Like the rest of the world, the library at the Saint Catherine’s Monastery was in ruins. Although, for once, it didn’t seem to be because of Imha and her minions. It simply looked as if it had been abandoned for too many years and left to the negligence of time and weather.

“How old is this place?” Levi asked as we walked toward what looked like the main gate.

I scoffed. “Too old.”

The narrow entrance passage was covered in rubble. The stone walls had crumbled and littered the access. Using our magic, Levi and I jumped past the stones to a more open area, which under so much destruction looked like a courtyard.

“I think it’s through here.” Levi turned to the right, leading to an even bigger open space—another courtyard. Again, the ground was littered with the crumbling walls and broken stones.

Before coming here, we had looked for maps and images of this place in old books and magazines. We sort of knew where the library used to be, though we weren't sure if the secret underground room was underneath the library or elsewhere.

We used magic again to skip past the debris and ended up facing a small chapel.

I stopped and looked inside the abandoned chapel. “Isn’t it odd that books of our creed would be hidden in a Catholic church?”

Levi glanced inside the building. A big crucifix hung precariously from the farthest wall. “Perhaps that’s why they were hidden here. Because this is the last place anyone would look for them.”

“Perhaps,” I muttered.

Beyond the chapel, there was another building—curiously intact. The library.

Carefully, I opened the door and stepped inside. Despite some shelves tilted to the side, supported by walls or other shelves, and a few scattered books and papers, the place looked undamaged.

“Now we look for a secret door leading down,” I said.

Levi nodded and went to the right. I turned to the left and started walking around the tables, desks, and shelves. I wasn’t sure what I was searching for, but I looked under the desks, shelves, and rugs, behind frames on the walls and doors. The only sound inside the library was the creaking of the old, rickety wooden floor as we stepped on it.

After one hour, I met Levi at the back of the library.

“Anything?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Nope.”

“It certainly won’t be obvious.” His gaze scanned the area around us.

That got me thinking … “I have an idea.” I headed toward the entrance of the library and found what looked like a reception desk. I walked behind it and, as I expected, I found several file cabinets. I started opening them and tried to make sense of how things were sorted.

Levi opened a drawer from another file cabinet. “What are we looking for?”

“Anything about religions,” I said, going for the R. After an endless minute, I pulled a card out. “Here. Religions of the World. Shelf R7, row fifty-four.” I jumped over the desk and rushed to shelf R7 with Levi right behind me. Following the numbers, it was easy to find row fifty-four. “Here,” I said, taking out volume one of twelve. There were twelve volumes of Religions of the World.

Levi rubbed the back of his neck. “Now what?”

“Wait,” I said as I opened volume one and looked through the appendix. Not in this one. I found it in volume six. “Here.” I pointed to the title on the appendix page. “The Everlast Creed,” I read out loud, smiling.

Levi’s brows shot to his hairline. “How … I didn’t think our creed would be listed in a rather modern book.”

I flipped to the copyright page. “It isn’t that modern. First edition published in 1795.”

“Compared to our ages, very modern.”

I snorted and flipped the book back to where the history of our creed began. I skimmed through it. “This shit is all wrong.”

“What do you want? For them to tell the truth about us? Yeah, right.” Levi tilted his head and tried to read the book with me. “What are you looking for?”

“I’m not exactly sure,” I said, still skimming through the many pages of garbage.

A drawing of the creed’s symbol took over an entire page, and below it the caption said, “To find it, you just have to be close to the earth.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Levi said.

Didn’t it?

I knelt and felt the old wooden floor. Then I saw it, a wider space between three boards, going under the shelf.

I shot to my feet. “Help me here.”

Together, we pushed the shelf, moving it back until it wasn’t over the boards. A few books fell on the floor, but we pushed them aside.

Levi and I knelt on the floor again and started pulling on the three boards. They came out easier than I thought they would. Below where the boards had been, a narrow and steep stone staircase led down.

“Whoa,” Levi said. “I wasn’t expecting this. How did you know?”

