Chapter 8

In death, I had been gifted more than simple insights into the lives of the ones I'd lost. As I stood beside my best friend, ready to retrieve a Guild Stone based on the knowledge I had managed to claim from the mouths of the dead, I couldn't help but wonder if everything I'd suffered had somehow been fated despite the way Roxy had torn our destiny from the hands of the stars. But how else could we have obtained this knowledge? Short of finding a way to commune with the souls which had passed beyond The Veil, I couldn't see how we might have hoped to find this place.

Regardless of divine interference or providence, I would take the opportunity. Azriel Orion believed the fate of this war might be shifted by the discovery of the Guild Stones and potentially by the formation of the Zodiac Guild too, and I was more than willing to trust in his judgement on such things. Though what the Zodiac Guild even meant now that the Imperial Star was no longer a part of it, none of us had any clue.

So there I stood, side by side with Azriel's son, our boots marking the entrance to a cavern no Fae had likely noticed in countless years, let alone investigated. We were far from the academy and the others, the icy winds and thrashing waves of the north-eastern coast all that kept us company in this wild place.

The cavern opened out above us, crystals of every shape and colour glimmering like our own personal rainbow as the light of my flames reflected off of their surfaces.

The air was cold and damp, my boots splashing through a shallow puddle as I moved deeper into the darkness.

"He spoke of this cavern and of my ancestor, Luxie Acrux, who supposedly claimed it for her own," I murmured, my gaze tracking across the rocky walls and roof above our heads, noting how sharp those crystals were, their razor edges gleaming.

"I can't tell if this place is natural or tainted by old magic," Lance muttered as he followed close behind me, his footsteps loud in the uninterrupted silence of the cavern.

"Perhaps it's both," I suggested, heading further into the depths where the black stone walls began to narrow, the passage closing in before ending in a pool filled with utterly still water.

"Tell me what he said again," Lance asked, and I felt a stirring of guilt at having spent the time I had with his father. The longing for such an encounter was clear in his voice, and I wished I could offer him a parting in The Veil so that he could speak with the man who he had loved so dearly for himself. But that door was closed to me now, barred and locked until I found myself falling into death for the final time. There would be no returning again. The steady thump of my heart swore that much to me. My life was no longer my own but completely hers. I was bound to the time she was destined to claim in this realm, and I felt no fear over the fact. I'd once suffered through months without her, and I was glad to know that we would never suffer that separation again.

"Walk the path of the unknown through the cavern filled with razor-edged stones, then dive into the secrets which linger. The Guild Stone stolen by your ancestor is hidden in a place long since forgotten by both time and memory."

"He always was fond of riddles," Lance said. "Though in this instance, a little clarity would have been appreciated. He was aware of the Dragon asshole hell bent on killing all of us, right?"

"He had a choice word or two for my father," I agreed, and Lance released a breath of amusement.

"I'd have paid good money to hear that."

I turned to him as we reached the edge of the pool, placing a hand on his shoulder and pinning him in my gaze as he looked at me with a frown.

"He loves you more than he could express to me in words," I told him. "And he wanted you to know he's sorry. So fucking sorry for leaving you when he did, for everything you endured since he died…honestly, I think watching all the trials you've faced since his death has broken something in him, brother. But there's hope now, hope for a better future, and that's thanks in no small part to you. You saw it when I refused to, let yourself accept the twins and what they were destined to become. I'm sorry it took me so long to come to that truth too."

Lance's face crumpled with pain, and I drew him against me, embracing him tightly while he thumped my back and released a heavy breath.

"I've been caught in the agony of missing him ever since he died. But when I lost you, I was hollow, Darius. I couldn't bear knowing that piece of shit had stolen every good thing from you before you ever got the chance to crawl out from under his shadow. You deserve to live, wholly and fully, knowing true love and conquering every demon that has haunted you until this point, and I won't ever take a single second of our time together for granted again."

"Well, shit, you're gonna make me cry if you carry on like that," I teased, shoving him back and exchanging a smile with him that promised a thousand more adventures by my side.

"I guess we have to dive into that murky water now?" Lance sighed, looking to the circular pool beside us. It was barely four feet wide, looking like little more than a puddle, but something told me it held depths far beyond its innocuous appearance.

"One of these days, we'll head off on an excursion together and won't end up coated in anything disgusting," I joked, tugging my shirt off and tossing it aside while letting water magic build in my veins.

I flexed my fingers, reaching out with my magic and forming a connection to the pool, closing my eyes as I focused on it, sensing how deep it went and trying to figure out exactly what it would take to reach the bottom.

