I smiled, a bit of hope finally rising within me. Athena’s charm had already faded in my hand, the magic extinguished. I let out a shaky breath. That had been a wild trip.

  “So now we know where the dragons are,” Cass said. “Roughly. What happened with Drakon?”

  I frowned. “It didn’t go well. He got the battery, which I’m sure you assumed. And I can’t kill him with my sword—not even with a direct blow to the heart.”

  It’d been my last hope. At least, the last idea I actually had.

  “So that’s why you want to know if we found the dragons,” Del said. “We have to bring the fight to him.”

  “Exactly. He can’t use his spell without a FireSoul conduit. We are his ideal conduits. Without us, he can’t do anything.”

  “Doesn’t that mean you should stay away from him?” Roarke asked.

  I nodded. “Yes, ideally. But we can’t sit back from the fight. I am the only one who can defeat him, and Athena made it clear that I can’t do it without my deirfiúr or Ares. If we wait too long, avoiding him in hopes that he won’t go through with his plan without us, he’ll likely settle for another FireSoul to use as a conduit. Maybe more than one.”

  “So you three being his chosen FireSouls might buy us a couple days to come up with a plan,” Ares said. “But in the end, you will have to face him.”

  “I think so.” I downed the rest of my coffee in two gulps. “Which means finding the dragons and figuring out a way to stop Drakon.”

  “We’re bringing the fight to him,” Cass said.

  “Better to be on the offensive anyway,” Del added.

  I nodded, pleased to see that Ares, Aidan, and Roarke seemed to agree. Jeff, for his part, was already asleep.

  I set my cup down and pulled the mirror that Pan had given me from my pocket, hoping that I could see Drakon. It was blank—just a regular mirror again. Even though I couldn’t see Drakon, I had to imagine that after our battle, he was resting and recovering.

  Which was what we needed to do, as well.

  After finishing our drinks, we all agreed to get a good night’s sleep. No way I’d be able to trek through Svalbard in my current condition.

  When Ares helped me rise, that became all the more apparent. I could barely walk.

  “Drakon really did a number on me,” I said. “If I thought his touch was electric, stabbing a blade into his heart is a whole new level.”

  Ares wrapped an arm around my waist and helped me through the door of P & P. Jeff had decided to sleep it off in P & P, and everyone else was staying a few more minutes, so we had the quiet street to ourselves as we walked.

  I couldn’t help but think of what we’d just been through—my injuries made it impossible to forget.

  “Had I even been close to stopping Drakon back there?” I said.

  “Perhaps not,” Ares said. “Our best chance was beating him to the stone and stealing it to hide it. Once he appeared on the field, our odds were dismal.”

  “I wounded him, at least.”

  “And learned plenty in the process.” He squeezed me lightly around the waist. “And not just from the wisdom charm that Athena gave you.”

  “You mean, believing in myself?”

  “That too.”

  I sighed. “An important lesson.” If anything, I was going to force myself to take something positive from the failure with Drakon. It was another stepping stone closer to defeating him. Sure, I’d wanted to end it there. But we didn’t always get what we wanted. “Hey, when Athena said that sometimes we get what we need, not what we want, do you think she was singing that Stones song in her head?”

  Ares chuckled. “Maybe. But somehow I doubt it.”

  I laughed, enjoying the quiet moment beneath the stars. It was a rare, clear-skied winter night. Despite the golden streetlights, I could still see the stars above. It was dark inside Ancient Magic, and I wished the shop were open.

  It would be. It had to be.

  Because now, more than ever, we were closer to defeating Drakon. And with my friends’ help, we had a chance.

  I opened the green door to our building and wearily made my way up the stairs. Halfway up, Ares swooped me up into his arms.

  “Hey, I can walk.”

  “Not easily.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead.

  “Clearly not.” I leaned my head against his shoulder, reliving the moment when he’d told me he loved me. That had really happened.

  Ares let us into my apartment and sat me on the couch. I pulled him down next to me, my muscles trembling from the strain.

