You’re connected to the realms, right? You can feel the auras of the army. Why not see if you can’t locate her specifically? She sent you an enchantment somehow, using magic she shouldn’t possess. Surely that’s left some sort of strand for you to track?
I looked at him. Sometimes I feel like you’ve known about my powers all along.
What makes you say that?
Because you always say the right thing, I replied. He always had. Even from the very first day, when I was broken beyond repair, he knew what to say to me. How to force me to fight. How to provoke a reaction from me even when I wanted to give up. He knew what tasks to give me to push me forward, how to sharpen my mind, and exactly what I needed to hear to keep moving.
Soul mates in our world were rare, but I’d clearly found mine.
You’ve known me from the beginning, I marveled, lifting my hand to his face.
It didn’t matter that chaos rained down around us or that the palace was shaking from yet another attack. I needed this single moment to acknowledge our joint fate.
Lucifer really did create me for you, I whispered to Grigory.
I think he created us for each other, he replied, again saying the right thing.
Our lips brushed, just enough to seal an unspoken vow, and then I focused on the task at hand, searching for any magical links I could find to Napia. I started by searching out the loose threads of the net she’d trapped me within, catching the wispy, broken strands in the air and following their invisible paths to the source.
It reminded me a bit of seeing an aura, the energy wave an intangible rope that sparked inside my mind. I couldn’t see it, just felt it, that inky substance tied to something—someone—dark.
There, I thought, sensing a subtle disturbance outside the Noxia Kingdom gates. Beyond the borders. Safe in the sanctuary of Neptune. She’s not even in your realm.
As I said it, I felt her shift positions, teleporting into the fight, then vanishing again.
No, she has a portal charm, I realized. She’s popping back and forth, weaving enough magic to keep her army charged, while remaining guarded in her realm.
Cowardly approach, Grigory growled.
Yes, I agreed. But also smart.
I opened my eyes, not realizing they’d fallen shut, and blinked at Grigory. “But I know where she’s going to appear next.”
“Then I guess we need some portal charms.”
I smiled. “I once had a stash of those, but someone confiscated them.”
He nodded. “Well then, it’s a good thing that someone kept them somewhere safe.”
“Uh-huh.” I looked to the others, noting Grigory’s weapons and Jeremiah’s ready stance. Narissa remained unarmed, but something told me her powers would suit her fine.
“What’s the plan?” I asked them, having missed a lot of that conversation while battling the enchantment in my mind.
“Jeremiah and I are going with Narissa to help mitigate the damage,” Adrik said. “Valora is staying here with Adriatica. Lucifer help anyone who tries to come near either of them.” He glanced at his wife, pride in his gaze.
She beamed as bright as the stars above, power shimmering over her skin. “No one will touch us,” she vowed.
I believed that and hoped her true energy wasn’t required for this fight. The last time Valora went supernova, she wiped out half a kingdom.
“All right,” Grigory said. “Let’s get ready and go.”
I almost asked what he meant, then remembered what I was wearing.
Right.
I needed jeans… and I needed some knives.
Then I could kick some water demon ass.