"It's fucking endless," Lance said from beside me, clearly focusing on his own water magic. "The tunnel just keeps going and going."

"There has to be a bottom to it." I frowned as I tried to find one, but before I could, something butted against the edges of my power and shoved me back. "What the fuck is that?"

"Whatever it is, I can't break through it from this distance," Lance replied, his own magic writhing against mine as he found the barrier in the depths of the pool too.

I reached for him blindly, taking his hand and dropping the walls surrounding my magic just as he did the same, our combined power thrusting against the shadowy barrier with enough force to take out a small village. But it didn't break.

I huffed out a breath of frustration, smoke spilling between my lips as I released Lance's hand and opened my eyes.

"I'll get through it," I told him, unbuckling my belt and kicking off my boots as I prepared to dive into the tunnel and figure out what was going on.

"Whatever that magic is, it's old and it's sleeping," Lance warned me as I moved to the edge of the pool. "I'm not sure how it will react to being woken."

"Only one way to find out. Besides, if anyone is going to be able to break the spells cast by a long dead Acrux, then it'll be me," I replied before diving in headfirst and kicking to propel myself deeper. The bite of the freezing water dug into my flesh with icy fingers, but the fire which lived within my soul rose to meet it, pushing it back and keeping my body warm despite its best efforts.

My palms tingled as I called on my water magic, commanding a pocket of air to form around my face as I wielded my power over the liquid and forced it back enough to let me breathe and see more clearly.

Though ‘clearly' was an overstatement. The murky green of the pool only grew darker as I descended, the rough rock walls brushing against my shoulders and legs as I kicked to descend further. I sent a Faelight out before me, the glow of it streaming away into the depths below, illuminating faint carvings on the rocky walls surrounding me, the runes pulsing with energy when I passed them.

My heart thumped loudly in my ears, my gaze moving from one rune to the next, some of their meanings clear to me while others I'd never seen before. I got the feeling Roxy would have known more about them than me, and I snorted at the thought of the smug look on her face over that fact. I'd have to be sure to research all I could about ether before she realised there was a magical subject that she might claim supremacy in over me.

I swam for ten minutes, then longer still, my muscles burning as the underwater tunnel grew tighter, closing in around me while I forced myself not to think about the fact that there was no way I could turn around down here. The platinum ring of my wedding band was warm against my skin, reminding me that I had that small way to regenerate my magic should I need it, but it felt insubstantial after such an immense descent. Perhaps I should start taking a leaf from Dante Oscura's book and drape myself in gold at all times to avoid this kind of situation. He certainly wouldn't have had too much to worry about if he found himself trapped in this place.

Before I could get too lost in the idea of becoming stuck down here, a rush of power crashed into me, shattering the water magic that had been keeping the oxygen around my face and extinguishing my Faelight in one sudden burst.

I cursed within my own head, bracing my hands against the rock walls as disorientation took me in its grasp, my mind flailing with the sudden reality of my magic being torn from me. It wasn't like the effects of a suppressant, my power hadn't been blocked, more like it was trapped beneath a heavy weight, leaving me struggling to tear it free.

My heart thrashed in my chest, the knowledge that Roxy could feel it helping my thoughts align as I ignored the instinct to panic and instead focused on my surroundings.

I pressed my palms to the rock walls, noticing the way they had turned from rough to smooth, feeling the unnatural raised markings running along them. I traced the closest one, focusing on the shape it created, finding an upright triangle that signified fire beside a single letter A.

Well, if this wanted fire, then I had plenty of that, and the letter made me think it might just be asking for a kind specific to my family line.

With a force of will, Dragon fire exploded from my palm, the heat washing over me. The magic which had trapped me in place fell away, the tunnel opening up beneath me once more.

I hesitated, my mind catching on the very real possibility that earth or air magic might be required to complete the passage through this tunnel, neither of which I could lay claim to. Lance held command over air, but as he had remained far above me in the central cavern, I doubted that would be of much help if I found myself trapped again. I tried to think back over the time I'd been forced to spend studying my family tree as a child. My studies had focused on the power and size possessed by the Dragons I'd descended from, but there had been more information about those who claimed the most memorable histories.

Luxie Acrux wasn't a name that came easily to mind. It had been years since I'd pored over those old records, and I'd been more interested in the ancestors who had fought in battles or owned precious treasures than memorising what magic they each held. Her name did ring a bell though, I just couldn't think why.

I stayed where I was, reforming the pocket of air around my face and reaching out with my connection to the water. The tunnel curved beneath me, levelling out before moving upward again, the passage just as narrow as it was here.

