The Bond and Other Curses || Book Two

CHAPTER 20 (PART 2) - ORION

Council members screamed and Guardians dived for their charges. Tritteon and I jumped for Rilyin as dust rained from the ceiling.

"Vasprey!" Tritteon yelled at me.

I swore and darted back to her. "Stay with me!" I yelled at her.

"Protect him!" she yelled back, rushing to Rilyin's side.

The double doors to the right of the tiered seats flew open and Pharro burst inside, ten Kovei rushing past to get to Rilyin.

"What is going on?" Tritteon demanded.

Pharro's eyes were wide. "Someone blew up the lobby to get through security."

"Are they still in the building?"

"Yes. The lifts were all deactivated and sealed, as well as the stairwells. They know he hasn't left the ground floor, but they have lost sight of him."

"Too many people knew you were coming today," Tritteon growled, glancing back at Rilyin. He looked at me, at the Kovei surrounding us on all sides, to Pharro. I felt no anxiety from him. Only anger. Hot, furious, anger.

"You don't have to ask," Pharro said, reading something in Tritteon's expression.

Tritteon nodded. "Sir, Aveeve and I will go down and apprehend him," he said to Rilyin.

"Pharro, Ezlinn, and the Kovei will have this room under lockdown until you return," Rilyin said easily, like this was a normal occurrence.

I wanted to protest. How could he possibly think it was okay to leave Rilyin's side when someone had just blown up the lobby? Sure, Pharro was powerful and there were quite a few Kovei. But wouldn't it be better to stay beside Rilyin until someone else neutralized the threat? Why did Tritteon have to do it?

Rilyin grabbed my arm and Tritteon threw a shield around us. "We couldn't have asked for a better opportunity to prove you are who we are claiming. If I send you out there with Tritteon, the majority will think twice about their accusations."

"But what if—"

Rilyin pointed to the wall behind us with a huge screen set into it. "I will have surveillance relay what happens down there onto the screen in here so every council member will witness every detail for themselves. Now go."

I squinted at him. "You didn't orchestrate this, did you?"

He rolled his eyes.

I shot an accusatory look at Pharro.

He scowled. "Don't start. This isn't exactly an abnormal occurrence."

The shield broke. "Aveeve," Tritteon shouted, and took off.

I bolted after him. There was no way I was going to let him go by himself. If there was even the smallest chance this was Vek related, it didn't matter that I'd helped him unlock it to some extent, I knew better than anyone that he was no match.

"Perhaps since your compulsion seems so impossible, you could help Tritteon develop his demon gift instead,"Lexicon said. "That way, when you run like a coward, they won't be so defenseless."

"Apart from that unnecessarily rude coward comment, that may be the first sensible thing you've come up with all day."

The double doors slammed behind us as we passed through them, and Tritteon stopped long enough for both of us to pour our strongest Thet Veehms across its surface.

When we both felt it was sufficient, Tritteon led the way down the left hallway.

"We're on the tenth floor, and Pharro said the lifts and stairwells are sealed. How are we getting down there?"