Page 70 of The Arcane God

Greya looked up at Perse, who’d begun tidying things on her desk for her.

“What is it?” he asked, noticing how serious she’d become. “What does it say?”

“I think it’s from the daemon,” she said. “It just has the word Invale written on it.”

“Invale? What do you think that means?”

“I think that’s where the next daemon attack will be.”

Perse went silent, letting this sink in. “He actually came through.”

“He did,” Greya said, sounding just as surprised as Perse did.

“And what are you going to do about it?” he asked.

Greya paused for a second, thinking. She did not want to risk her people in a direct altercation, but she could…warn them. Tell the mortals to temporarily relocate, or to hide their goods. She wasn’t sure exactly what the daemons would be after, but Invale mostly specialized in breeding goats, so if they conveniently took their herd far out to graze soon…maybe they might get lucky.

Greya took out her inkpot and quill to write with, and a fresh piece of paper.

Who knew if this was the right thing to do, but right now, it felt like the only thing to do. Her Coven was in turmoil—split—and the mortals they tried to help were under attack. She had to do something, and if Steig had risked himself for this information, then she needed to use it.

She was pleased, and excited, to actually have intel that could help, but in the back of her mind, she wondered…how long could she forestall these attacks? Would it even be enough? With the king still in power, there was only so much she and Steig could do. How could she protect them all until he could be removed? And when would that be?

She didn’t have the answers, but she also didn’t have a choice. She had to see this path through, and trust that things were always darkest before the dawn.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Ty

The day after Xena’s Awakening, a severe storm set in, forcing Ty, Ena, Turner, and the stryx to hunker down in their shelters. It was difficult to leave even to get wood to maintain their fires, and hunting was out of the question. The wind whipped so hard, with ice and snow pelting their tents for days on end, it was as if Iblis himself had conjured a storm set only for destruction.

At first, Ty didn’t mind it. It gave him uninterrupted time to spend with Ena—getting to appreciate her growing, changing body, and it gave them time to catch up and experiment with her new needs, which he delighted in.

They even visited with some of the others too—when they felt brave enough to switch tents. But after a while, it became somewhat disconcerting, as their supplies began to dwindle, and they all began waiting impatiently, day by day, for the storm to pass.

It was one such day in particular, almost a week after her Awakening, when Xena stopped by.

Ty, Ena, and Turner were sitting snug in their tent while Ena tried to teach them to play Three Covens—a game that was apparently common among witches and mortals—using pieces of hide they had drawn on as makeshift cards, when they heard Xena announce her presence above the whipping wind.

“Come in!” Ena called.

Xena popped her head in, her snow-covered body following after.

Ty would be lying if he said he didn’t still feel uncomfortable as fuck around her now that he knew what she was to him. Just like with Kaya, he didn’t exactly know how he felt about it all, and that made it hard to know what to do.

“Thank you,” Xena said, somewhat awkwardly, looking between them. “I wondered if I could speak with you for a minute,” she said to Ena.

“Of course,” Ena said, shifting slightly to make room for Xena around the central fire.

Xena’s eyes darted to Turner, who sat across the fire, before quickly shifting away, almost embarrassedly, and refocusing on Ena.

What in Iblis’s name was that about?

“Thank you,” Xena said. Ty had never heard her be so polite. It was weird and off-putting to say the least. What was going on? “I wanted to ask you about your…Gift,” she continued.

“What about it?” Ena asked, her brow furrowing in that cute way Ty loved.

“Well, from what my mother told me, it’s not really a Gift. It’s a Power. Is that true?”