Destin POV
My bedroom door flies open. Nyx is standing on the other side. Her silver is piled on top of her head, and her clothes are wrinkled. I look her up and down before snorting with laughter. I gesture with my hand in her direction. "This is a choice."
Her eyes glow with anger. "Shut up. Things are getting bad out there."
I glance out of my window, pretending like I haven't noticed the dark clouds that loom over the palace. Gracus has always been talented with controlling the weather, even before he was cursed to become a Gray Creature. Now, his powers are just as strong, but they are a little more sinister.
"What do you want me to do about it?"
Nyx flops herself on my bed, and her eyes grow heavy. Arabella's tome is still in her arms. I don't think she has let it go since it was given to her. Lifting her hands, I pry it away from her. She tries to fight back, but she doesn't have the strength.
"This book wasn't made for you," I remind her. "It is draining you of your magic. You need to let it go."
Throwing her arm over her face, she lets out a frustrated sigh. "I am trying to fix this. Gracus is still threatening war. The portal is still open."
I sit down beside her and she curls up in my lap like she used to when we were children. I smooth her wild hairs from her face. She calms quickly, but can still feel her mind racing.
"What are you thinking about?"
She lifts her head from my lap. "I am going to let you go."
"That is also a choice," I chuckle. "Are you so ready to defy your queen?"
"I am not defying Macy. Not really. Gracus will not meet with her. His ego is blinding his ability to see that the choices he is making are wrong. I will set you free, but you have to speak to Gracus before you look for your mate and the twins."
I grumble under my breath before answering her. "I can't. The longer I wait, the more impossible it will be for me to find them. I have to leave as soon as I can."
She wrinkles her nose. "Then I am not letting you go."
We sit in silence. Both of us on my bed, and her head in my lap. The last time I held her like this was when her mate rejected her. She had been following him around like a love-sick puppy for months, waiting for the moment he would recognize her. Finnian was cruel. He knew they were bonded for eternity, but he didn't care. Being tied down to any woman wasn't his idea of a good life.
Finally, when he grew tired of her attention, he rejected her like she was trash. Broken and tired, she crawled to my cabin. Arabella fixed her a tea to help her sleep ,and I held her until she stopped crying. I had never seen her so broken, and I never did again.
Finnian carried on with his life until he met an untimely death, but Nyx never stopped loving him. She took lovers and had other mates, but they would never measure up to the affection she had for Finnian.
She is broken now, like she was all of those centuries ago. Only this time it isn't heartbreak. Her magic is beginning to fail her. The tips of her fingers are turning black, seeping dark magic into her skin. She is becoming something she has always hated. Just like when Finnian broke her heart, I feel the need to protect her and fix what is broken.
"I will fix this."
Her eyes are brimming with tears when she sits up. "Do you mean it?"
A growl rolls in my chest. "Yes, I will speak to Gracus and save the Immortal Realm from war on one condition."
"Anything," she breathes out.
"I am taking the tome with me."
She scoots away from me and shakes her head. "I need it."
"It is killing you," I shout at her. "Can't you see that. Look at your hands. It is feeding dark magic into your veins each time you open it. Soon, you will no longer be a Fae, but you won't be a Gray Creature either. You will be nothing more than a wraith, walking the realms like a shadow, feeding on magical creatures to sustain you."
Nyx is staring at her hands like she has never seen them before. She flips them over several times and then tries to wipe the black from her hands. It may fade over time, but until it does, her need to touch dark magic will be a plague in her mind.
"I didn't know it had gotten this bad."
"Arabella was a sneaky bitch, in case you have forgotten."
My words were a failed attempt at making her laugh. She scratches at her skin, and her eyes flicker to the tome. I place myself between her and the spell book. "Leave it here."
She nods her head and makes for my door, but pauses before she leaves. She turns to me with tears now streaming down her face. "This is the last time we meet."
I shove my hands in my pockets and try not to think about losing my oldest friend. I press my lips together into a hard line and nod.
"Don't you want to know if you find her?"
My lips part. "Can you see that?"
"I can see everything. Do you want to know your future?"
I step away from Nyx and gather the tome into my hands. Nyx can see everything. She always has. Her visions cross multiple realms and universes. Nothing comes as a surprise to her, not even when Finnian reached her. She could tell me my future, but that doesn't mean it will come true. The future is fickle, and knowing only makes it volatile.
"No. I don't."
She smiles. "You always were the smartest of all of us."
Nyx walks out of the door, leaving it open. The magical wards she put into place fall, and I can feel my power returning to me. I take the first step out of my room in months and consider defying Nyx. I have everything I need in my hands to find the twins.
Lightning strikes in the distance, and I groan in frustration with myself. I might have been painted as the bad boy of the Immortal Realm, but if that is the case, why am I always doing the noble thing?