“I didn’t.” I smiled. “Let’s just say I tried to do what Nadine would have done. She’s always saving our asses and finding everything for us.”

He smiled back. “That she does.” He looked down at the stairs. “So each time a high priest wanted to come here, they had to do all this? That is a lot of work.”

I shrugged. “Perhaps they didn’t want it to be easy.”

“Perhaps,” Levi said. “Ready?”

I nodded. “Let’s go.”

The stairs were narrow and dark, but as we went down, the steps widened. Two sets of flights later, we arrived at a landing and the light coming from upstairs no longer illuminated the stairwell. On the wall to my left and right were unlit torches in sconces. I conjured a bolt of energy in my hand and lit those torches. Levi grabbed one of the torches and we walked the perimeter of the room lighting the rest of them.

We met in the center of the room.

“Damn,” I whispered, glancing around. We were in a large cavern with a high ceiling and many, many shelves and books. The shelves along the walls went from the floor to the ceiling, and the shelves in the middle of the room were almost as tall and looked like they would tilt if we tried to jam one more book in them.

I got close to one of the shelves and used the torch to illuminate the books.

The History of the Everlasting Circle. There were seven different volumes.

The Real History of the Everlasting Circle. This collection had ten volumes.

Deities of the Everlasting Circle from A to K and Deities of the Everlasting Circle from L to Z.

All About Demons.

I kept walking.

There were several books about each of us; there were too many books about me. I wanted to pick up a few and skim through them, but that would only delay our main search.

In the back of the room, I found not books but scrolls.

“By the Everlast.”

This shit was old. Most of the scrolls looked like they would crumble into dust if picked up, but what if what we were looking for were on them? Nobody had heard of any group of ladies in so long, it had to be old. Ancient even.

“There are some books on legends here,” Levi’s voice came from somewhere on my right. I found him a few shelves away, holding his torch high as he leaned over a shelf. “Here.” He pointed to the books in front of him.

Legends of the Everlasting Circle.

Myth or Truth: the Stories behind the Legends.

The Real Legends of the Everlasting Circle.

Heroes: Born or Made?

I placed the torch on a makeshift sconce on the side of the shelf, pulled the book about heroes, and opened it to the appendix. “Here,” I said, pointing to the heading of chapter eight: Why Ladies of Diana are confused with heroes.

“Ladies of Diana?” Levi asked. “It doesn’t ring a bell.”

I flipped the pages until I had chapter nine open.

Like heroes, the ladies of Diana possess an affinity with weapons, increased strength and stamina, and faster healing abilities. However, the ladies of Diana may possess other special abilities—depending on their ranking—that aren’t available to heroes.

Sounding like the author was trying to sell heroes at a grocery store, the chapter went on mostly about heroes, listing their abilities.

I dropped that book. “We need to find a book about the ladies of Diana.”

“All right,” Levi said, turning. He started to the front of the room.

“Where are you going?”

“To see if they have some kind of cabinet file with all the volumes listed, like we found upstairs.”

I nodded, but he didn’t see it. That would be helpful, but if this place was supposed to be a secret, would they—whoever they were—keep a list of all the books and scrolls in here? I wasn’t so sure.

Regardless, what we were looking for had to be around here. I knew it.

A few more minutes passed. By then, I was kneeling low on the floor, looking at the titles on the lower part of the shelf. As if it were calling, I turned around to the shelf at my back and stared right at it.

Diana: A Legend or a True Goddess?

What the fuck? A goddess?

I pulled the book to my lap and opened it. The first chapter was titled “Who is Diana?”

I quickly flipped to the right page.

Diana is said to have been a major goddess parallel to but outside the Everlasting Circle. Rumors are that she vanished many millennia ago for unknown reasons.

As the goddess of justice and wisdom and courage and honesty, Diana could pass judgment even over the gods and goddesses of the Everlasting Circle. A natural huntress, Diana was said to possess a powerful spear that could render anyone immobile while she assessed their sins—even gods.

