The Rebel Queen (Outlaw #1) - Lexi Blake Page 0,132
gotten out. “She could have opened an interdimensional doorway. She could still be alive. I need to get into that apartment.”
If the door was still open, we might find a way to get Sarah, Felix, and Mia back. She might have left me instructions.
“You can’t, Zoey. She warded it with her heart’s blood. It’s the only explanation. Her heart’s blood and something else. Wasn’t her husband an angel once?” Nim asked.
“Felix. Yes, he fell and took a human body to be with her.”
“She used his heart’s blood, too,” Nim explained. “It doesn’t matter that his body was human. A fallen angel still has celestial blood running through his veins. No wonder Myrddin couldn’t find a way in.”
“Why wouldn’t she take the bag of holding with her? Why leave it in the apartment?” I was trying to make sense of her actions.
“Because she was going to a place she might not be able to come back from,” Nim said quietly. “Because she worried if she took it with her, you would never get it back. She was too worried to leave it close to Myrddin. And with good cause. That book contains a piece of his soul. You couldn’t hide it from him forever. No matter how powerful the bag was. He would have found the bag and would have found a way to open it. The book itself wants to be with him. Sarah built a safe around it with her family’s blood. She sealed it off so it was waiting for you when you returned. I’m going to assume you can get in. It was your blood in the closet. She had a supply for spells?”
“Sarah was our healer.” Dev sat on the edge of the bed, his hands on his knees.
“Then she could have spelled that locked down ward to drop when you show up. It’s what I would have done,” Nim admitted. “Zoey, you can’t let Myrddin near that book. Or the sword. You know what he wants to do, right?”
“He wants to close the door to the celestial planes. No more heavenly interference, and then he’ll let the demons in.” It was good to remind myself what was at stake. “He thinks he can do it by using the energy stored in Gladys from the fight with the angel Jude.”
“The power in that sword is immense,” Nim agreed.
Nim didn’t need to tell me that. I’d been pierced by that sword. “He can’t wield it.”
“No. It takes someone with companion blood, but that’s easy enough to find,” Nim replied.
She hadn’t been in the arena that day. “And it takes me. That weapon has to be primed, and not with some little drop of my blood. I’m the queen of the companions. I have to basically die for that sword to work.”
“That would serve his goals well enough.” Nim’s eyes closed briefly, and when she opened them again they had gone a deeper shade of purple. “No matter how well Sarah protected that door, the wards require updating. They will eventually erode, and he will get in. I don’t think she understood how long you would be gone. She was trying to protect it, but she never dreamed the wards would have to hold for over a decade. He’ll get in. It might not be tomorrow or even this year, but he won’t stop trying.”
“They still felt strong to me,” Asta said. “But I didn’t test it. If he can poke even a small hole in those walls, he can bring them down. I suspect the bag is visible, so he won’t have any trouble seeing it.”
The situation was worse than that. “If Sarah used my blood, it’s also likely open. He’ll be able to immediately extract everything he needs.”
“No, he won’t be able to get his hands on you if we don’t send you in.” Dev frowned my way. “Zoey, this changes things. If anyone can see the bag, we don’t need you.”
“But no one else can get through the door.” He wasn’t thinking properly. It was getting very real for my husbands, and that meant I had to keep up the pressure until they came around. “And I still need Lee in case something happens and the book falls out. He could see it as a child. I have to hope he still can.”
“Humans can see the book,” Nim explained. “It takes too much energy to ward the book from human eyes. The particular spell he uses takes into account how many eyes could potentially see.