Yasmin rose abruptly, heading for one of the wooden doors in the wall. “Follow me. One, two, three. Let’s go.”

I was beginning to get the impression that Yasmin didn’t spend a lot of time talking to adults and had forgotten the basics of normal human communication. Still, I stood and followed her into another shadowy hall—this one narrow and unlit. I ran my fingers along the damp walls to steady myself in the darkness, my heart hammering.

Here, the Tower’s shadows crept over me.

At last, a door creaked open and a chink of moonlight streamed through. Yasmin’s silhouette moved into a silvery room. Old, warped window panes lined the ceiling and walls. It seemed to be a small greenhouse of sorts—I’d never imagined something like this existing here in the Tower.

I breathed in the glorious aroma of soil and plants, the air heavy with the scent of foxglove, sage, lavender, and marjoram.

I traced my fingertips over a flowering plant with pink blossoms, the damp petals transfixing me. “This place is beautiful,” I breathed. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen anything with flowers.”

“That plant is turmeric. It treats asthma.”

I glanced at another plant. In the faint light, I could just read the hand-scrawled label. Feverfew. “So you’ve got your own elaborate medicine cabinet in here.”

She nodded. “The gods give us what we need.”

I crossed my arms. This idea that the gods provided didn’t really gel with my recent life experiences—experiences that included starving and watching people die of infected wounds. “I was always under the impression the gods were just batshit.”

Yasmin was gently, lovingly pruning a plant. “And what do you know about the gods?”

I tried to remember what my parents had taught me. “The seven earthly gods were once archangels. When some of them passed on the Angelic language to humans, the lesser angels decided to punish them. The seven were cast to the Earth, and with them, their angels fell, turning into demons—valkyries and hellhounds and whatever else. They hate it here, hate being trapped and tormented on Earth. My people—the fae—were different. Angels who actually wanted to be here. I like the feel of having an earthly body, dancing, eating the food… Earth isn’t hell to the fae. Or at least, it wasn’t.”

A sudden sense of loss gripped me. I hadn’t danced at all since the last time I’d seen Hazel.

Yasmin eyed me from behind a flowering plant. “Good. You know your history. And you’re right, the seven gods will not help us. But you don’t know the whole history. I speak of different gods.”

I blinked. “Wait… who are you talking about?”

Moonlight bathed her in silver. “The gods who lived on Earth before the angels’ fall. The gods born from the Earth itself.”

“What? I’ve never heard of them.”

“Most people haven’t. We call them the Old Gods.”

This kind of sounded like some bullshit, but I’d go with it. “And how are they supposed to help us?”

She crossed to another plant—one with indigo flowers. Reverently, she stroked her fingertips over the blossoms. “This plant is known as Devil’s Bane. Some call it the Queen of Poisons. Incidentally, that is what the other members of the Order call me.”

“Good to know.”

She met my gaze. “Kratos, the Hunter, lives in an ancient castle just outside London. It’s been glamoured for centuries, but we know where to find it. Now, in the forest outside his palace, Devil’s Bane has begun to grow. We hadn’t seen it in centuries, but the Old Gods give us what we need. We believe that Devil’s Bane is one of the only substances capable of weakening the angels.”

“Can it kill them?”

She shook her head. “No. It may put them out of commission for weeks or months. But they would recover.”

“But I could use it as self-defense if I needed to.”

“Yes. And I’m certain that there’s more in that forest—another gift from the Old Gods. Maybe even the key to their defeat. But we haven’t been able to explore the grounds there. The angels slaughter anyone who gets too close. Nearly all missions to the forest have resulted in death. We can’t get past the outer boundaries.”

Great. “So that sounds promising.” I frowned. “I must say, I was hoping for something more concrete than potential gifts from imaginary gods that may or may not be in the forest.”