A goddess outside the Everlasting Circle? That didn’t make much sense.

I looked again at the appendix for the chapter on the ladies of Diana.

I sensed him two seconds before he spoke in my mind.

Miss me?

I growled. What the hell are you doing here, Amiel?

Aren’t you happy to know we followed your aura again? And here I thought this was just the perfect opportunity to take out Mister Life and Balance.

I glanced at Levi. He was hunched in front of a desk buried under scrolls and piles of paper, searching for gods knew what.

I’m tired of your games. Show your face if your man enough.

Oh, that is exactly my plan.

What?

My mind didn’t have time to process what the hell he was telling me, because he suddenly appeared a few feet from me.

“Hello, Lord Mitrus,” Amiel said with a wicked grin. My wicked grin.

Body tensing, I jumped up and readied myself for a fight—feet apart and arms up in front of me.

Behind Amiel stood Jed, Keon, and Riel with equally crazed expression on their faces.

“Aren’t you going to ask if we brought the cup?” Amiel asked.

The question had been on the tip of my tongue, but I resisted. I resisted because if I uttered those words, it meant I was considering killing Levi, and that wasn’t right. That would never be right.

“What in the Everlast …?” Levi’s voice rang behind me. “What are you doing here?”

Amiel’s grin widened. “I’m so glad you asked that, Lord Levi. I’m more than happy to answer that question.”

I clenched my fists. “Amiel,” I said, a warning tone.

“You see, Lord Levi, Lord Mitrus wasn’t completely honest with you about what happened at Nasya’s island,” Amiel said. “He didn’t tell you about our deal.”

“Deal?” Levi muttered.

“A deal we’re here to see through,” Amiel said.

“What is he talking about, Mitrus?” Levi asked.

“Bullshit. That’s what he’s talking,” I snapped.

Amiel chuckled. “The deal we made with Lord Mitrus was that he was free to have the Cup of Life to give to his precious Nadine. On one condition.” The eyes shone evil. “He had to kill you.”

“What?” Levi asked, his voice barely above a whisper. “Mitrus, what is he talking about?”

“You should check his pockets, Lord Levi,” Amiel said. “I bet you’ll find his weapon hidden there.”

Levi stood by my side, his eyes two hard stones. “What the hell is he talking about?”

“I never agreed to his deal,” I said, staring at Levi, hoping he saw the truth in my eyes. “I never agreed to it, I swear. When I thought about going after them, it was to try to steal the cup from them. Nothing else.”

“Check his pockets,” Amiel sang.

A frown appeared between Levi’s brows and he reached into the pockets of my leather jacket. I groaned, but I let him search me. He found it in my jacket’s inside pocket.

His hand trembled as he pulled it out and stared at it. “A Black Thorn?”

“They left it for me on the island, and … I almost left it behind, but I thought I could use it against Imha. Later, I remembered that as much as I wish she were truly dead, I couldn’t kill her. We need all of us alive.”

“But you kept the damn thing in your pocket.” His eyes widened. “This entire time? Since you came back from the island? You had a Black Thorn in your pocket the entire time?”

I didn’t answer and he took my silence as a yes.

“Told you, Lord Levi,” Amiel said. “He was plotting against you, and now he brought you here to us.”

I roared and in less than a second conjured a large black bolt and let it fly. Amiel moved but not fast enough. The bolt hit him in the shoulder and he went flying backward, taking Jed with him. Keon and Riel were moving, and so was Levi.

He cast a shield in front of him and growled at me.

“I’m on your side!” I told him as I dodged small bolts from Keon and Riel.

Levi looked like he wasn’t sure if he should believe me or not. And I didn’t blame him.

I cast a shield of my own and channeled my power, conjuring another powerful bolt. I feigned to the left, making Keon and Riel believe I was coming for them. They got ready for me, but then I turned to the right and let the bolt fly. It hit Keon in the chest. The Death Lord started falling to the ground, but before he could hit the floor, his body erupted in black smoke.

One down for the count.

