by G. Bailey
“Nix is going to make a portal right above that building where the keepers’ homes are, and we are going to jump through it. I guess that they have alarms to stop people coming in and out with portals. We have to be high enough to avoid that. Whoever designed the Protectors’ city made a major flaw by not making the walls into domes,” I chuckle, and they all look a mixture of shocked and impressed. The stuck-up Protectors have a design fault, funny that. Even the demon undergrounds are cloaked in wards shaped like domes.
“And the landing?” Nix asks.
“I have wings, remember? We will jump together. You will just have to hold on and pray I like you enough not to drop you,” I wink at him as I speak, and he gulps.
“I can’t decide if you’re scaring me or turning me on,” Nix replies smoothly, and Connor chuckles while Azi and Trex don’t look impressed. Sigh. This is complicated.
“Time to go,” I say into the jealous, tense room and call my wings. Thank god I planned ahead and cut massive holes in the back of the suit for my wings, or that might have hurt. I know when my wings are out, besides the extra weight, as everyone in the room just stops and gapes. I clear my throat and raise an eyebrow at Nix. He nods and turns around, calling his rune and making a large portal appear. Connor walks over to me, picking up my braid in his hand and placing it on my shoulder.
“Be safe and come back, Blue,” he whispers before stepping away. Trex doesn’t say a word to us as we step in front of the portal, but when his eyes meet mine, I know what he wants without words.
“Get the fuck out of there if they find you, Vi. My brothers are fucking with Erica, and I don’t want them around you. Once this is over, we need to go and see Seth,” Azi warns me, gaining all our attention. I nod, knowing he has a point, even if I don’t particularly want to see one of his brothers again. Hali gets up and runs over to me, wrapping her arms tightly around my waist.
“Don’t die this time. Promise?”
“Hali, no one is taking you from me again. Never again. You are my family, and I will always fight for us to be safe. One day, I know we will be, but until then, I need you to be strong for me,” I tell her, and she lets go, straightening her back and acting more like the strong girl I taught her to be.
“You’re my only family too,” she mutters, wiping her eyes.
“Haven’t you forgotten someone?” Azi jokes, and Hali looks over at him with a pretend confused face.
“Oh yes, Star is family too,” Hali states. At hearing her name called, Star lifts her head from the spot where she is sleeping on the sofa.
“Cheeky shit,” Azi grumbles, and Hali laughs as I wink at her.
“We need to leave,” Nix carefully says, interrupting the moment, but he has a point. We don’t have all night, and this should be an easy mission. I step over to Nix and hold my hand out. He only chuckles, knocking my hand away and pulling me into his arms.
“If I’m going to literally fall for you, I’m having you closer, love,” Nix whispers, his cheesy line making me chuckle. He walks us backwards to the portal, and I close my eyes as we fall through into the harsh biting air.
Evie
The sharp wind beats against us as we fall rapidly through the air from the portal. Nix holds on closely to me as I make my wings spread out and catch us in the wind, springing us up as I finally manage to see where we are in the dark night. The building is right below us and lit up with lights, so I can sort of aim where we need to land. I can only glide, the weight of Nix holding onto me is too much to make my wings move. Dammit.
“Fuck, Evie, we are going too fast,” Nix shouts as we see the top of the gold building just below us. I cringe when I know I need to drop Nix and use my wings to stop me crashing.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him, and then push him away from me when I know it’s unlikely he will break anything with the drop. If he does, it is better only one of us is injured anyways. Nix falls through the air with a shout, and I move my wings, flying down and landing on the roof a little shakily. I pull my dagger out of a clip first and look around, seeing nothing of danger up here. There is a row of deck chairs, fake plants and crystal lights in each corner of the building.
“Thanks for checking on me first. It’s real nice to know how much you care,” Nix groans from the other side of the roof as he gets himself up off the floor. I run my eyes over him, seeing he is fine and I don’t have to tell him to heal anything.
