I could tell Asher was trying his hardest not to ask. Sure, he might have acted unconcerned, his cheeks a bit flushed after our latest bout of making out, but I’d learned to read his small tells. How he twirled his finger through the ends of his honey-blond hair. The way his dark eyes flickered, almost imperceptibly, toward my face when he thought I wasn’t looking. The tattoo around his bicep bunched and flexed as he wrapped his arm farther around me and pulled me across the couch closer to him.
“You can ask, you know,” I said.
“Hmm?”
I looked over at him. My lips felt a little tingly from pressing against his. The butterflies in my stomach hadn’t died down a bit, but we were taking a break. And I had to go soon.
“Don’t just “hmm”. Your stoic façade of cool won’t work on me anymore.”
Asher gave me a devilish grin, and darn it if the butterflies didn’t increase. Forget what I’d said, I wasn’t totally immune to his charm. Nobody was.
“I didn’t say a thing,” Asher said.
“The Fae prince is an idiot,” I said.
Asher grunted. His fingertip swirled across my shoulder. “Well, if you insist on bringing it up, I guess we can talk about it.”
“Uh-huh.” I settled against the muscled swell of his chest. “All he wants to do is take a tour of the sights. He says he’s here to reconnect ties with the rest of the Supes, but he seems as likely to do that as his mother was.”
“His mother?” Asher said. “Who was that?”
“No clue. But apparently…” I bit back my words, rolling them around in my tongue. Even now, even with Asher knowing almost everything I did, it was still hard to say things like this aloud. “Apparently his mother and my parents fought. They killed her.”
Asher was silent. The swirling on my shoulder didn’t stop.
“Can you say something?” I said. Really, he could have said anything. He could have denied that it happened, he could have agreed that it did. It didn’t matter, just as long as I got this off my chest.
“Maybe they did,” Asher spoke at last. “And like you told me, maybe your mother did hurt Kasia in the past.”
“I know she did. She told me.”
“But I also know who our parents are now. They’re good people.”
I turned so our faces were nearly touching. “You think they should have killed Zephyr’s mother?”
“I don’t know, Skylar. What I do know is that your parents love you, just like mine love me. They’re also smart, and the most honorable people I know, even among the Paranormal Coalition. If they said those things happened, well…” He left a lingering kiss on my lips. “Do you tell them the history behind all of your dark secrets?”
His fingers gently tugged on the right sleeve of my shirt, exposing all the ugly black marks that had spread since I’d first seen them in France. They looked almost like a tattoo, inked black lines that zigzagged and swirled along the rivulets of my veins from my wrist and, last I’d checked, up to the top of my chest. And they were growing every day.
“You haven’t told them about this, have you?” Asher said.
“No,” I said softly. “How could I? I know I said I’d share all my secrets with Mia and Colson and everyone. But you’re the only one I trust with this. What would the others think if they saw?”
“These aren’t your fault.”
“It doesn’t matter. They’re horrible.”
Asher nodded. “I think that’s how your mom feels about telling you about her past. It was horrible, but I’d guess it wasn’t entirely her fault.”
Was he right? Was I judging my mom too harshly based on things I didn’t know? So far, I’d only seen the aftereffect of Kasia’s anguish; one side of the coin. I’d been so caught up in being mad at my mom I hadn’t accepted that there had to be more to the story. Whenever I got the chance, I’d talk to her again. I’d try to get as many details as I could.
“Besides…” Asher pulled my wrist up to his lips and began leaving a trail of kisses down the length of the black lines. “These aren’t ugly.”
“Don’t even try to use those to sweet talk me.”
His kisses reached the crook of my elbow. “But they’re attached to you. They can’t be ugly.”
I groaned, failing to keep the grin off my face. “That was cringy, even for you.” My eyes fell on the clock. “Crap!”
I leapt up, throwing the heap of blankets over the top of Asher’s face. “I gotta run.”
“Right now?” Asher said, voice muffled.
“Yep. Hot date with another guy.”
Asher’s annoyed look hit me as he pulled the blankets off. “Let me guess, Fae boy wants to tour the wonders of a fireplace?”
“Nope, this is someone different. He’s older. He’s got the personality of a grouchy badger. Oh, and he nearly died a week ago.”
Asher crossed his arms. “You enjoy provoking me.”
“Immensely. And don’t pretend like you don’t enjoy doing the same to me. Annoying each other composes a solid thirty percent of our relationship.”