I found a barrier once more, the magic the same as the kind I'd just shattered, and I frowned in concentration as I searched the edges of the tunnel surrounding it.

The rough rock smoothed out again, and I found a second carving etched into the stone which I quickly identified as another symbol for fire with the letter A beside it.

I raised my fist and shot a blast of potent Dragon fire away from me, frowning in concentration as I guided it through the tunnel, my limbs beginning to tremble as the water fought to douse the flames that moved further and further from me with every second.

The fireball finally made it to the carving, and I let it explode against it, the magic shattering and sending a spray of water up into an open space beyond. The droplets fell back into the pool and my connection to the space disappeared, but I was reassured enough to swim on.

I kicked my legs hard, ignoring the cuts and scrapes I'd gained from the pressing walls of the tunnel and swimming blindly on through it.

Another five minutes passed, the tunnel seeming endless before I emerged at last, sucking in a deep breath of fresher air and finding myself in another cavern.

Unlike the first, this one wasn't hung with sharp rocks, the roof instead lined with bones bleached white with age, forming an arch where a small stone platform sat at the water's edge.

I heaved myself out, sending two green orbs of light flying back down the tunnel to let Lance know he should follow.

Fire magic built beneath my skin, water rising in a cloud of steam as I dried out quickly and stepped through the archway to inspect the metal door beyond.

Thick black studs stuck out from the iron, their tips sharpened like spears, a heavy lock and three bolts securing it in place.

"Well, that looks ominous," Lance spoke from behind me, taking me by surprise with his sudden appearance.

I glanced over my shoulder at him, finding him perfectly dry, not a beard hair out of place. Of course the asshole had used air to shoot himself through the narrow passage in a blink. We'd encountered several small tunnels and tight crawl spaces when hunting Nymphs in the past and he'd always shot through them at speed. Not that he'd ever admit to disliking confined spaces, but I had him pegged.

He waved a hand at me and my clothes rushed forward, hanging in a little cocoon of air, perfectly dry.

"Thanks," I said, the air falling away as I reached for the clothes, and I quickly dressed myself in them.

"I was concerned that the sight of your naked ass might scare away whatever is hiding behind that door," he mused. "And I want a chance to dance with it myself before that happens."

He moved to stand beside me and we inspected the door, his brow furrowing as he crouched down, muttering spells beneath his breath, checking for traps and curses inlaid in the metal.

I pressed my palm to the centre of the heavy iron and a chill shot through my core at the frigid shock of it. It wasn't just cold; ice had long been my friend, and the feeling spreading from within that door made the point of freezing seem tame.

A breath fell from my lungs as the cold crept deeper into my chest, a rattle shaking my ribcage as it dug into me, seeking out every bit of light and warmth, snuffing all it found one after another.

The Dragon in me stirred as the cold raced through my limbs, Lance speaking a word I couldn't understand as it clanged through my skull, and my knees threatened to buckle.

The man I had been before might have caved to the weight of that icy breath as it stole through me, but the man who had stepped back out of death was not so easily conquered.

My muscles flexed as I stayed on my feet, power rippling through my flesh, and the beast in me snarled with burning energy.

I blinked and my gaze sharpened as my eyes shifted, the reptilian slits narrowing my focus onto the door so it was all I could see.

Smoke slid between my lips as I drew them back in a snarl, and Dragon fire blazed within my chest where the cold rushed to consume it.

With the small bit of awareness I still clung to, I gripped Lance's shoulder, shoving him back, my other arm trembling where it remained locked with the door.

He took my warning and moved behind me, shielding himself while the power of all that I was rose up from within the depths of me and rattled me to my core.

Dragon fire rushed from me like water bursting a dam, and it was all I could do to brace myself as the blast boomed from me and collided with the door, the flames of my Order tearing into the solid iron, ripping through locks both physical and magical at once.

The heat of the blast enveloped me, stealing the breath from my lungs and nearly knocking me from my feet. I gritted my teeth and held firm as the door shattered, shards of metal flying through the air, slicing into my skin and splattering my blood against the white bones that surrounded us.

I cursed as I was forced to turn my face, my hand coming up to shield my eyes while the last of it tore past us and everything finally fell still.

I expelled a breath lined with smoke, my shifted eyes piercing the darkness beyond the door where a stone chamber opened up into a wide space thick with shadows.

"And there was me about to crack through the spells on the door with some level of subtly," Orion said dryly.

He got to his feet behind me, clucking his tongue as he took in my half-shredded clothes and the bloody cuts which marked my body.

There was a gash in my right shoulder which would have been damn alarming for a mortal, but I just pressed a hand to it, healing it away while trying to maintain some level of dignity over that shit fest.