“You’re a big boy, you don’t need me to worry about you,” I state, and almost say he has Trex to baby him. I really don’t think it’s good for Nix to be treated like he is breakable when he isn’t. I understand why Trex treats him like that and lets him drink himself into a state, but I’ve never been one to baby anyone. Not even Hali. Nix walks over to me with an angry determined expression, and I turn away. I walk to the edge of the building, fully knowing Nix isn’t going to leave this, and choosing to look over the Protector city at night. The city is breathtakingly beautiful like this. The buildings are all lit up, reflecting off the stars and the very gold colouring of them. Somehow, I know my mother must have stared at the same city as she ruled it. She knew its beauty but also its terrible secrets. I freeze when I feel Nix press his body into mine from behind, his hand coming to rest on the bars on either side of me.
“It’s quite a view. All the gold and that. I still think we should tell some of my thief friends how to break in here. I bet I could make us a fortune,” I joke, and he leans his head close to my right ear. Well, kind of joking. I really think that selling the Protectors’ weakness can be a plan C or something on my list.
“Love, I get that my brother has likely tried to make you run from me. I get that I’m a fucking mess who gets drunk when shit goes wrong, and I know that I should leave you the fuck alone if I really care, but I won’t,” he tells me, his voice suggesting he really doesn’t want to be telling me this. “I can’t. Azi is better for you, and he is a fucking overlord demon. That says it all.”
“I guess we are both too fucked up to care what is best for either of us,” I comment quietly. “But if it helps, I think you and Azi both have your issues, but it doesn’t take away from how good you both are.”
“You’re going to make me fall for you if you carry on, love,” he warns me, his fingers tracing down my arm.
“I think Trex might murder me if you do,” I reply, knowing Trex wouldn’t take it well.
“Nah, Trex is an overprotective idiot…but I know it won’t be long until he cracks and admits what you are to him,” Nix says, and his slow chuckle moves my hair across my cheek.
“You don’t have to worry about Trex and me. That is not happening,” I laugh.
“So very beautiful, and so very clueless about those close to you,” Nix says, his gravelly voice making me shiver as I break away from him.
“We have to go, got the map?” I ask, not meeting his eyes as I take in what he is saying. I look up as he pulls the tablet out of the rucksack, his whole demeanour changing as we get back to the plan at hand.
“Keeper Grey’s room is two floors down. We can’t take the elevator as it scans your fingerprints,” Nix states and pulls his rucksack off his shoulder. “So, it is lucky I packed rope just in case. I knew my partner in crime is more of a make-it-up-on-the-spot kind of girl, and I don’t think it is a good idea for you to fly anywhere. You should put the wings away, they are a tactical advantage against Erica as she won’t know you have them. It isn’t worth the risk of anyone seeing you and telling her what you are. I didn’t like risking it when we dropped in here, but it isn’t like we had parachutes lying around.”
“Brilliant! I knew there was a reason I liked you,” I say, knowing he has a point. Erica has the entire city of Protectors behind her, and winning won’t be easy. I need every advantage I can get. I watch as Nix pulls out two circle-shaped objects I’ve never seen before as I make my wings disappear.
“Our advanced technology worked out how to make a rope that fits in here and is unbreakable. We ke
ep a lot of our world a secret, but I was smart enough to steal some stuff when we got Hali out,” Nix explains and hands me one of them. He walks to the edge of the building and taps the circle against the stone that overhangs.
“Whose idea was it to get Hali out?” I ask him as I watch the circle stretch out into a metal brace that attaches itself onto the stone, and a rope hangs out of the one side, with a clip to hold onto. There is another smaller rope hanging off the other side to control the fall.
“Trex. The moment we got free, we grabbed Star and your things and then left the way Erica did. It was pure luck the portal dropped us in the city. Trex stated firmly that he wasn’t leaving without Hali, and we had one hell of a fight to get her. It was a tough escape, but Hali is one strong kid,” he replies. I’m completely shocked that Trex of all people would choose to save Hali. I always assumed it was Connor or Nix. I look back at the rope, knowing I don’t have time to think it through now.