Asher smirked, but didn’t deny it. He looked around our room, as though just realizing we were alone. “Where are Mia and Colson, anyway?”
I waggled my eyebrows. “A date.”
“You don’t say. Colson didn’t tell me anything about that.”
“Mia didn’t tell me either,” I said. “But I figured it out. And it’s not technically a date.”
“Why’s that?”
I thumbed at the door. “With all that’s going on, we’re pretty much blockaded from leaving our rooms. So they snuck into the common area to have sandwiches alone.”
Asher scoffed. “Sandwiches? Seriously?”
“Hey.” I put my hands on my hips. “They’re romantic sandwiches.”
“If you say so.” He swept off the couch to give me one more kiss before I left, stomach tingling more than ever before.
If there was one thing that could kill my good mood, then extra lessons with Nolan were it.
Nolan himself was fine. As Mia’s brother, the only member of her family who still truly loved her, I was obligated to say that. But also, after having his god ripped from his soul by Kasia, the guy’s sharp edges had softened a bit.
“You’re late,” Nolan said. “Were you and Asher having smoochy time?”
Just a bit.
He lounged on the front desk of the classroom Lucien had given him to teach whenever the Academy started having lessons again. Lucien told him it was the only free room they had, but all of us knew the real reason: it was the closest classroom to where Nolan was staying, and therefore the easiest for him to slowly limp his way to every morning.
Today, Nolan looked a little better than usual. His skin still held that same gray pallor, eyes a little more bloodshot than normal. But he was alive. That was amazing considering he’d had part of his soul torn off when he’d lost his god.
“That’s none of your business,” I said, planting myself in front of him. “Besides, it isn’t like there’s much else to do. Between Kasia and the Fae, the Academy’s in lockdown.”
At the mention of Kasia, Nolan’s face darkened. Kasia, I felt, had had a more personal vendetta against Nolan than most. After all, it had been Kasia’s sister who’d given Nolan his god, and died in the process.
“Heard you made a splash at the Fae’s pow wow yesterday,” Nolan said.
I shrugged. “Any rumors you’ve heard have been greatly exaggerated.”
Nolan’s grin grew. “I also heard you gave prince pointy ears the grand tour.”
I shrugged again. “You hear a lot of rumors.”
“I don’t have much else to do.” He shifted on the desk. I didn’t miss the pained grimace flash across his face. “I for one am grateful the Fae are here.”
“You think they’ll help us?” I said.
“Can’t say. They’re finnicky beings at the best of times. But they have pulled the Paranormal Coalition’s attention off me. And their presence may convince Kasia to think twice about attacking the Academy.”
“It won’t,” I said immediately. “We both know it won’t.”
Nolan nodded.
“Zephyr thinks he’s strong enough to beat her,” I went on. “Do you…Is that possible?”
“He wouldn’t think that if he knew anything about her.” Nolan’s eyes grew a little hazy, like he was remembering something. “She’s got a couple gods now—maybe more. Combine that with her vendetta against you and the rest of the Supes…There’s very little that’s guaranteed to stop her anymore.”
Nolan was just voicing the fears I already had, but hearing them spoken aloud brought the reality closer to home. Kasia was coming, and not I, nor anyone else, was prepared.
“Stop looking so glum,” Nolan said, easing completely off the desk. “Frowning gives you wrinkles. That’s why you’re here: to practice until you can beat her.”
He raised his arm.
“I can do it,” I said.
“Let me have this. It’s one of the few spells that doesn’t hurt.”
He waved his hand. The desks lifted up, hovering an inch off the ground, before clearing the center of the room, and settling in neat rows around the outside of it.
Sweat had broken out on Nolan’s brow as he lowered his shaking arm. “Still got it,” he chuckled darkly.
“I…never said sorry. For what happened to you, I mean,” I said.
“Don’t start the pity party now.” Nolan slid back onto the desk. “Besides, we’re here for you. Assume the position.”
I looked at him, waiting to see if he would crack and show me a little of what he was actually feeling. But when he remained stoic as ever, I sat, cross-legged, in the center of the room. I closed my eyes, turning my concentration inward.
“Breathe,” Nolan commanded. “And relax. You’re as tense and colored as a nervous flamingo.”
His helpful comments always seemed to ground me. Soon I found my awareness falling into myself, entering the Dark Prince’s domain in the center of my chest. I mentally braced myself. Since the last fight with Kasia, doing this had become more dangerous than ever before. Even more than Nolan knew.
