Wrath

warrior was the right term for me.

“A warrior, like Tristan. And we need that right now.” She motioned for me to sit down in one of the chairs across the desk from her. “Sophia is emotionally and spiritually strong, but not physically. Her blood is too diluted. She has her power of persuasion and can often sense the truth, and that makes her a powerful converter. She is just and fair. But physically, she does not compare. She is faster and stronger than Normans, but we do not fight Normans. She can channel water when a large body is nearby and fight for a while against the Daemoni. But, she is not a warrior. She is not you, Alexis.”

I’d started to wonder where Rina was going with this inventory of Mom’s strengths and weaknesses, but now she made her point: I may have looked like Mom and Rina, and we may have shared a few other similarities, but I was set apart from them. I was different. As always.

“Sophia and I are meant to lead from here.” She lifted her hands and spread them to indicate her surroundings. “From this desk, this office. You, darling, will one day be here, too, but not now. As much as the Council wants to fight me about it and keep you here on the Island to ensure your safety and that of our next daughter, I know this is not where you need to be. You are ready to lead—”

This time I couldn’t hold back the snort.

“You are ready to lead,” she repeated, “but on the battlefield. That is where you belong.”

“I think I would go crazy here on the Island,” I admitted. “Especially right now. Please don’t let them—”

Rina cut me off. “I know, darling. I will not make you stay here, regardless of what the Council thinks. At least, not until you become pregnant, at which time, we re-evaluate. However, we do need to discuss your current directives.”

Here it comes. The lecture I’d been expecting since we left Florida was about to start.

“First, though, I have other business to address. Preparations to make before I send you and your team away.” She glanced at an antique clock sitting on her desk. “Give me a few hours, then I will call for you and Tristan, yes?”

I understood the dismissal and nodded before I stood and headed for the door. After leaving Rina’s office, I returned to the Sacred Archives. The door still stood open, as though waiting for me, and I basked for a moment in the change in the air, how it smelled and tasted like sunshine, how it felt thicker but somehow cleaner against my skin—the air of the Otherworld, I was sure. But once inside, I found nothing useful. I still couldn’t decipher the swirly lines and images that covered the pages in the majority of the books—symbols I thought the Angels might have made. I called for the Book of Prophecies & Curses, and once again, it floated through the air to me. Although I could read the Latin now, nothing in its pages helped.

I studied the curse about the brothers more closely, but there was no new information to gain. No clear-cut answer on how to break it. An Amadis person must sacrifice themselves to the Daemoni to benefit the greater good, but nothing stated who or when or how. Tristan apparently hadn’t broken the curse when he’d gone to the Daemoni to protect all of us, so it couldn’t be just anyone in the Amadis. It had to be someone specific. A daughter? A son? The matriarch? Or perhaps a certain situation. Lucas had said if he kept me against my will and Dorian tried to save me, the curse would be broken. But I didn’t know if that meant Dorian could break it, or if the fact that he was saving an Amadis daughter would break it, or if Lucas had any clue at all what he was talking about. He could have been bullshitting me, and probably was. He probably planned to lead me down a false bunny trail with such a lie.

I studied the prophecies again, too, and found the one Vanessa had been told belonged to her. But I found no prediction that any of us would break Eris’s curse. No foretelling of Dorian being kidnapped or anything indicating he would ever return to us. The Angels were not being very helpful.

Or maybe I wasn’t ready to understand their messages.

The hours dragged by as I waited for our turn to speak with Rina. I felt as though she was putting all the pieces into place before talking to Tristan and me, and once we did receive her lecture, we could finally be on our way. Until then, I was like a horse in a starting gate, my competitors already halfway around the track while I still pawed at the ground waiting for release.

Blossom and I spent some time in Dorian’s room, and her spell gave us a big push west, but my mind couldn’t reach beyond the Aegean Sea to the mainland of Greece. If the strength of the shove to go west was any indication, Dorian remained much farther away than I could ever reach. Blossom, however, couldn’t make the spell focus beyond that general direction, and Rina interrupted us to request Blossom’s audience. After a lengthy meeting with the matriarch and her second, the witch immediately went to the village on an errand she couldn’t tell me about.

And still Tristan and I waited. Until, finally, Rina silently called out for us.

As we approached her office, I couldn’t believe whom we found coming out of Rina’s door, closing it behind him.

“Jax?” I asked, my eyes popping at the site of the big, bald were-croc who should have been in the Outback of Australia.

“G’day, princess,” he said with a grin.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

He pushed his hands into the pockets of his faded jeans and shrugged nonchalantly, but a frown tugged the scar over his brown eye, betraying his true feelings.

“Kuckaroo never fully recovered,” he said, and I knew he spoke of the Daemoni attack when we were there two years ago. “We lost too many mages. Now that hell’s breakin’ loose, those who can’t fight came here for safety.”

I tilted my head as I studied his face and considered this. Jax was mighty and powerful and not someone who’d hide instead of fight . . . unless he worried about being around Normans too much, which had been the whole reason he’d isolated himself to the wilderness.

“I’m here for a diffr’nt reason,” he said. His eyes slid over to Rina’s office door and back to me. “Ms. Katerina just gave me her blessin’.”

“Speaking of,” Tristan murmured next to me.

Right. Rina. I didn’t need to delay any longer.

“I wish we had time to talk, but, well, our son—”

“I know, princess. No worries. We’ll have time to catch up later.” He gave me a wink, then strode off toward the main entrance of the mansion. Nothing against Jax, but I hoped there wouldn’t be a later—that we’d be in the air shortly after this meeting.

“Come in, darling,” Rina called out before I could knock.

As soon as I saw her form, sagging as though the weight of the world physically rested on her shoulders, worry crept into my heart.

“Do you need to rest?” I asked, feeling guilty as I secretly hoped she’d say no.

She gave me a soft smile from her seat in one of the wingback chairs by the fireplace. “I can regenerate anytime, but this is an urgent matter. I have someone I would like to join your team, and some things must be said by the matriarch. Your mother may be my second and doing much of my work, but people accept some messages more powerfully when delivered by me personally.”

Tristan and I sat on the leather sofa next to her, and we both leaned forward on the edge of the seat. The hairs on the nape of my neck prickled with curiosity. Not about the new addition to my team. I knew she’d send Julia to watch over us and ensure we followed the Amadis rules and stuck to the mission. Charlotte had prepared me for this possibility during our flight over. I didn’t like it—I didn’t like Julia—but arguing about her would be futile, and we had more important things to discuss. Especially now that Rina had mentioned messages.

“Like what things? What kinds of messages?” From the Angels, maybe? Were they going to help us get Dorian?

Rina’s mahogany brown eyes scanned my face with consideration. “You, for example, need to believe Vanessa is trustworthy.”

My shoulders deflated, and I sunk back against the sofa. “Do you believe she is?”

“I have assessed her. We spent much time together. Yes, I believe she is.” She flattened her hands against her thighs and tilted her head. “No, I do not only believe. I know she is.”