“Impressive. If I don’t become queen of this place, I’m coming back to steal the cool stuff,” I comment, and Nix shakes his head at me.
“Do you even want to be queen? Like really? You hate Protectors, well other than us,” he asks, and I muse over his question as I snap the rope onto the stone next to his.
“Honestly? No. I don’t know how to be a queen, but I damn sure won’t let Erica be one either. If my other sisters were alive, one of them should have been chosen over Erica or me. We are both messed up, angry…even ruined, but there is a big difference between us,” I say and wrap the control rope around my hand and grab the clip with the other. The handle of the clip is easy to grip onto, and I give it a tug, feeling how strong the brace is.
“What do you think the difference is?” he asks, suggesting he has his own idea.
“That I won’t kill for the throne. Usually the leaders that kill for it, don’t deserve it or won’t be any good for the people. Hali’s mum was eligible for the witch throne but backed out when the current queen killed all ten of the other eligible heirs in their sleep two nights before the choosing. Hali’s mum knew she couldn’t go against someone like that, and only survived because she submitted to the queen before she could kill her,” I explain.
“Don’t you plan to kill Erica though?” he questions.
“That’s not for the throne, that’s not for power. That is for revenge,” I point out with a grin and jump off the building.
Evie
“Be careful,” Nix shouts, catching my arm as I zoom down the building, and he somehow manages to catch up with me even though I jumped first. “We are about to see the penthouse floor,” he warns me, the loud slap of the wind in my ears making it hard to understand him. I slow down, spotting the glass windows coming into view just below our feet and pause. The glass is far too stretched out for us to go around it. I know we don’t have any choice but to drop down and hope no one is looking out the window as we do. I nod once at Nix and let my clip go, falling fast past the window and stopping the rope when I’m just underneath. I swear I saw a flash of a familiar face in the room. Nix flashes me a confused look when I climb up the rope a little to see inside the room again, needing to know if I am right. I tighten my fists on the rope when I see Erica sat on a chair in the room, talking to a man with his hood up. Every part of me tenses up as I take in Erica’s perfect, innocent looking expression in her gold dress. She looks every part the princess, and I feel every bit the outsider literally looking in. Nix comes up to my side, looks in and rests a hand over mine on the glass where I’m holding the rope.
“She has nothing on you. You are meant to be in there and have everything you deserve. But not if you kill Erica now. This isn’t the time, so get that look off your face and let’s see if we can use the situation to our benefit,” he tells me, being far stricter than I ever thought he was. And he is right. Dammit. I nod to him, and he lets my hand go before pulling something out of his pocket. It looks like a little grey stone and Nix places it on the glass. Seconds later, we can hear their every word, and I grin at Nix as we listen in.
“I’m tired of the fucking games! There are no more heirs, why can I not just be crowned already?” Erica snaps, sounding very unlike the sweet princess I expected her to be like.
“Your highness, please do not get upset. It takes time to build the energy and magic the room needs to choose an heir,” the keeper replies, his voice is a mixture of concerned and scared. Erica narrows her blue eyes on him, somewhat reminding me we both have our mother’s eyes.
“But we won’t be using the room, right?” she asks, and I smirk at her nervous expression and know I can use that against her in the future.
“It still must be prepared. It is our tradition,” the keeper replies firmly. It is clear he won’t budge on that.
“Fine. I am sorry, it has been a stressful time with the loss of my sisters, and I just want to start my future. Just go. You say the same as the rest of them,” Erica growls out and points at the door. The keeper quickly stands up, bowing low before walking out of the room like his ass is on fire. The moment the door is closed, Erica rises up and calls a portal. I expect her to go in it, but instead a demon walks into the room. I recognise the demon as one of Azi’s brothers who helped Erica in Hell. This one is bold with a massive build and a serious expression. It is odd how he looks so different than Azi. The portal disappears as Erica walks over to the demon, her hips seductively swinging from side to side. It doesn’t surprise me when they kiss, but when I look away to Nix, he is shocked.