"I figured this way was easier," I replied.

Lance opened his mouth to say something further, but the clanging of what sounded like a huge bell rang out from within the chamber before us, silencing him.

We exchanged a look, and I drew my axe as he unsheathed his sword. This place looked like it hadn't been touched for countless years, but where magic was concerned, that didn't necessarily mean it was abandoned.

I led the way into the cavern, sending a Faelight ahead of us and tilting my head back to look up at the huge space which was revealed beyond.

The walls rose up endlessly, disappearing into darkness before any kind of roof could be glimpsed, the golden glint of a huge bell hanging directly in the centre of the echoing space.

There were stone carved tables and pedestals, marked with various runes and holding a mixture of treasures and ancient bones, the dust which had piled up on it all doing little to conceal the immensity of the haul.

"Mine," I growled, my gaze fixing on a decorative shield inlaid with emeralds, and as I stared around at this forgotten treasure, I suddenly remembered why Luxie Acrux's name had been sticking in my mind.

She hadn't fought fearlessly in battle or made a name for herself in politics. No; Luxie Acrux had been on a list which my father had pointed out to me with a twist of his lips that betrayed his irritation at it.

"Some Dragons in our family line chose to covet their treasure even in death,"he'd spat. "The hordes of these Dragons have never been found. They stole their riches away and concealed them somewhere in this world, yet to be discovered, choosing to die while maintaining possession of their gold rather than letting it pass on in inheritance to the next generation."

I'd felt that same irritation at his words, the galling truth of knowing the Dragons on that list had hidden untold treasures away from us, the biting reality that somewhere in the world those riches were concealed in tombs unclaimed by all. He'd gone on to explain that many members of our family had hunted for the lost treasures but none from that list had ever been found. Until now. Azriel had sought the location beyond The Veil from some dead Dragons who had watched Luxie Acrux place it in this very spot.

A bark of laughter escaped me as I pictured his face when he found out that I had discovered one. That every coin, jewel, and precious stone in this place had finally been reclaimed by a member of his precious bloodline, and that it just so happened to have been by the Heir who had betrayed him.

"You're drooling," Lance deadpanned, taking a step into the space and picking up a ring with a sapphire inlaid into it, the gold band forged to appear as if a pair of wings clutched the jewel.

"I'm hard as fuck too, but that's not the point," I replied, plucking the ring from his hand and pushing it onto my little finger.

Lance snorted a laugh, but his eyes lingered on the ring like there was something that drew him to it.

"This is my ancestor's treasure," I said, moving between several columns until I found what I'd been hunting for; a great sarcophagus carved with images of Dragons laying beneath an enormous mural of a silver Dragon as she tore through the sky. The words ‘Here lies Luxie Acrux and all she claimed dear in this world and beyond' had been scored into the rock above the mural.

"That makes it mine," I added, pointing to the words for confirmation. "All of it. Every coin. Even if I hadn't been descended from her, I was the one who found it, so it would still be mine. Right down to the last gemstone."

"Even that necklace?" Lance asked curiously, pointing to a pendant which had been draped around the throat of a stone bust, a star hanging from it inlaid with diamonds which formed the symbol for Taurus.

"Yes. That's mine," I agreed, snatching it and hanging it around my neck, power tingling beneath my skin at the contact with the treasure.

"What about those others which match it?" Lance asked curiously, pointing out a line of busts, each of them sporting a similar necklace with the diamonds forming the symbols of the other star signs on them.

"Mine," I agreed, moving to take them from their positions on display and pushing them into my pocket.

"How about this bracelet?" Lance called from across the chamber, and I cursed his Vampire speed as I stalked over to him, snatching the band of gold which had been engraved with little stars beside a crescent moon. A shiver tracked down my spine as I inspected it. This one was old. Trachion era, if I wasn't mistaken, the weight a little heavier than it would have been if it were made now, probably forged in the ancient style of-

"What about this tiara?" Lance called from the depths of the cavern, and I snapped around, smoke coiling through my teeth as I spotted him lowering the thing towards his head. The stones were onyx, the metal almost black itself, the style screaming Blood Ages, and it was fucking mine.

"Give it to me," I demanded, marching towards him with my hand outstretched, and he flung it to me with a smirk before speeding away again.

"How about these coins? The rebellion needs more funding." Lance let the handful of priceless coins tumble between his fingers as he dropped them back into the chest he'd plucked them from.

"Those date back to the rule of King Olard," I hissed, rushing towards him. "They're not auras for purchasing food for a fucking army!"

