Marcus’s face hardened. “It went off perfectly, except I failed to account for Alexander Cairns. I’ll admit that I underestimated his tenacity. He was more powerful than I expected. Not only did he survive, but he got to his brother first and took hold of the Tigers. He proved to be rather a thorn in my side. Worse still, I couldn’t find his body to kill him, and as long as he survived, I couldn’t get to the two Living Weapons in his possession.
“But the fact remained that he was trapped in the Between, and I concentrated my efforts on finding the other three Living Weapons. The Wolves and Scorpions I found quickly. The families to which they belonged had no idea what treasures they possessed and I took them easily enough. But the Phoenixes were rather a different story. It took me more than a hundred years to find the family that protected it. An old and powerful Gifted family, one that had faithfully protected the Phoenixes through the generations, though they had long forgotten the power of the weapon they protected. Their name was Warden.”
Allyra stiffened at the sound of her family’s name.
“Yes, Miss Warden,” Marcus continued. “It was your family. The Phoenixes, not the Tigers, were your birthright. But the Wardens, like all the other old Gifted families, were dying out, and by the time I realized what I was looking for, your father was the last of the family. And Samuel Warden was impossible to break, no matter how I approached him, he remained wary and suspicious, never giving up his family’s secrets even to those closest to him.
“But then you were born. And suddenly everything changed for your father. It wasn’t just his own life at stake anymore, it was yours as well. He was desperate enough to make a deal with me; he would tell me where the weapon was hidden, and after you reached the age of eighteen, he would break the ward that protected the weapon. He didn’t like it, but he thought it was only a family heirloom he was giving up, not a key to the Veil itself.
“I agreed to his deal. The Phoenixes were hidden in a cottage deep within the woods. I tried to the break the ward around it, but it was a powerful blood ward, requiring a Gifted carrying the Warden bloodline to break. Well, I had already waited for more than a hundred years, so I reasoned that I could wait a few more until you turned eighteen. Imagine my horror when your father died and left you, a Norm, behind. I thought I’d have to wait until you had a child and hope that it would be Gifted. But then you exceeded all my expectations, not only were you Gifted, but you managed to break the ward for me.”
Marcus turned toward the wall of Cleaners that stood behind him and reached out his hand. The Cleaners parted, and through them, Laureline appeared and took hold of Marcus’s hand. He dropped a kiss onto the back of her hand.
Allyra’s stomach dropped—the cottage in the woods, the ward she’d broken, and Laureline stuffing something in a bag as she ran. How could she have been so stupid? Handing over something her father, her ancestors, had protected for so long. She remembered the horrible hangover she’d been nursing that day. Had Jason gotten her drunk so that her mind would be sluggish and slow? Would it have made any difference?
“I see you realize it,” Marcus said smoothly, shaking his head. “I didn’t even have to ask. Love’s blind trust—you did it without question because Jamie asked you to. And he, in turn, did it because of his desperate love for his sister. It made you all weak and malleable.
“So, you see, Miss Warden, none of this would be possible without you. Thanks to you, I have the Phoenixes. And now you’ve kindly led me to Alexander Cairns. I’ll break the ward around him and kill him to take the Dragons. All that’s left is the Tigers, and well, I’m sure you’ll agree that they’re as good as mine already.”
Allyra bit into her cheek, hard enough that the bitter metallic tang of blood flooded her mouth. She fought against tears of frustration as she realized that she would be responsible for the destruction of the Veil and with it, the world.
Marcus glanced at the four Cleaners who had closed the Gate. “Break the ward,” he told them.
One of them spoke, a woman, her voice low and controlled. “We can’t, it’s a blood ward.”
Marcus looked over Alex and Mandla’s bodies. “Well,” he said, “it’s got to be one of them. Luckily, I have an Archivist to tell me which one.”
At his words, Emma stepped forward, running her fingers lightly over the edges of the ward.
“Two of them,” she said slowly, her head tilted to the side and her eyes narrowed.
“Yes, that’s hardly a surprise—there are two of them inside the ward,” Marcus said sardonically.
Emma shook her head. “Cairns—yes. But no on the other.” She traced her fingers over the ward again, her brows furrowed in confusion. “No, that can’t be right.”
“What is it?” Marcus asked impatiently.
Emma’s yellow eyes snapped to Allyra. “Two blood wards, and one of them is hers.”
“Impossible,” Marcus said sharply. “Check again.”
“I did,” Emma replied coldly. “The ward is hers, there’s no mistaking the pattern of her blood.”
“She must’ve layered her ward over his. It’s an annoyance, nothing more. We’ll break hers first and then his.”
“No,” Emma said slowly. “This is a single ward, created together, intricately intertwined. And it’s old—very
