Page 119 of Incoronate
Trace’s eyes hadn’t left me. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking about a lot of things,” I said carefully, my eyes cutting briefly to the door before coming back. The walls in here were thin and the settlement outside was not empty and we all knew it.
Something passed between the three of us. A shared understanding, wordless and immediate. Dominic’sexpression shifted almost imperceptibly, the way it did when he’d already made a decision and was simply working out the best way to execute it.
‘I know that look, angel.’ Dominic’s voice slid through my mind like a caress. ‘You’re thinking about what Cael said in the Hold.’
I stared back at him and I nodded.
“Woah. That’s new,” murmured Trace.
Dominic looked at him, his expression almost bored. “Care to elaborate?”
“I heard you.”
The room went very still.
A long beat passed where Dominic and Trace stared at each other across the space, something unreadable moving between them. I looked between the two of them, my gaze volleying back and forth.
“Heard him what?” I asked, confused as to what the hell they were talking about.
‘He can hear my voice when I mind speak to you’, said Dominic, his eyes still on Trace.
“What?” I blinked and then blinked again. “How is that possible?”
“The fuck if I know,” said Trace, looking genuinely disturbed.
Dominic was quiet for a moment, something rare enough that I noticed it. His brow creased slightly, and I could almost see the pieces moving behind his eyes. Then his head came up.
‘The anchoring spell.’
My eyes widened as Dominic’s response slid though my mind.
‘When they bound the three of us together, the spell must have tethered more than just your magic to us.’
I turned that over slowly. It made sense, in the strange, sideways logic that most things in my life seemed to operate by lately. And if it was true…
It was also very useful. For now, anyway.
‘Before we entertain anything else, we need to stick to the matter at hand,’ went on Dominic, this time, his eyes moving between me and Trace. ‘We need to see whether you can call up your Nephilim magic. If this place is bound Anakim magic, there’s a good chance it won’t be able to touch your magic allowing you to circumvent it entirely.’
Dread moved through my stomach. I knew he was right but that didn’t make me feel any less afraid. Because if I tried it and nothing happened—if I reached for it and found the same solid wall everything else had hit—then we were back at the beginning. Out of ideas. Out of options. Well and truly stuck in a vampire purgatory with a dinner invitation I was already dreading.
“What if it doesn’t work?” I rasped, the thought of it practically choking me.
‘There’s only one way to find out, angel.’
“Right.” I nodded but still didn’t move.
Trace pushed off the bed and moved to crouch in front of me, his eyes level with mine as his hands slid up the outside of my knees. I felt the bond shift before he even spoke, something warm and calming moving through it, steady as a hand braced against a shaking wall.
“Whatever happens, we figure it out. That’s what we do.”
I searched his eyes, drawing from the strength I found there, and I let myself believe it too. Not because the fear had disappeared but because but he was looking at me with that unshakeable blue-eyed certainty of his, like the outcome had already been decided and he just hadn't bothered telling the universe yet.
My anxiety loosened a notch, just enough to breathe a little more easily.
I nodded again, and this time, I meant it.
