The vision flickered around us and I watched a new memory unfold as the Nymph laid the red and gold platter onto a huge altar which seemed to be carved from the pitch black stone which made up the pyramid we were now standing within.
There were carvings all over the altar of a woman who I recognised as that shadow bitch Lionel kept by his side as she took part in various battles and sexual acts.
As the Nymph set the platter down, the entire room began to hum with a dark and rampant energy and the space above the altar pulsed and flexed, darkness seeming to form of its own accord as the shadows slipped through a rift into our realm and the demands of the Shadow Princess grew louder within the mind of the Nymph.
There were other items laid out on the altar, each of them connected to the rift which flickered in the space above it by a tendril of shadow which tainted the air and made bile rise in the back of my throat.
“Where is this?” Max’s voice echoed through the space, his tone laced with a seductive kind of lilt which made me want to answer him even though I didn’t have an answer to give.
The Nymph fell prey to his demands and more images flashed before us, moving so fast that I couldn’t keep track as he showed us how he had gotten to this place and where it was located in the far east of our kingdom.
“How many Fae have you killed?” Max asked next and I gritted my jaw as I was gifted memories of him working alongside other Nymphs as they broke into the houses of innocent Fae, butchering them and sinking their probes into the chest of men, women and children alike. I could feel their hunger, their need for that power like it was written into their souls.
There were more of those memories, more and more until rage was boiling through my blood as I felt the cruelty and violence in the creature so viscerally that it filled me with rage and the desire to wipe him and all who were like him from the face of the earth.
The vision shattered abruptly and I flinched as I was snapped out of it, finding myself back in the kitchen as blood splattered my face and made me suck in a sharp breath of surprise.
Seth was still gripping my hand tightly and Max looked just as shocked as I felt as we all looked up at Darius who was standing beside the severed head of the Nymph with his blood covered axe in hand and a snarl on his face that reminded me of his father for a moment.
“We need to destroy that altar,” he said firmly, taking a pouch of stardust from his pocket.
He threw it over the four of us before we could say anything else and we were whipped through the embrace of the stars and deposited back outside the magical barrier which hid The Burrows within seconds.
“I felt that death like it was my own, asshole,” Max snapped, throwing a fist at Darius’s face and catching him in the jaw.
“It needed to die,” Darius growled back, dropping his axe and throwing a punch in return.
“Not while I was inside its fucking head!” Max yelled angrily, launching himself at Darius and Seth tugged me back a step before they could plough into us.
I turned to look at him, finding blood sprayed across his face too and I reached out to wipe some of it from his cheek with my thumb.
“Turns out we’ve still got a bunch of Nymphs to kill after all,” I said with a grin and the smile he gave me in return made my breath catch in my throat.
“Shall we beat them inside to deliver the news then?” he suggested, glancing at Darius and Max as they continued to wrestle among the spring flowers and I nodded, shooting forward and sweeping him off of his feet as we raced back inside to find the others.
“W e’ll cause a distraction.”
I looked up at the sound of Gabriel’s voice as it drew me out of my nap where I lay on the edge of the lounger in the bathhouse. It was so warm and steamy in here that I couldn’t help but try to recover a few minutes of rest to catch up on the sleep Darius was so insistent on stealing from me - and even the frizzy hair was going to be worth the nap time.
“Why do we need a distraction?” Darcy asked from her position lounging at the edge of the warm water where she was watching Geraldine float across the surface in a giant mermaid shell she’d fashioned for herself out of earth magic. Sofia was lazing in the pool beyond her, her eyes closed as she relaxed.
“I don’t know – whatever it is, is hidden from me by the shadows so I won’t be much help with it, but I’ve already seen me and my family hitting a Nebular Inquisition Centre tonight so Lionel and his shadow bitch will be after us instead of you.” Gabriel tipped us a salute as he turned and left as quickly as he’d appeared, clearly decided on his fate and knowing that it wouldn’t involve us.