“Believe me now?” I asked Levi.

Still a little reluctant, Levi nodded then joined me in the fight. Just in time too, as Amiel and Jed regrouped and stared at us.

“We can end this pretty quickly,” Levi said to me, his voice low. “If we join powers, they won’t stand a chance.”

“Let’s do it, but … I want Amiel alive.”

Levi nodded once and then we cast one bolt with both our powers.

Amiel’s eyes widened. “No!”

He took a torch from one of the sconces and threw it at a shelf. The fire caught instantly, and spread like a wave in the ocean.

“Fuck,” I uttered.

Levi and I threw our super bolt. Amiel ducked behind Keon and Riel, who received the brunt of the spell. They became smoke and floated away.

The fire was spreading fast. I made to reach for the book about Diana, but Amiel spoke, making me stop.

“Look what I’ve got here.” He held the Cup of Life. My heart stopped for a brief moment. “You want it? Then kill him.” He pointed to Levi.

“I’ve got a better idea,” I said, teeth bared. And I lunged for him.

Knowing this was the end, Amiel did something I couldn’t undo. He threw the Cup of Life in the fire, making sure it tipped and the liquid spilled over. Then he opened his arms, as if waiting for me to end his life.

But I was frozen in place, watching as the Cup of Life was lost forever, consumed by the raging fire.

Levi acted. He threw a white bolt at Amiel’s heart, killing the bastard.

And I stared at the Cup of Life, as if I could will it to float from the fire, gather the spilled and evaporated liquid, and come to rest in my hands by only the strength in my stare.

That was when we felt it. Demons surrounding the place.

“Let’s go,” Levi said, tugging my arm. “Mitrus, we need to go. Now.”

A shelf behind us fell, and the fire billowed. Heat licked my skin and I flinched.

Briefly awakened from my stupor, I scanned the area. The book was nowhere to be seen. It was probably under the shelves, already consumed by fire.

My chest hurt. Suddenly, it was hard to breathe, and I didn’t think it was because of the smoke and the fumes.

Levi grabbed the collar of my leather jacket. “Wake up, Mitrus. It’s gone. The cup and the book are gone. And there are demons coming our way. Now, let’s move.”

Feeling as if I were leaving my soul to be burned by the fire, I nodded and followed him out of the library.

* * *

As soon as we were out in the open courtyard of the monastery, Levi and I teleported to a deserted island in the Bahamas. This place had once been beautiful with white sand, crystal blue water, and a bright, warm sun. Now it was dark, the sand was thick and gray, and the water was cold.

And Levi was watching me with even colder eyes.

“I’ll give you one minute to explain before I kill you myself,” he said, his tone flat.

I knew he wouldn’t actually kill me. He needed me just as I needed him. We all needed each other. But the hurt in his eyes …

I shook my head and sighed. “All right, I’ll tell you everything.” And so I did. I told him what happened on the island, all the details, including the deal Amiel and the others wanted to do, the Black Thorn they left with me, and I even lifted my shirt to show the black web of poison spreading across my chest.

“What the …?” Levi took one step toward me, his gaze locked on the thing that could quite possibly kill me. “Does it hurt?”

I dropped my shirt and hid my wound. “Rarely.”

“And how fast is it spreading?”

“About an inch every week or so.”

He took in a sharp breath. “Do you think … what do you think will happen?”

“I have no idea.” I shrugged. “We can’t do anything about this right now, so let’s focus on what matters most.”

Levi nodded absently. “Demons showed up. There is only one way for them to have known where we were.”

“We have a spy among us.”

“To be honest, I thought it was you.” I guess I should have felt appalled, but I wasn’t. He had all the reason in the world to doubt me. Levi sighed, as if he was trying to exhale all the worry and frustration from his system. “Do you think whoever it is, is like Morgan was? Not in control of himself?”

“I honestly don’t know.” I summoned some courage and continued, “But I think I know how we can turn that around in our favor.”

Levi raised an eyebrow and I told him my plan.