then I squint. "You"re covered in blood."

"Most of us are. But not to worry, you look good as new," Crypt smiles, but it"s weak. He looks exhausted.

Despite how tired he sounds, I realize he"s scooped me up off the ground, and we"re leaving the maze. My eyes flutter as I try to keep up with our surroundings. Why the fuck am I so out of it? How did I survive that fire? It hurt like hell, and then everything went black. I thought I was finally slipping away for good, but now…

I focus on Crypt again. "What do you mean, good as new?"

"Silas was finally useful. I"ll have to thank him, for once."

Crypt…thanking Silas? It"s like I woke up in an alternate universe. What happened?

I stare at the beautiful swirling markings on Crypt"s neck. "I killed your father."

"I know, darling. I left his corpse in Limbo for the wisps."

Oh. Then I frown, noticing how silent it"s become. We"re out of the maze now, and the incubus"s boots crunch across the dead grass and snow of the training fields outside of Everbound Forest. Something gleams in the sky overhead, and I hear Baelfire"s roar distantly.

"Is First Placement over?"

He hums. "Let"s assume so. Many other legacies are still trying to get out, but I suspect the Immortal Quintet is long gone, along with all the wards. That"s how we got out so quickly—I was able to fly up and finally see the way out. I know too well how the Immortal Quintet works. If Engela left the fight and told the other two about you winning against Somnus, they"ll be trying to get as far away from you as possible."

Damn. Hunting down moving targets will be a pain in the ass.

But the more important thing to worry about is…

"Are any of you hurt?"

Crypt"s violet gaze flicks to mine and back up as he steps into Everbound Castle. It"s still eerily silent, as if we"ve left one storm and are in silence before another approaches.

"I won"t lie to you, love. We"re all in poor shape. Your professor and your fae are unresponsive. Baelfire flew them back to the castle to get them to the apartment faster."

Oh, my gods.

I push at Crypt"s arm, and he sets me down on my feet with a soft sigh. That"s when I realize I"m stark fucking naked—but with the way my throat is seizing painfully at the idea of any of my matches being hurt, I don"t care if anyone else sees me naked.

Crypt shrugs out of his bloodied, charred leather jacket and wraps it around me. He doesn"t let go of my arm, and we end up supporting each other as we hurry back to the quintet apartment. In the halls, we pass a few whispering faculty members huddled off to the side of the hall, wide-eyed as they watch us.

Then we pass Pia, the prophetess. She"s staring sagely out a tall stained-glass window, and I halt in my tracks.

"You. You can heal people even when they can"t be healed."

Her white-cloaked head tips slightly. "Everyone can heal, my fearless one."

If she"s trying to be profound, I don"t give a fuck. "Come with me."

"What"s the magic word?" she asks softly.

Seriously? She wants a fucking please when my quintet member"s lives are at stake? I"m far too emotional and on edge at the moment, not to mention brimming with fresh power from such a big kill. Lucky for this prophetess, I"m really fucking good at composing myself.

Unfortunately, I"m not so good at stopping myself from using my I"m going to kill you voice right now.

"My bad," I smile dangerously. "Let me try that again. Come with me, now."

I expect her to be annoyed, but the prophetess laughs softly.

"I should have known you would take after her," she murmurs.

…What?

No. Whatever cryptic shit she"s trying to pull, I still don"t give a fuck. I"m relieved she finally follows Crypt and me until we reach the quintet apartment.

As soon as we get inside, panic claws at my insides. Baelfire is slumped in one of the dining room chairs, his skin beaded with sweat as he wraps bandages around a still-healing injury on his midsection. Everett is a bloody mess on the kitchen floor, and Silas?—

"Where"s Silas?" I ask thickly as Pia crouches and begins healing Everett.

Baelfire gives up wrapping himself and stands to wrap me in a hug. He inhales by my neck as if my scent is all he needs for a moment. "In your room. He"s still breathing, but…"

I take over wrapping his injury, blinking through the moisture in my eyes, desperate to keep anyone else from seeing them. Crypt has also sat in one of the dining room chairs, his forehead on the table. He needs to feed to recuperate—especially if all that blood is his.

"But?" I ask Baelfire.

"Um…what does it mean when a caster"s fingertips turn black?"

I freeze. "What?"

Bael must be too tired to stand anymore because he lowers himself back into the chair, wincing with every movement. "Fuck. I don"t know. He has this gods-awful fever, and his fingers are all charred. Maybe he just touched you when you were still…" He swallows hard, his voice breaking as it turns into a whisper. "Still on fire. Oh, fuck. I almost lost you, Maven. Fucking gods, I almost?—"

"Don"t blaspheme, please," Pia chides quietly, straightening and turning to the dragon shifter. When I see that Everett"s chest is no longer a bloody mess and he"s now in a deep sleep, I start to feel like I can breathe again.

"Hold still," the prophetess instructs, her hands hovering over Bael"s midsection.

Baelfire waits while Pia heals him, but I can"t take it anymore. I hurry into my bedroom, and when I see Silas on the bed, I feel like I"m choking.

I can sense it even from here. The change in his magic.

How dare he do this? I might"ve been fine. If I had died from that fire, I…

Fuck. No, I would have died permanently. He knew that.

I sit on the bed beside Silas, wiping any remaining moisture from my eyes. The light outside is well into the afternoon. Other legacies are still in the maze or dead—I can only pray to the universe that Kenzie and her quintet are all right. And if the Immortal Quintet dropped their wards and ran at the first sign of the telum, things are about to get a lot harder.

