Page 35 of The Bonds of Indigo

When I glance at him, he looks bored.

You know what, fuck him. The moment I’m opening my mouth to tell him to fuck off, his phone rings.

“Hey… yeah…” He taps the back of his hand against my arm. “Here.”

My brows knit together as I look at the phone he’s holding out. I swallow, then take it.

“Hello…?”

“Hi.” A male’s voice comes from the other side. “My name is Atlas. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Amarah.”

My heart leaps at hearing my name. How does he know… Oh, fuck. “… I give you permission to share it with whomever you need…”

“Nice to meet you, Atlas.” The last person to say my name aloud was Thornwyn.

“You will not die today, Amarah.”

“Can you sense gates opening?” My mind snaps back to the present. “Or, maybe just the energy from the Beyond? I’ve been doing some research on them. Not a lot with your own kind because there isn’t much written in the common language. So, I went the easiest route⁠—”

“You do know how stupid this is, right?”

Butcher quite literally growls.

“I’m not here to tell Kayn what to do, or what not to do.”

Kayn…

“If he asks for help, he gets it. So tell me, can you sense the gates?”

I sigh. “No.” That isn’t entirely a lie, but I’d have to be within a mile of one to even catch a flicker of its energy.

We hit a bump in the road, jolting me forward. I shift in the seat and sit up properly, keeping my heart steady.

“Alright, well, one has opened—but it’s likely already closed.”

“How do you know that?”

“Militia have to log them. They’ve been occurring for centuries, but very minimally. Since the incident in Sidence a month or so ago, they’ve been opening more frequently. One opened near Opal Lake, just an hour out.”

“Why are you telling me this, and not your friend?”

“He can’t seem to get over his distaste for you—” That’s a fucking understatement. “—and while I very much hate what you did, there’s an objective here and I’m far more level-headed. And good looking.”

I hold back my chuckle. Since I don’t have it on speaker I assume the blocker on the phone keeps Butcher from hearing Atlas’s comment.

“Now, the gates. Recently, they’ve been opening and closing within a thirty-minute window. I’m thinking maybe you can use the excess energy that they leave off. What do you think?”

“Plausible theory, but as I’ve told Butcher here, I haven’t been able to channel.”

“Useless…” said brute mutters under his breath.

I roll my eyes. “But I’ll try. The sooner I get this over with, the better. Can you text him the location?”

“Already done.”

“We will try in the morning,” Butcher says.

“No, now. Thanks, Atlas.” I hang up and toss the phone into his lap. “The thought of it working outweighs my exhaustion and need to change.”