“We had drones on our tail. It was that or get shot.”
He turned slightly to face me, resting his hip against the stone window ledge. He was so close that I could feel his body heat beating against my skin. So close that his warm breath ruffled the hair at my temple.
“What happened?” he asked.
I wanted to step away and put distance between us, but at the same time I didn’t want him to know how he affected me physically. Ignoring the heat that had climbed up my chest, I filled him in on our encounter with Fenris, on how Vesper had sacrificed himself, and how Helgi and I had shut off the power before I’d gone back to get him.
Dante’s face shifted through a series of expressions—horror, shock, and then sorrow.
“He’s truly gone, then,” Dante said softly.
“Vesper was pretty pissed about it. He was mad at me for coming back for him.” I looked out the window at Vesper. “I have to admit, for a moment I wished I hadn’t bothered.”
“I’m glad you did,” Dante said. “Losing Vesper would have crippled us.”
“Yeah, I figured. Which is why I don’t understand why he would do it. I thought he had a plan. That he was giving us a head start. But no. He intended to die.”
“He blames himself for what happened to Fenris,” Dante said.
Vesper turned his head our way. It was dark, and we were hundreds of feet away from him, but there was no doubt in my mind that he saw us. He stared our way for a long beat and then strode into the aperture out of sight.
Dante’s hand was a warm, reassuring brand at the small of my back. “Fenris and Vesper were close. I’d go as far as to say that Fenris was like a father to Vesper. As much of a father as a god can be.”
“A god?” Yes, Vesper had called him that.
“One of the old ones,” Dane continued. “Unlike Orion and me, Vesper isn’t a lord by blood. He was an orphan adopted by Fenris, who saw greatness in him, and he was trained by the god himself and subsequently adopted by the childless lord of the obsidian Dreki. When the old gods left Earth, Fenris opted to remain with the Dreki in the pocket of reality where we slumbered. In reality, he opted to remain with Vesper. When the grimoire was opened and we were summoned back to this world, Fenris fought the monsters alongside us. But the opening of the grimoire caused an ejection of pure miasma—ancient, uncontrollable magick. This created the warping and creatures that, if allowed to escape, would have torn humanity to shreds.”
“Fenris fought them?”
“He did more than that. Once the creatures were dead, he gave his godhood to contain the warping. To stop its growth, and in doing so, he trapped himself inside.”
“Sounds like a noble action, but why would Vesper blame himself for Fenris’s decision?”
Dante inhaled, and a wry smile lifted the corners of his beautiful lips. “The dragon queen Anara was with them. The three of them fought side by side. And when Anara was injured, Fenris ordered Vesper to fly her to safety. Vesper vowed to come back. But by the time he got the queen to safety, the warping was threatening to expand exponentially. Fenris sent word what he was about to do. Vesper wanted to go to him, to help him find another way, but Anara forbade it. And because of the blood bond, Vesper was unable to disobey.” Dante sighed. “He was forced to watch from outside the warping as Fenris expelled his godhood to contain the threat. The act stopped the spread, but it also trapped him inside forever.”
“Why would Anara do that? Why not let Vesper help?”
“Because she knew there was no other way. And as protectors of humanity, the Dreki know human life must always come first, even above the life of a god. Vesper went back to see Fenris many times, tried everything to free his friend, and when Fenris began to change, Vesper couldn’t bear to watch so he stopped visiting.”
Well that explained a lot. “I best give him a pass on his arsehole behavior on the trip, then.”
Dante’s deep chuckle vibrated through me, lingering at the juncture of my thighs like a caress.
He reached out, probably intending to steer me away from the window, but I stepped out of his reach and began to walk.
“Anya?” He grabbed my elbow. “Have I offended you?”
Ah, shit. “No. I’m tired.”
His speculative gaze told me he wasn’t buying it, but then he nodded, letting it go. “Let’s get you to your quarters. Tomorrow will be a long day. We’ll leave for the settlement just after dawn. The warehouse is on the outskirts.”
A thought occurred to me. “There’s a moat around the fortress. How do we all get to the settlement? I’m sure the Dreki have better things to do than ferry us to and from the settlement.”
He smiled, his amber eyes twinkling. “You’ll use the mageri passage. It goes underground.”
“Mageri can’t fly?”
His smile was wry. “They are not Dreki. Mageri are the offspring of the gods. Men and women with the ability to harness magick.”
“Can’t Dreki harness magick too?”
“Dreki have magick in their veins. We are magical creatures able to shift and fly and morph, but we cannot manipulate the magick in the air. We cannot do magick.”
“And the mageri serve you?”
“They did, when Anara was alive. But after her death, the Dreki were weakened. The queen fuels the magick inside us through her blood bond to the lords. Without her, our powers are diminished. The mageri make up the shortfall. We are equal. They can be stiff and formal and ambitious, but without them, the Dreki would not have survived this long against the Draco after Anara’s death.” He swallowed and cleared his throat.
“Sounds like the mageri have a little too much power. Isn’t that worrying?”
He blinked in surprise. “Why would you say that?”
Was he serious?