"Okay." Lance shot past me, causing a wind to ruffle my hair, and I spun around to find him up on a pedestal, three necklaces hanging from his throat. "What about these?" he questioned, inspecting one which was a string of beautiful pearls that looked like they might just be from the now-extinct deloyster, and another which was a bright platinum chain with a tear-drop diamond that had one of the finest cuts I'd ever seen.

"Those are mine," I growled, breaking into a run and barely catching them as he tossed them to me before shooting away again. I stuffed my pockets so full that my pants were in danger of slipping right off my ass.

"These?" he wriggled his fingers at me from behind the sarcophagus, each of them coated in gold rings and a deep growl escaped me.

"Stop it," I snapped, rushing over to him, vaulting the dead body of my ancestor and scrambling to pick them all up from the floor where he dropped them before I could get close to him. I shoved them all onto my fingers, the call of the gold making my blood hum in satisfaction even as he continued to paw at my treasure from somewhere behind me.

"You have to admit, these suit me," he called, and I turned sharply, finding him inspecting himself in a dusty gilded mirror, a crown upon his head which had to be at least six hundred years old, an emerald broach pinned to his chest, a solid gold spear clutched in his fist, and a ceremonial shield strapped to his arm. "Yeah, I think I've found my new look."

"Give me those," I demanded, tripping over a box of jewels in my haste to claim the items from him and damn near falling on my face.

By the time I'd snatched them all into my grasp, I found him twirling in a circle while holding a flowing white dress to his chest, the corset top of it inlaid with individual diamonds which had probably been sewn into place during the Greshburg era before the War of the Seven Horses.

"I swear to fuck, Lance, if you don't stop-"

The dress hit me in the face, and I twisted at the sound of falling coins, finding him lying in a heap of treasure, his arms and legs opening and closing like he was trying to make a snow angel in it.

"Lance!" I bellowed, and he grinned widely before pointing to a dark corner beside him.

"What about that music box there?" he asked casually, and I stilled, trying to rein in my Dragon instincts and think clearly for a moment.

"Please stop touching my things," I ground out, moving to look at the innocuous little box he'd discovered.

"Are you gonna put all of that shit down or what?" Lance teased as he shot to my side, eyeing the heap of treasure I had clutched in my arms and draped over my body.

"No," I snapped, peering over the material of the dress where it was perched on the shield and daring him to try and make me with my stare.

Lance just arched a brow at me, glancing down as the heaps of coins in my pockets finally won the battle with my waistband and my pants fell to pool around my ankles with a heavy thump.

I pursed my lips, tightening my grip on the things I'd claimed, and Lance held out for all of five seconds before he burst into laughter.

I forced myself to drop the treasures which had been clutched to my chest and threw myself at him, knocking him from his feet and sending us to the floor where we fell into a scrap like a couple of assholes in a bar brawl.

My pants got tangled around my ankles, and Lance punched me in the jaw hard enough to make my head spin. I headbutted him in return, cracking his nose and making him curse as the crown fell from my head and smacked him on the forehead for good measure.

He shoved me hard enough to roll me away from him, then slapped my fucking ass with a braying laugh which finally made me crack too.

"Dickhead," I hissed, abandoning our fight and yanking my pants back up again.

I gave in to the inevitable and carefully removed the coins from my pockets, piling them up beside me while keeping half an eye on Lance to make sure he didn't try to paw at them again. I hid the sapphire ring under a few of them too, not forgetting the way his eyes had gotten all beady over it.

"Maybe that's how we win this war," he mused. "Just lay a bunch of treasure out for Lionel to see, then sneak up and cut his throat while he's jerking off over it."

"Where would you find the treasure to tempt him with?" I asked.

"Err, right here, asshole." Lance waved a hand to indicate the room at large, and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"No. Because this is all-"

"If you say ‘mine' again, I'll probably have to give you another spanking," he cut in, and I cracked a smile.

"Just so long as we're clear about the ownership of everything in this room."

"Crystal," he replied, shaking his head at me, but we both knew if this was a room of Gwen's blood all bottled up and ready for someone to claim, he'd be just as unreasonable about it.

Lance's eyes moved back to the music box, and I knew we needed to face it to claim the Sagittarius Guild Stone, but I spoke before he could get to his feet.

"I was there," I told him in a low voice. "When my father had you and Gwen locked up in that cage in the Palace of Souls, I was there with you. I watched what you went through, and I tried to lend you what strength I could from beyond The Veil, but I know it wasn't enough…"

Lance's eyes clouded with the horrors of what he'd faced in that place, and I reached out for him, taking his hand in mine and looking deep into his dark eyes.