I opened my eyes and found myself in a wide hall lined with tapestries. Before me was a great iron door—the seal Kasia had put in me along with the Dark Prince. Neither Nolan nor I knew why she’d done that, but that wasn’t the most important thing at the moment. The enormous gashes in it were. The endless darkness beyond the gashes was calling to me as it always did.
Free me.
Free me.
It was harder than ever to shove the voice out of my head and keep my mind’s aura in check. If I let it go too much, the Dark Prince would know I was here. And then I’d have real problems. Despite all the times Nolan told me that I couldn’t be frightened of this part of me—that I had to own my power—I was still terrified. And with the seal breaking, the Prince was so out of control I wasn’t sure that if I ran into him down here I’d be able to escape.
“Concentrate.”
Nolan’s disembodied voice drifted down to me from the outside. “The seal still there?”
I looked at the door. Free me.
“Barely,” I said.
“Does it seem any better?”
“No. And the rest…”
I looked around the hall. The Prince’s interior decorating could have been described as tacky at best, but now the blood-red tone had darkened even further, as though it were a stain leeching into each part of my soul.
“If the seal hasn’t broken yet then you’re maintaining it well,” Nolan said. “I’ll keep looking for a spell that might repair it.”
I knew he’d only begun looking, but I didn’t think such a spell existed. The Zukami were considered a dead race, and any of the lost arts tied to them would surely be gone as well.
“I think that’s enough for now,” Nolan said.
I began to draw myself out of the Dark Prince’s castle, pulling my awareness back to my body.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
My awareness jerked to a halt. My head snapped around to find the Dark Prince gripping my arm, his too-perfect features twisted into a cruel sneer.
I immediately tried to yank myself away again, but the Dark Prince’s magic had already started to spread. I felt it burning as it crawled up my arm.
“Skylar!” Nolan yelled.
“It’s almost time,” the Dark Prince said. “Can you feel it?”
His rage and power were consuming me. I tried to tug free, but the Prince held fast.
“You can’t have me!” I hissed, pushing back on his magic with my own, trying to stop the spread. “Kasia was the one who trapped you in here. Why don’t you hate her? Why do you hate me?”
His magic slowed. “Hate you?” the Dark Prince whispered. “Oh, Skylar. How could I hate you? You’re the most important thing to me. You’re my one chance to break free from this.”
“Help me beat Kasia,” I said, frantically trying to think of some way to distract him while I fought for control of myself. “We can do it, together. I know we can. And once we do, I…I promise I’ll find some way to free you.”
For a moment, I thought my reasoning had gotten to him.
And then, “You mean you can beat her. With me as your puppet.”
I screamed as his power grew. I was being swallowed by anger, corrupted by rage. I was losing control—
There was a flash of light.
With a strangled cry, the Dark Prince fell back and I woke up on my back in the classroom, staring at the ceiling. Nolan gripped my arm, panting with the exertion of using his magic.
“Thank you,” I said breathlessly.
He collapsed back, completely spent. “I think—pant—that’s enough for now.”
“Agreed.”
I groaned as I pushed myself up to sitting. The force of my magic had cast the desks into disarray, piling them atop one another like the aftereffect of a tornado. A lovely fracture scarred the face of the chalkboard.
“He’s worse than ever,” I admitted to Nolan.
“So what else is new?” Nolan said.
I stood and offered him my hand. He knocked it away and pushed himself up. His eyes paused, and he yanked my sleeve up. The black marks hadn’t spread, but they’d thickened, even with that short stint into the Dark Prince’s realm. Soon, my entire arm would be a single black pane.
“What can I do?” I said, shoving the sleeve back down.
Nolan hobbled to lean against the desk. “I’m not sure. I’ll keep looking, but…”
But there wasn’t much hope. I knew that. And whereas before I would have been terrified of losing myself to the darkness, now I was just sad. Sad for Asher, Mia, Colson, everyone I’d have to leave behind. Sad they would have to see what I’d become. It got me thinking of something I’d considered before. Something I wished I would never have to ask of anyone.
“Nolan, if I lose myself, if there’s no coming back, would you make sure that I—”
“Yes,” Nolan said. “I’ll take care of it.”
I let out a sigh of relief. Nolan understood. He’d do what I would never want to force my friends to. That made me feel a little better, at least.
“For now…” Nolan drew out the words, clearly turning things over in his mind. “Keep up the practice. Keep up the meditation. Anybody else know about the Dark Prince?”