I"ll be hunting them. They"ll be hunting me.

It"s going to be a viciously bloody mess.

But even that knowledge doesn"t cheer me up as I stare at Silas, lying unconscious on the bed. His dark curls are damp with sweat, clinging to his forehead as he fights the fever. His breathing is labored, and his slender fingertips are, in fact, blackened from necromancy.

Pia knocks softly on the door. Despite all the healing, there"s not even a spot of blood on her white head-to-toe ensemble. "I can heal him, too."

"But you can"t heal the fever," I mutter.

She shakes her white-veiled head. "No. That was his choice."

I watch as she heals Silas. Then she pauses by the door on the way out. "Many of the Immortal Quintet"s hired hands escaped with them. Rumors will spread, and it"s only a matter of time before bounty hunters and others arrive. Everbound won"t be safe for you."

"No shit." Safety is an illusion.

It almost sounds like she"s smiling. "Is it? Perhaps you should pray to the gods for their aid."

"Or perhaps I should stick my thumb up my ass and spin around three times while reciting poetry. That"s just as likely to help me face what"s coming next. The gods forsook me a long time ago."

Pia is quiet for a long moment, then leaves without another word. Offending a prophetess is pretty damn far down on my list of sins, so I pay her no mind as I continue to stare at Silas.

After a moment, I feel Crypt"s presence in the room, but he doesn"t leave Limbo. It"s as if he"s just checking in on me, and then he leaves again—maybe to shower.

"You all right, Boo?" Baelfire murmurs, walking into the room and taking my hand in his. His injuries are gone. He still looks exhausted, and he"s still covered in ash, dirt, and black harbinger blood, but he"s okay.

When I nod and continue observing Silas, he glances down at the blood fae.

"Silas has never gotten sick. Not even when we were kids."

"He"s sick because of the necromancy," I say quietly. "It"s a transitory phase. Sort of like turning into a vampire through vampyr venom, only with magic. It"s excruciating."

I would know. I felt much of its effects before I learned I had access to necromancy.

Baelfire"s eyes flash to mine as he puts two and two together. "You mean…he"s becoming a necromancer. For you."

That sets another emotion off in my chest. I swallow, nodding as my vision blurs slightly. Knowing Silas sacrificed his blood magic for me…

"He"s such a fucking idiot," I whisper.

"Always has been," Bael sighs, "but I get why he did it this time. Even if he can"t use his oh-so-special prodigy magic anymore…you"re worth it, Maven. You"re worth everything."

He leans over to brush a warm kiss against my forehead, his face softening when he sees the moisture trying to escape my eyes. "I"m gonna go shower all this shit off of me, so you can keep staring at your pointy-eared, sweaty nerd for a bit. But when I get back…"

"We need to decide where to go next. I still have to hunt down the Immortal Quintet."

He snorts. "You just killed Somnus fucking DeLune. I know we"ll have to leave Everbound, but you deserve a small break. Wherever we go, we can lay low and take time to recuperate. But before we go...I"ll need you."

I give him a sardonic look. "Such a one-track mind."

"It"s not sexual. Not unless you want it to be," Bael adds with a weak smirk. But it fades quickly, and he shakes his head. "I just need to hold you for a while. Even if my curse is appeased from everything that happened today, my dragon"s still on edge, and so am I. My mate just survived getting eaten by a monster and then burned to a crisp. You probably just shaved twenty years off my life through trauma alone, you know that? I have to covet you now and make sure you"re taken care of. It"s a dragon thing."

He places a sweet kiss on my forehead again and leaves the room.

My gaze falls back to Silas, and my fists clench when I see Silas"s brow furrowed slightly in pain. He really shouldn"t have done this. Sacrificing his powers just to heal me. This damn cutthroat blood fae does whatever he thinks it takes to get what he wants, but I"m going to give him hell for ruining himself for me when he wakes up.

"You will wake up," I warn him, moisture crowding my eyes as I reach out and run my fingers over one of his soft curls.

After all…most casters don"t survive the transition into necromancy. Even really powerful casters don"t always have the best odds.

When my emotions become too much to handle, I finally stand and exhale harshly. I should get all this blood and gore off of me, too. Sitting here getting misty-eyed isn"t helping Silas. I need to come up with our next plan of action and get my quintet to safety before?—

Stay with me, sangfluir.

I freeze, staring down at the gorgeous blood fae. He hasn"t moved.

But I heard him in my head clear as day.

Which should be impossible for unbound quintet members. That level of connection only happens with powerful quintets—ones that have already received the blessing of the gods, broken their curses, and had their hearts bound together.

And I don"t even have a fucking heart right now, let alone the blessing of a god, so this can"t be happening. It"s just in my head.

Silas?I think, concentrating as I try to push the thought to him. I"m here.

His brow smooths out slightly as he slips back into a deeper rest. The room is quiet as I try to decide whether I imagined that. One of my bare hands absentmindedly slips to my chest, rubbing the stinging sensation lingering there.

Then I blink.

Silas healed me with necromancy. I was burned to a crisp, and every other injury vanished without even a scar. So why is my chest still stinging?

Glancing down, I gasp at the straight, thin, rune-like line emblazoned directly over my scar—the quintet emblem for the House of Arcana.

Somehow, without a heart and without the blessing of the gods…

I"ve been bound to Silas Crane.