“They’re not imaginary. Look—” she held my gaze steadily. “We need you, Ruby. If you really can get into the angels’ palace, you could tell us why they’re here, what their plans are. Are they planning another large-scale slaughter? Disease, a massacre? We don’t know, but you could help us find out. Help us prepare for it to save lives. And give the Old Gods a chance. Find out what they are trying to tell us. Angels were never meant to walk the Earth. They were meant for the heavens.”

Remembering Kratos, his otherworldly strength, a shiver of dread ran up my spine. And Adonis was even worse. “What else can you tell me?”

“In order for you to convince them to trust you, you’ll need to shed your former self completely. Become the succubus you pretended to be—a demon who doesn’t care about humans. Prove to them that the Great Nightmare has changed you. You’re as ruthless as they are. You thrive on death like they do. You value beasts more than human lives. You can be our beacon of light, but first, you must descend into the shadows.”

I nodded grimly. “I understand.”

Little did she know I was terrified of the dark and had to sleep with candles lit.

With my arms folded, I tapped my fingertips on the crook of my elbow. “How would I communicate with you while I’m in their castle? And how will you get a message to my sister, like you said?”

“That, unfortunately, is a little difficult. We have only one scryer, and he wasn’t fully trained before the Great Nightmare began. I can make contact with you through a reflection—you’ll be able to see us, but we can’t see much back. Just blotches of light and shadow.”

I frowned. “That doesn’t sound very useful.”

“We’ll make contact with you just after dawn, every day. It’s a risk every time. You need to let us know if the sentinels can see us when we appear to you, so we can find another reflection. Flicker the candle once to tell us it’s unsafe, or five times to let us know it’s okay.”

“And then how do I communicate any actual information?”

“When you have something important to tell us, signal with a candle again. For a meeting, flicker the candle three times. One of us will meet you at the forest’s edge. On the north side of the forest, you’ll find a grove of mulberry trees, with hellebore and cockle weeds growing around them. Wait until there are no sentinels overhead, then glamour yourself as a fox. We’ll meet inside the cave of pines.”

Plants. Of course the Queen of Poisons gave directions by way of plants. “When can you send my sister a message?”

Her brow creased. “What do you want me to convey?”

I thought of all the things I wanted to say to Hazel, from a reminder to eat her fruit to a simple message letting her know I was okay. “Just… can you just tell her I haven’t given up on her, that I want to find her? Maybe find a way for her to signal where she is?”

Yasmin let out a long sigh. “If that’s what you want me to do, I will do it. But you should think about this first: we’d be opening up a scrying portal without knowing who is watching. If dragons are surrounding her—if they know she is communicating with the Order—it could end very badly for her. You should wait until you have something important to communicate.”

Her words sent a lick of dread chasing up my spine. “I don’t know any other way to find her. And if you can contact her—if you find the blotches of light and darkness when you search for her—at least I’ll know she’s alive, right?”

“Yes. We will work on finding her, and you work on finding an escape route for her. But don’t risk her life just to reassure yourself—risk her life when you think it’s the only way to get her back.”

My chest tightened. She had a point. “Fine.”

“Charm the angels. Seduce them. Make them want to please you, and steal information from them when they’re not looking. Whatever it takes, find out what you need to know—for Hazel, and for all of us.”

Wordlessly, Yasmin crossed to a shadowy alcove in the corner of the herbarium. If I strained my eyes, I could just see a wooden box resting there. Yasmin pulled it from the shelf. When she opened it, the box almost seemed to glow from within.

“If you want to save your sister, save us—you’re going to have to become a new person. A seductive succubus. But I won’t send you there unprotected.” She pulled a silvery knife from the box, and the moonlight sparked off its lethally sharp blade. “This is Nyxobian silver, so sharp that it can cut through anything. Including angels’ bodies, their wings. Hide it on yourself as protection. If an angel seems like he’s about to slaughter you, plunge this through his heart. It won’t kill him, but it will certainly slow him down.”

I shuddered, taking the knife from her. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, shall we?”