  He turned to me, clearly about to say something, but I spoke first. “Could you heal me?”

  The corner of his mouth kicked up. “I was just about to ask. But it’s rare that you’re the one requesting.”

  I shrugged. “I’m not worried about the blood bond anymore.”

  He pressed a kiss to my forehead, then pulled back and raised his wrist to his mouth. His white fangs descended, then punctured the skin. I shivered.

  He held his arm up to my lips, and I took his forearm in my hands. Trembling, I pressed my lips against his skin, drawing deep of his blood. Flavor exploded over my tongue, strange and delicious. Warmth flowed through me, strengthening my muscles and calming my mind.

  Pleasure followed, so acute that I moaned, my eyes fluttering shut.

  Ares withdrew his arm. It took all I had not to yank it back. I opened my eyes in time to see him raise his wrist and swipe his tongue over the wounds, closing them. Heat streaked through me.

  I lunged for him, straddling his waist and wrapping my arms around his neck. I pressed my mouth to his, kissing him ferociously.

  It felt amazing.

  I didn’t know if it was his blood, our declarations, or some combination of the two, but I was on fire. I rubbed against him, desperate to get as close as I could. His strong arms wrapped around me, squeezing me tight before he withdrew.

  I was about to complain when I felt his big hands running down my sides and up my back, as if he couldn’t get enough of me. It was mutual. I touched him everywhere I could reach, images of tearing his clothes off racing through my mind.

  But another thought blared stronger than all the rest, brought on by desire. Need.

  “Bite me,” I said.

  “What?” He pulled back, eyes heavy-lidded and hot.

  “I mean it. I want it.” And I did. Badly. It was supposed to feel good—and what a bond it would be … “Do it.”

  He didn’t hesitate. It was as if something had snapped his iron control. Maybe it had been my determination that had done it, but I didn’t care enough to figure it out now. Not when Ares was lowering his head to my neck.

  Excitement raced through me, followed by a sharp, small stab of pain. It was gone in a flash, followed by heat and pleasure. Ares’s mouth felt like silk.

  I shuddered against him, letting the ecstasy flow through me, coil tight within me. He groaned low against my throat, the vibrations sending another jolt of pleasure through me.

  When he withdrew his mouth, I wanted to yank him back toward me. But the swipe of his hot tongue against the wounds at my throat sent another jolt of pleasure through me.

  I moaned, my head tilting back.

  Ares swept me up in his arms, then headed for the bedroom.

  8

  The next morning, I kissed Ares goodbye at my front door.

  “Thanks for last night,” I said.

  He grinned. “Likewise.”

  I shivered, then shoved away the thoughts and focused on the work to be done. “How long will you be in the Vampire Realm?”

  “A few hours at most. I’ll try to coordinate backup for a future fight against Drakon, then I can meet you back here.”

  “Good. Thank you. We’ll need all the help we can get.”

  I gave Ares one last kiss, pressing my lips hard to his, then turned and headed for Del’s apartment. Ares followed me down the steps, then disappeared out into the cool morning air as I stopped and knocked on Del’s door.

  She yanked it open immediately. “Good timing. As it turns out, Svalbard isn’t just a chunk of rock in the middle of the ocean. It’s a magical chunk of rock with a super magical mountain. And that makes it a pain in the ass to find.”

  “What do you mean?” I’d planned to meet Cass and Del to hunt for the location of the mountain, but it sounded like she’d already gotten started.

  “There’s no mention of a super tall mountain on Svalbard anywhere on the internet. As far as the modern world is concerned, Svalbard exists. But it doesn’t contain the largest mountain in Norway.”

  “So we’re going to check your trove?” Del’s trove contained an enormous collection of books and a few old maps.

  “That’s the plan. Cass is already in there. Ready to dive into the dust?”

  “You betcha.”

  I followed her back through her bedroom and into her crowded trove. Piles of books formed towers all around us, and though she’d mentioned dust, there was none to be found. Though her organizational system was weird, she kept the place spotless.

