“I thought you didn’t fight,” she said.
Warren looked down at his hands, flexing them. “No’ to kill. But I do fight.” Myself, the things I’ve done, the past I try to outrun. “There’s violence in me, always has been. It’s better if I get it out. When there aren’t people around.”
“Oh.” She looked away.
“You’re feeling better.”
“I am.”
“Have you had breakfast?”
“Yes. I want to see the letter.”
Warren nodded, not surprised that she’d want to get to the point. “It’s in the library. I’ll get it.”
She followed him out of the room, and as Warren strode along next to her, the clean scent of her caught in his lungs and arrested his thoughts. He hadn’t expected to see her so soon, and when he’d caught sight of her standing in the doorway, his brain had overloaded with a dozen thoughts.
Memories of the taste of her, of her cries of pleasure echoing in his ears. The rage in her eyes as she propelled him out the door, the hurt that had edged in at the corners. The past days of working with her and realizing her cleverness and bravery. His confusion over what she wanted from
him. Why she had ever wanted him.
“I’ll need to go somewhere populated with Mytheans to restore my power,” she said as they walked down the hall.
“All right. There’s a gathering of Mytheans near Loch Buie. A Mythean Highland Games, run by a local laird. It’s being held on his land today and tomorrow.”
“How do you know that?”
Because when he’d woken up this morning, he’d thought of her needing more power. Something that had bothered him before had become a priority. “I knew you’d need a boost.”
“So that I can find Aurora for you.” Her voice had a glass-sharp edge.
“No, for you.”
“Sure. Let’s go get the letter.”
Moments later, they walked into the big, book-filled room that served as the library. Warren had spent many an hour here over the last three centuries, poring through Cadan’s ancient collection. Most older Mytheans read a lot.
With a deep breath, he withdrew the letter from a secret compartment in the bottom drawer of Cadan’s desk. Esha snatched the letter from him as soon as she saw it. She turned from him and walked toward the window.
“Hey,” he said, following.
“My letter, Warren.” She raised it. “See? My name on the front.”
He nodded. He’d know the contents soon enough.
With her full lip bitten between her teeth, Esha squinted as she carefully peeled open the letter’s seal. The envelope fluttered to the floor as she opened the folded slip of paper. Her brows drew together as she read.
“What is it?” The tension was killing him, a boa constrictor that wrapped around his chest. As much as Esha could be the best kind of distraction, Aurora’s threat hung over his head like a guillotine’s blade. Time was running out, and Aurora had proved that she had the strength and the stone heart to make him truly suffer.
“Oh shit,” Esha breathed. “She wants us to go to Iceland.”
“What the hell? Why there?”
She turned to face him, surprise raising her brows. “There’s an abandoned soulceress settlement. I didn’t think it still existed, but I guess it does. Soulceresses used to live there before the Vikings came. All I know is that the ancients built a city as far from other Mytheans as they could get so they knew they would be safe. When they needed a power boost, they’d simply aetherwalk to a Mythean settlement, juice up, then return home. But when the Vikings came in the ninth century, they eventually had to leave. I guess the settlement is still there, probably hidden from mortal eyes by magic. But it makes sense that she would hide out there. She said she’s in the temple.”
“Do you know where it is?”
She shrugged. “Not enough to aetherwalk there, but I’ve heard it’s located in the middle of the biggest glacier. If I got close enough, I’m sure I’d sense the old magic.”