Camilla needed to get her talent back.
But it wasn’t Envy’s fault. One way or another, her path would always have ended on this road. She’d known that the hunter’s return was an inevitability, as was the lure of the Fae. The clouds of her past had been looming above for some time, gathering into this perfect storm.
She closed the book she’d long since stopped scanning and glanced around the chamber again. They were in a room dedicated to emotions, and the only thing she felt at present was irritation. Everything looked to be in place. No book stood out to her, no object, except…
Her attention returned to the giant nautilus, then drifted over to that smoky glass ball.
It wasn’t unusual to find an object or artifact tucked into the shelves here, but something about this object kept drawing Camilla’s eye. Perhaps it was simply shiny and pretty and like a magpie she had a fondness for sparkly items.
“Hand it over,” Envy said, continuing the argument with his brother.
“As outrageous as it is to consider, your game isn’t responsible for everything in this bloody realm,” Lo shot back, equally annoyed. “If you can’t tell me why this is so important to win, don’t expect me to put my court in peril.”
Camilla crossed the chamber to get a better look at the gleaming nautilus shell.
Her fingers glided over the smooth surface, marveling at the burnt-umber stripes running along its curved outer edge.
She turned it over carefully, admiring the mother-of-pearl interior and the clever spiral pattern the mollusk was known for. Nature was the greatest artist.
She replaced the shell and picked up the glittering ball, holding it up to the light.
Her mood shifted from annoyance to wonder. The ball was even more magical up close. What she’d initially believed was opaque glass was actually thousands of little ebony grains that moved like sand within an hourglass each time she turned it.
The object was lovely.
Something about it made her want to smash it to pieces.
She’d raised her hand, intent on doing just that, when one word broke her trance.
“Stop.” Magic laced Envy’s voice, the power winding around her until she couldn’t have ignored him if she’d tried.
The prince was slowly approaching, hands up, like she was a wild animal ready to attack.
“What?” she asked.
“Put the Orb of Golath down. Slowly.”
Envy kept his gaze on her, steady, calming. Yet his demeanor only succeeded in making her more nervous. Her attention shot around the room. Lo, the two male research assistants who’d been quietly thumbing through each shelf, everyone had stilled, watching.
She looked down at the object she held, noticing the strange pulse for the first time. It beat like a phantom heart, like a distant drum. Somehow she felt like all the fears in the universe had been collected and were pounding at the thin glass to be freed.
“Oh, it’s doing… something.”
Envy moved slowly but steadily, his voice low and commanding. “Look at me. It will not harm you so long as it remains intact.”
Of course, that statement made her want to toss the damn thing far away.
“It’s pulsing.” Camilla suddenly feared she’d hold it too tightly and shatter the glass by accident. Then she worried she’d not hold it tightly enough and it’d drop.
It undulated in her palms, the feeling twisting her insides into knots.
“Whatever it tries to do to get you to drop it, you must ignore it,” Envy said. “The orb wants you to break it.”
“The orb of what?”
“Gods’ bones,” Envy muttered. “Did you even see the cursed thing sitting there, Sloth?”
“Must have been glamoured from us.” Lo sounded shaken.
“Why?” Camilla asked, trying to ignore the slick, cool feeling of the glass. It shifted again, now reminding her of a leech as it suctioned to her skin. “Why wasn’t it glamoured from me?”
“That is the question, isn’t it?” Envy asked, his tone curious. He shifted to his brother. “It wasn’t part of your collection, correct?”
Lo shook his head. “No. I don’t have an orb on the premises.”
“Then this is definitely our next clue.” Envy faced her again, face grim. “Try to set it down now, Camilla.”
“I… I don’t think I can.”
“You can and you will.” Envy seemed coiled to strike out at the orb. “Once it’s been touched, only the person who picked it up can set it back down. I can’t take it from you.”
With fear surging through her veins, Camilla gently set the orb back on the shelf, mindful to step away as slowly as she could in case it decided to take a tumble on its own. She exhaled only after it was several feet away from her.
Envy drew her behind him.
“Where should we destroy it?” Envy asked.
Camilla stared daggers at his back. “Breaking it seemed like a very unwise idea a moment ago.”
He glanced over his shoulder, his expression inscrutable. “You’re more… breakable.”
“Give me a second,” Lo said. “I’ll draw a containment ring. It should be safe there.”
One of the assistants brought the Prince of Sloth a piece of chalk, and while he drew a perfect circle and added runes she assumed were for protection, Camilla racked her brain for what it was. She couldn’t recall any stories.
“What is the Orb of Golath?” she asked again.
“Golath is known as the Fear Collector, an ancient being often thought to have possessed the first spark of evil,” Envy said, still standing guard over the ball. “No one knows how many orbs are in existence, but they open doors even we demon princes fear to pass through. That one is here indicates we need to seek Golath next. He gifts them when he has a message. Or when he has a fear to collect.”
The Fear Collector.
Of course, the next clue had to be some ancient evil. Why not the Wish Granter? The Dream Weaver?
And she’d been the one marked to find this clue.
Envy’s attention remained locked on the orb, his expression set in hard lines as he concentrated. He’d dispatched the Hexed Throne with barely any effort, so to see him taking such care was anything but comforting.
“Are you ready to break it?” Lo asked, looking up from the containment circle.
The Prince of Envy took a step toward the orb, then glanced over at Camilla.
“Stand as far from the circle as you can, Miss Antonius.”
She moved to the far corner of the room where the two assistant demons were crouched, books clutched to their chests. They’d likely been intrigued by the hunt for information, the excitement of finding a clue. Judging from the way they trembled, they hadn’t expected things to get so dangerous. An oversized desk sat between them and the circle, which didn’t seem like much protection at all.
Lo and Envy exchanged long looks, their conversation silent before Lo inclined his head, agreeing to whatever his brother had asked.
Without looking at Camilla again, Envy finally grabbed the orb.
He walked straight into the chalk circle, gave his brother one last hard look, then shattered it at his feet.
Camilla inhaled sharply.
A mammoth, nearly incorporeal creature reared up. It had the head of a goat and the body of a muscular man. Its horizontal irises landed on Camilla, taking her in.
It remained silent, cocking its head, its gaze never straying from where she stood.
“Golath.” Envy’s voice carved through the tension building in the room. “Where are you?”
“What are you, when are you, these are more interesting queries.”