  We joined Cass in the back near a massive pile of leather-bound tomes and got to work, leafing through pages. I moved as quickly as I could, searching for any reference that could help us. But two hours later, surrounded by an ever growing pile of books and scrolls, we were still coming up empty.

  “The mountain isn’t on any map.” Del shifted set down a map and sighed. “I’ve checked them all.”

  “All of these books are coming up empty.” I frowned.

  “So if the internet has nothing and your trove has nothing, we’ll need to go farther afield,” Cass said.

  “Dr. Garriso and the fae Fiona,” I said. Our friend at the Museum for Magical History and the fae librarian were the two most knowledgeable people we knew. Their libraries and memories far surpassed ours. I looked at Cass and Del. “I’ll start with Dr. Garriso if you’ll contact Fiona.”

  “On it,” Del said.

  Cass saluted.

  We left the trove, filing into Del’s bedroom. They stayed behind, and I took the stairs two at a time to my apartment, grabbed the keys to Fabio, then headed down to the street. The late winter sun was just rising when I stepped out into the chill air.

  Fabio was parked just down the street. It didn’t take me long to reach the Museum for Magical History. Despite the early hour, Dr. Garriso was sure to be there. We were pretty sure he even slept there occasionally, so dedicated was he to his passion.

  I parked in the lot behind the museum and hurried toward the back door. I tapped on Dr. Garriso’s office window to alert him, then knocked on the unassuming entrance that led to the staff offices.

  A few moments later, Dr. Garriso opened the door. He was in his seventies, with flyaway white hair and a tweed coat that looked very Sherlock Holmes on him. It suited the old scholar.

  “Come in, come in.” He gestured me inside the barren hallway.

  Though the main part of the museum was a beautifully decorated old building, the staff offices were located off a linoleum-tiled hallway in the basement. Fluorescent lights buzzed in the ceiling.

  “Whatever you’re here about, it must be important,” Dr. Garriso said.

  “How’d you guess?”

  “I’ve been getting a fair number of difficult questions from your camp lately.” He grinned. “I just hope I can help with this one.”

  “Me too.”

  Dr. Garriso led me down the hall to his office. Stepping inside was like going to another world. The twentieth century office drudgery of the hall gave way to a book-lined office that looked straight out of a nineteenth century lord’s manor. Floor-to-ceiling shelves were filled with leather-bound books. Tiffany lamps cast a warm glow over the dark furniture and heavy desk.

  “Tea?” Dr. Garriso asked.

  I smiled. It wouldn’t matter if the world were ending—Dr. Garriso would always offer tea. “Thank you, but I’m not sure I have the time.”

  Concern wrinkled his brow. “Yes, yes. Of course.”

  I took a seat in one of the leather chairs at the end of the narrow room.

  He sat next to me and leaned forward. “What is it that I can help you with?”

  I told him about Svalbard and the mountain that couldn’t be found on any maps.

  Interest gleamed in his eyes, and he tapped his chin. “Interesting. Very interesting. I think I may know just what you’re talking about.”

  I opened my mouth to ask what he meant, but he leapt up, as spry as a man in his twenties, and hurried to the far wall. He scaled a wooden ladder and reached for a large, dusty book.

  “I’ve always been interested in the ancient religions,” he said as he hurried back. “The problem is that there is usually so little written history. And what we have isn’t necessarily reliable. Some things weren’t written down until hundreds of years after the fact, and how are we supposed to know what got lost in the process?”

  “So you think this has something to do with an ancient religion?”

  “It just might.” He sat and opened the huge book. A small poof of dust plumed upward. Quickly, he skimmed through the pages. Then he stopped, pointing to one. “Yes, yes. Here it is. There is mention of primordial gods in Northern Europe. The first gods, who came long before the Greek or the Celtic or the Norse. The primordial gods.”

  “I’ve never heard of them.”

  “Not many people have. But the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturleson recorded an ancient tale, passed down through the centuries, of a land of ice and snow that was protected by the primordial gods.”