“Know about him? Yeah, a few. Know how bad he’s gotten? Only you and Asher.”
“Keep it that way for now. At least until this thing with the Fae clears over.”
“You don’t think the Fae might know how—”
“No, I don’t.” Nolan’s words were so sharp, so firm, I wondered if he hadn’t tried asking the Fae for help the first time he’d received his god. “You saw how they acted when they learned Miranda was here. Anything they don’t fully understand—or want to understand—or anything that might be a threat to their sort of power, that’s not something to bring to their attention.”
I curled and uncurled the fingers of my right hand, watching the black lines overlapping the muscles rend and flex. So the Fae were out. Nolan would keep looking, but I had a feeling that, sooner or later, most likely in a way I didn’t want, this struggle with the Dark Prince would end. I just hoped I’d be ready for it when it did.
“Go get some rest,” Nolan said, easing back on the desk, looking as though he were the one that needed rest. “Give me a couple days to—”
He looked at the door. For one of the few times I’d seen since he’d come to the Academy, a real, genuine smile broke out on his face. “Maybe give petit être cher some pointers for her new boyfriend.”
I turned to find Mia in the doorway, her face slightly flushed pink, whether because she’d run here or because of Nolan’s comment. Her delicate lips tilted down, eyebrows knitting together, the expression almost making her adorable heart-shaped face look scary. It was a look she’d gotten great at perfecting in the last few months.
“Three things,” Mia said. “One, I don’t need any advice from Skylar…not yet. Two, I told you to stop calling me that, Nolan. And three…”
She walked over to the desk and, over Nolan’s protests, pushed him farther onto it so that he didn’t lean so precariously. “I thought you weren’t supposed to be pushing it,” she said. Her eyes narrowed as she took in the disarrayed classroom. “You remember what Mrs. Rochester told you. No straining yourself until—”
“How could I forget?” Nolan said dryly. “The old bat would keep me mummified in bandages if she thought I’d heal faster.”
Mia scowled at him, but I could see her annoyance for the love it really was. Prior to a month ago, Mia had never spoken much, if at all, about her family. That was before she’d run off to meet with Nolan after he’d escaped from the Supernatural Prison in Paris. As rude and totally not funny as Nolan was, the guy had a serious soft spot for his little sister. And though I wished he could someday get back to the way he was before he’d lost his god, I was glad the two of them got to be reunited. For as long or short a time as they had.
“Is something the matter?” I said, finally realizing that Mia probably wouldn’t interrupt our lessons unless it was something serious. Something potentially Fae-related.
“The matter? Oh, uh…” Mia’s face had tinted pink again. Her fingers played with the fringes of her sleeves.
“Is it the prince?” I guessed. “Or General Zell? Tell me the guy didn’t skewer a student or—”
“It’s not any of that,” Mia said quickly. “I figured you might be done by now and…The Fae did something. Something good!” She added quickly when I stood up straighter. “They’re, uh…”
“Spit it out,” Nolan groaned.
“They’re throwing a ball,” Mia said.
“A ball,” I repeated, not quite understanding what she was saying. Nolan was chuckling like this was the funniest thing he’d ever heard of. “You mean, like Pride and Prejudice?” I said. “Where we dress up and dance with suitors? That kind of thing?”
“I’m not sure it’s like that,” Mia said, nose curling at the thought. “But yes, like a party. To celebrate the prince’s eventual ascension and create peace between us and the Fae.”
“By throwing a ball…” I was quickly learning that everything was backward with the Fae. Instead of preparing for an attack, they were getting dressed up. Instead of fostering goodwill with us by providing, oh, I don’t know, soldiers and support so we would be around to throw stupid parties ten years from now, they wanted to twirl around in sparkly dresses in a world of extravagance. It was so stupid. It was such a waste of time.
Never mind how my traitorous stomach tingled at the thought of getting to dance the night away with Asher.
“I need your help,” Mia said earnestly to me. Her eyes flickered to Nolan, and I could tell she didn’t want to mention the reason why aloud, despite even Nolan knowing she wanted to look as good as possible for someone whose name started with “C” and ended with “-olson”.
“Gee, I haven’t the slightest clue what you’re talking about,” Nolan said.
I wrapped my arm around Mia’s shoulder. “Of course I’ll help. When is it?”
“Tonight!” Mia said.
I felt as though the tectonic plates had shifted beneath me. I resisted letting out a little groan. “Of course it’s tonight. Then let’s go get ready to kill it.”