Cassius tightened his hold on my waist and I winced. My eyes roamed to land in front where the man whose name I expected to be Aloysius and a woman with long dark hair stood next to him. An expression I couldn’t explain decorates his face. I looked in front to see the monsters that I was bound to destroy.

Ezra and Theodore stood next to Claus and Veles stood at the right, wearing golden attire and a smug look on his face. I could feel judgmental eyes on me, assessing me. The aura around us screamed a whole new different word for regality. The man who performed the rituals...