  “I’ll bet twenty bucks it was Svalbard.”

  “Yes, very likely. It was said to be an island, far off the coast, where the polar bears were larger than houses.”

  Ehhh. I grimaced. “If it’s protected by the primordial gods, that could mean it’s hidden from human eyes, right?”

  “Yes. And your giant mountain would be hidden as well.”

  “So how do I reach it?”

  He leaned over the page, brow drawn. After a moment, he spoke. “It says here that there is an entry in Heimsrkingla. There’s nothing there now—just rocks and snow on Norway’s northernmost coast. But you should go and see if you can trigger the magic.”

  “What kind of trigger?” I thought of the dwarves in Norway and how we’d had to trigger Sven’s magic with the amber stone.

  “I have a feeling that if this is what I think it is—and you are who we all think you are—that you won’t need to do anything other than show up.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  His gaze turned grave. “So do I. Because you need to succeed, Nix. And I’ve just given you all the information that I know.”

  “Thank you.”

  He grinned. “My pleasure. Not every day that my knowledge is put to such world-saving use.”

  World-saving. “I just hope I can live up to that.”

  I arrived back at Factory Row the same time Ares did. He strode down the sidewalk toward me and pulled me in for a kiss. My mind spun for the briefest second, every inch of me focusing on his touch, before he drew away.

  I wobbled a bit, steadied my breathing—and then remembered everything that faced us. That sobered me right up.

  “Did you find anything?” he asked.

  “Yeah. You?”

  “Yes. Should we need them, I have a contingent of vampire soldiers who will help us with the fight.”

  I grinned. “Thank you. And I got lucky, though Cass and Del struck out.”

  “You know where to go?”

  “I do.”

  “Good. Because there’s a crowd waiting.” He pointed behind me.

  I turned, looking through the window of P & P. I’d only had eyes for Ares when he’d arrived and hadn’t noticed how many people were inside.

  Cass and Del, with Aidan and Roarke. Along with Connor, Claire, Aerdeca, Mordaca, Bree, and Ana.

  I gave Ares a quizzical look. He shrugged, which I should have expected. How would he know their intentions better than I?

  “Let’s go figure this out, then.” I walked into the warmth of P & P and looked at all of the people. “So, guys, what’s the party for?”

  “We were hoping you’d tell us.” Aerdeca tapped her fingers on her chair arm. She was dressed in her tactical fight wear instead of her usual white pantsuit. So was Mordaca.

  “Yes, Cass says that you’ve found the dragons,” Mordaca said.

  “Maybe found the dragons,” Cass said.

  Mordaca waved her black-clawed fingers. “Whatever.”

  I approached the group. “Yes, there is a chance I have found the dragons, but I can’t guarantee it. Why are you here, though?”

  “To help you, obviously.” Bree flicked her dark hair back from her face.

  “We barely know you,” I said. “Not that I don’t appreciate the help, but you’re risking a lot for people you barely know.”

  “We’re risking a lot because there’s a lot at stake,” Ana said. “All the magic in the world. That means our magic, too. And the magic of every innocent supernatural out there.”

  “And we’re not interested in running from a fight,” Bree said.

  A smile twitched at my lips. “I’ve gotten that impression.” I looked at Aerdeca and Mordaca. “Same goes for you?”

  “We’ve known what was at stake from the moment we touched the beaker,” Aerdeca said. “We’re here to fight.”

  I glanced at Connor and Claire, but their faces basically said, “Give me a break.”

  I didn’t bother asking them why they had our backs. They always had our backs.

  “All right, then,” I said. “We do need your help. Normally, we’d take fewer people on recon—which is what this will be—but we can’t afford for Del, Cass, or me to get caught by Drakon.”

  “So we’ll be your guards.” Bree cracked her knuckles and grinned.

  “Yeah, basically.” We could protect ourselves normally. But this wasn’t normal.

  “With this crowd, I think we’re going in loaded for bear,” Cass said.

  I grimaced. “Good, because there will be polar bears. Big ones.”

 

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