"We're going to make them pay for it. Every single second of pain my father and that shadow bitch forced upon us and those we love, our kingdom and its subjects. You know that, right?"

"Oh, I know," he agreed, and some of that heaviness lifted from his gaze as he let me draw him close for an embrace.

"Let's start by finding those stones then."

We got to our feet and moved to stand before the music box. I reached out and took it into my grasp. It seemed so harmless sitting here amongst countless priceless treasures, but I could feel the dark power that writhed around it all the same, could sense the potency of it and understood why Luxie had kept it here when she passed into death. Something valuable lurked within it.

"Ready?" I asked, my fingers grasping the lid.

"As I'll ever be."

I met my best friend's gaze and prised the lid open.

A tiny Centaur stood on a little platform within the box, a bow hanging over his shoulder and a target painted onto the inside of the lid. My attention fixed to him as an eerie tune began to play and the centaur rotated slowly on his platform, drawing an arrow and preparing to fire it. My eyes began to glaze as I watched him and as he fired the arrow, I felt a sharp tug in my gut as though I were being pulled forward by its momentum too. I reached forward as if compelled to do so, and as my fingers brushed the tiny arrow, I found myself tumbling through the air, losing sight of everything except for the centaur until I couldn't see him either.

I fell heavily onto my back, blinking up at dark trees which towered overhead, and I pushed myself to my feet as I took in the sudden change in our surroundings.

Adrenaline spilled into my veins as I gazed around at the woodland we'd found ourselves in.

"How the fuck is this even real?" I muttered, turning slowly and gazing between the thick tree trunks.

"This happened before when Blue and I found the Libra box. If it's anything like that one, this is going to be a merry little playground of fucked-up torture," Lance said.

The sound of thundering hooves made us both turn to look to our right, flames igniting along my arms as I drew magic to the ready in preparation of a fight.

"Sagittarius," Lance muttered, casting a shield of air magic around us. "My bet is on a pissed off Centaur heading our way."

"If a Centaur was trapped in here, wouldn't it have died by now?" I questioned, the thundering sound drawing closer.

Lance shrugged, rolling his shoulders back as he stared at the largest gap in the trees ahead of us.

As he'd predicted, a huge, silver Centaur which looked to be carved from metal burst from the trees, bow and arrow held ready in his arms as he turned his piercing gaze on us.

Fire exploded from my fists, tearing from me and colliding with the Centaur with the full force of my power.

The flames burned through his metallic flesh, his glinting metal eyes twisting my way before he loosed the arrow he'd drawn.

I threw myself to the side, knocking Lance along with me, somehow knowing that arrow would pierce his air shield before it even happened. The magic in this place followed laws of its own, and as the silver arrow the size of a damn spear sailed over our heads and embedded itself into a tree on the far side of the clearing, I knew this wouldn't be so simple as fighting our way free.

The Centaur galloped towards us, at least four times as big as any shifter of its kind that I'd ever seen and looking more like a statue given life. We shoved to our feet as it prepared a second arrow, but it skidded to a halt before us, not firing.

"Five stones may sit upon a throne, but none of them hold water. The greatest of them fails at flame, the weakest is its daughter. In air, two of them will excel, but the other may be your freedom, though linger too long on the earth and you may fail to see them."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" I snarled, and the Centaur simply pointed at an archway between the towering trees, his bow held loose in his arms.

"Come on," I grunted to Lance, and the two of us skirted the unnatural beast, feeling its metallic eyes pinned on us as we stalked away from it towards the archway.

In the centre of a clearing, six stones lay in a bowl of pure white marble, the air between the trees so still that it felt like the world itself was holding its breath.

"A riddle?" Lance queried, moving towards the stones with interest. "That's a lot easier than the box Darcy and I found."

"If you say so," I replied, because whatever convoluted clue the Centaur had just given us meant absolutely nothing to me. "You think one of those is the Guild Stone?"

Lance moved to crouch before the marble bowl, his fingers skimming over the six stones that lay in a circle at its base.

"No," he replied eventually. "These are…something else."

I watched as he reached for the smallest of the stones, its colour grey and unassuming next to the brighter, more textured stones around it.

The ground rocked at our feet as he picked it up, and I cursed, grabbing one of the thick tree trunks for support, but the fucking thing bit me the moment I laid my hand on it.

I growled, ripping my hand away from the trunk of the tree which was now lined with razor sharp teeth, the entire trunk lurching towards me like it was willing to rip itself out of the ground to come after me.

I blasted fire at it but that only seemed to make it worse, a roar tumbling from the tree followed by its roots ripping at the soil.

"Lance," I barked, looking to him for some answer.