“Not long now, Cex. Once I have the throne, you can access the grove and do what we need,” Erica purrs.
“It is taking too long,” he growls, his hands tightening on her arms. It only seems to make her smile wider.
“I can’t speed things up. I know it is annoying,” Erica says, stroking a sharp nailed finger down Cex’s cheek. Cex grabs her hand, harshly pushing it away and placing his other hand on her neck. He leans down close, his red eyes glowing against Erica’s pale skin.
“You best not betray me, little princess. I know you like it when I get mad, but trust me, you won’t like me when I am angry,” he warns her, and she only smiles like a lunatic. Being that I dated an overlord demon, I know you don’t want them angry. Then again, Azi would never hold me like that and hurt me. I would chop his balls off if he tried.
“I understand,” she whispers, her hand sliding to start undoing his belt. I look away, lowering the rope so we are out of sight and Nix copies.
“I didn’t expect that,” Nix says, and I shake my head. Neither did I.
“Let’s sort out one problem at a time. The next floor is where keeper Grey’s room is, right?” I ask, needing to shout with the wind blowing more harshly against us, and Nix nods. We quickly rappel and slow down when we get to the glass for the next floor. Nix slides down faster than me, pausing right outside the glass and getting four little cubes out of his pocket. He attaches the cubes to the window as I look in, seeing nothing but an empty, very dark room. Once the fourth cube is attached, a line of blue fire shoots out of them, making a perfect square which Nix kicks and it falls to the floor on the other side, making a slightly loud noise. We don’t waste any time jumping in the room and unclipping the rope. I hear a slight scrape of something to my right where Nix is and go to warn him, but I’m too late as a dagger is pressed against his throat.
“Who the fuck are you? And what do you want?” the man asks, his face hidden under the hood. Nix rears his head back, smacking against the man who grunts, and Nix somehow disarms his dagger at the same time. Damn, I think my guys are stronger and smarter than they look.
“Take the hood off, keeper,” Nix growls out, sliding in front of me, which seems kind of pointless as I can protect myself. The keeper steps into the light and lowers his hood, as his other hand holds his bleeding nose. The keeper has short white hair and runes on his cheeks that stand out on his pale skin. His brown eyes look almost gold and seem to have a glow to them. He reminds me of Connor for a br
ief second. Just a much older one.
“Nix?” the keeper asks, and Nix lowers his hand with the dagger in it.
“Keeper Grey, I would like you to meet Evie,” Nix says, stepping aside. Keeper Grey’s eyes widen, and he steps back.
“I wouldn’t try and run if I were you,” I warn with a low chuckle. “I do like to play catch.”
“We need to have a talk about how not to scare people…and me at the same time,” Nix chuckles, and I frown at him.
“I thought that was nice? I was warning him. I could have just attacked and—” I’m cut off by keeper Grey clearing his throat and getting my attention.
“Evelina Ravenwood, I never thought I would see you as anything but a crying baby again," keeper Grey states, resting against the sofa arm as he wipes more blood away. Nix pulls a tissue out his pocket and hands it to the keeper as we seem to be stuck watching each other. He knows me?
"Why don't you tell me how exactly you know me," I ask, making sure my voice is far from nice, and he nods.
"Sit down then. It is a long story, one I have tried to forget over the years," he says, and Nix grabs my hand, making me sit down, but I never take my eyes off keeper Grey. I don't trust him, and if I find out he had anything to do with my mother being killed, he is dead anyway. Nix won't be able to stop me.
Evie
”I was ten when you were born Evelina," he starts off, as if telling me our age difference is important somehow. That makes him thirty-five, but I don’t see why he wants to tell me that. Maybe because he looks so much older.
"You can call me Evie, no one calls me Evelina," I reply.
"If you are here to see me, I know what you want, Evelina Ravenwood. You need to claim your royal name if you expect the people to see you as a royal. Names have power, so much more than you understand. Do not worry, I will teach you," he says.