He snatched the stones from the marble plate before the thing could buck them all off onto the ground.

"There's the throne," he replied, jerking his chin towards the far side of the clearing and tossing three of the stones to me. "Now we need to figure out which one of these things hold water."

"They're stones, for the stars' sake," I spat as I fought to keep my feet while the roots of the carnivorous tree tried to trip me.

"I know they're stones, Darius. Stop pointing out the fucking obvious and get your ass over to that throne."

He shot away from me, muttering some shit about chalk, limestone, and flint, none of which held water to my knowledge, and I cursed him as I was left to battle my way between the ferocious trees to catch up to him.

A root snared my foot, and I was sent flying, a flash of fire magic breaking the thing apart before it could tug me towards those damn teeth. But I couldn't save myself from smacking into the ground at the foot of the ornate throne.

"One of these has to be more porous than the others," Lance said. "I can't figure out if this is flint or-"

"This one," I announced, holding up a brown stone with black stripes marking one side of it.

"What makes you think-"

I tossed the other two stones onto the throne, then snatched the ones Lance was holding and threw them down beside it too, keeping the striped stone in my other fist.

The trees stopped trying to bite, the roots falling still beneath the dirt once more, and Lance breathed a laugh while I clawed my way back to my feet again.

"How did you know that was the right one?" he asked.

I gave the stone a shake, feeling the water trapped within it sloshing from side to side as I did so.

"Felt it when I fell on my fucking face," I admitted, tossing the stone aside. "What was next?"

"The greatest of them fails at flame, the weakest is its daughter," Lance recited immediately. Damn, I'd never been so pleased that he was a nerd.

"Alright." I blasted the remaining stones with fire just as something fell against my shoulder and tumbled down my arm.

One of them crumbled to dust alongside the throne they'd been sat on, and I turned to grin triumphantly at Lance but found him gaping back at me in horror instead of admiration.

"What?" I asked.

"Don't move," he breathed, his eyes on my sleeve just as something else fell into my hair, causing me to bat my hand at it.

"Stop moving!" Lance yelled, and as I looked down at my arm to see what he was freaking out about, I fell entirely still.

The Baruvian Hellnet Spider was scuttling up my arm, its pincers clicking as it moved, and I cursed as I felt the second one moving across my scalp.

More of the poisonous little bastards fell from the trees above our heads, landing on the two of us and making my pulse thrash. A bite from one would cause immeasurable pain, but multiple bites had been known to be fatal.

"What did the stone you just destroyed look like?" Lance hissed, and I shrugged.

"I dunno, man. It was a fucking rock."

"One of these has to look like it and we need to find the one described as its daughter, so maybe next time think before you just blast shit with fire magic," he ground out as a Hellnet Spider crawled up the front of his shirt, closing in on his throat.

I looked at the four remaining stones, frowning between them before settling on the pale grey one. I was sure there had been two that colour. Well, fairly sure anyway.

With a twist of my fingers, I cast a shot of water and the stone was propelled into my hand.

"How does it help us to know if this is the daughter?" I asked, but Lance just shrugged.

"The next line was about two stones in air. I don't think it had to do with this one."

I swore, my grip on the stone I held tightening as another Baruvian Hellnet Spider fell onto my shoulder, and I felt something crack within my fist. Having no other ideas, I tightened my hold further and the stone in my fist shattered like a shell, pieces of grey rock crumbling away to reveal something small and smooth hidden in its centre.

The spiders all hissed at once, their attention jerking to the thing I held, tiny feet racing across my body as they all ran towards it. The insects crawling over Lance leapt from him, scurrying towards my outstretched hand, and I tossed the thing away from me with a jerk of my wrist.

The bugs hissed and spat as they charged after what looked like a glowing amber egg, and I shuddered as I tried to forget the feeling of those tiny legs scrambling all over me.

Lance grabbed the remaining three stones and shot them above his head with a blast of air magic. Two of them flew right up into the canopy of the trees, but one barely rose an inch before thumping back down into his palm. "Okay, the other two excelled, so this one is the winner," he said, holding up a rust red stone with a line of silver minerals running across its side.

"What do we do with it then?" I demanded, looking around us as the sound of thundering hooves met my ears once more.

It didn't sound like one Centaur this time though; this sounded like a whole herd of monstrous bastards, and as an arrow the size of a fucking spear shot through the air and impaled the tree to my left, I knew we were fucked.

"Catch." Lance tossed the stone to me, and I barely caught it before he collided with me at speed, tossing me onto his back and shooting away through the trees just as two more enormous arrows shattered the trunks closest to us.

I latched my arm around his neck, looking behind us and spotting at least ten of those big bastards with the metallic flesh galloping through the trees in pursuit of us. Lance was fucking fast with his Vampire speed, but they looked to be gaining on us all the same.

"Shit!" Lance shouted.

I barely managed to hold onto him as he threw himself to the side, an arrow shooting at us from up ahead as more of the beasts closed in on us from that direction.

"Over there!" I yelled as he veered around a towering trunk.

I'd caught a glimpse of an onyx pedestal through the trees, the thing so hard to pick out within the shadows that I couldn't believe I'd even noticed it.

I doubted Lance had seen it, but I pointed and he shot that way, ducking and swerving as more and more of those lethal arrows were fired at us, felling trees and making bark explode in missiles of sharpened wood, missing us by a hair's breadth time and again.

The pedestal appeared ahead of us, and I whooped in victory half a breath before Lance's cry of agony tore the air in two.

He was launched forward by the enormous arrow which had slammed into his side, and I was thrown free of him, crashing into the ground and rolling out of control before smacking into something hard enough to break bones.

"Lance!" I roared, the galloping hooves racing closer with every passing heartbeat as my best friend bled all over the ground, clutching the huge arrow that had pierced him.

"Behind you," he heaved out in reply.

I turned despite myself, my eyes widening as I spotted the herd of metallic Centaurs charging towards me, death gleaming in their unnatural eyes, twenty of those huge arrows pointed straight at me. But between me and them was a black pedestal, carved from stone and utterly unassuming, the space on its top empty and curved like a small dish awaiting a single stone.

I was on my feet in less than a second, a roar of challenge escaping my lips as I ran for the pedestal, daring fate to take me on.

The Centaurs all loosed their arrows at once, death careering towards me on brutal, silent wings. But I'd already reached the pedestal and I threw myself at it, the stone in my fist slamming down on that perfectly-shaped position a second before the arrows could claim me.

I flinched as they struck me, but instead of the agony of metal carving through my flesh, I felt nothing more than a stirring of air as the arrows disintegrated, falling apart and washing over me in the space between heartbeats.

The Centaurs disappeared too, then the woodland faded, nothing remaining but me, Lance, and the stone pedestal before me.

Lance cursed, getting to his feet and running a hand over his side where the enormous arrow had now vanished along with the injury it had caused.

When I looked back at the pedestal, I found it glowing, the stone at its peak reforming, a turquoise colour appearing from within it, then taking over entirely as it became the Sagittarius Guild Stone.

I picked it up and the last of the music box shattered around us, falling away and leaving us standing in the cavern my ancestor had selected to hide her treasure trove in death.

"That's the last one of those things I'm ever getting into," Lance growled.

"Yeah, fuck that for a laugh," I agreed. "Wanna help me box up my treasure and get it back to the academy?"

"Can I keep any of it for myself as payment?" he asked, and I narrowed my eyes at him, knowing he was angling for that ring. But he wasn't getting it.

"You can make the boxes. I'll do the packing," I replied.

"Can I at least have the Guild Stone?"

My fingers tightened around the precious turquoise stone, and I had to fight against the urge to move my arm behind my back for good measure.

"Later," I said.

"Now," he countered.

I pursed my lips, holding my fist out to him, but my fingers stayed curled around it. "I can keep it safe until-"

"Bad Dragon." Lance shot me in the ass with a whip of air magic and used his fucking Vampire speed to snatch the stone from my fist while I was distracted.

I snarled at him, taking a step forward with the full intention of snatching that stone back. I could look after it. I was more than capable of keeping it safe. Besides, it had been stored in my trove which meant that it was really mi-

Lance tossed a solid gold platter into my arms, and I lost my train of thought as I inspected it. It was a decent piece. Dating back to the Blood Ages if I wasn't mistaken, and carved with a battle scene which must have taken countless hours to perfect.

"Come on, asshole, let's pack up your new shiny things and get the fuck out of here." Lance clapped me on the arm, and I growled at him briefly before tossing the platter aside and drawing him into my arms.

"I'm glad you're okay," I said to him. "You're the greatest treasure here, you know. When that arrow hit you-"

"I think I might have to get that tattooed on me somewhere," Lance taunted. "‘Darius's greatest treasure' would look great across my chest."

"Fuck you." I dipped my fingers into his pocket, taking the Guild Stone and sliding it right back into my own pocket instead.

"Fuck you harder – I know you like it rough."

We both laughed, then began the mammoth task of packing up every last piece of treasure Luxie Acrux had hidden away in this middle of nowhere trove so I could take it home and bask in it for as long as I fucking liked.