A Wizard’s Worth Sneak Peek

I usually share more sneak peeks in the weeks before a launch, but there was far too much going on these last few weeks for me to send out the announcements as I should have. So if you’re dying to get in on the Everleigh and Aithan action, here’s your chance! I’m sharing the first SIX chapters of A Wizard’s Way with you right here!

Chapter 1

Aithan

I ducked just in time to avoid being smacked in the head by a blue plastic disc.

“Heads up!” Jamie shouted, but his warning came too late. The frisbee that had whizzed over me hit the back of Soo Min’s head.

“What the…” She whirled around, rubbing the back of her head, and then scowled when she saw what had hit her. “Who threw this?”

Aaron, who was carrying a cooler of ice, drinks, and meat patties, smirked. “I’ll give you three guesses,” he said in his deep voice, “but you’ll only need one.”

“Jamie!” Soo Min snapped. “What is wrong with you?”

“What?” Jamie held out his arms and shrugged. “We came to play disc golf, didn’t we?”

“We’re barely out of the car!” Soo Min snapped again, but this time, as she picked up the frisbee, I saw her channel the smallest bit of magic into it. “But if you’re so determined to play now, we can–”

“I think I’ll take these until we’re ready to play,” Everleigh interrupted, taking the frisbee from her friend. But as soon as she touched it, Soo Min’s magic slid out of the frisbee and into Everleigh.

“Ow!” Everleigh dropped the frisbee and stared down at her hand, where the skin on her fingers had turned bright red. Immediately, I put down the grilling utensils I’d been carrying and went over to her, taking her hands in mine.

“Soo Min, what did you charm the frisbee with?” I frowned up at her as I rubbed Everleigh’s fingers with healing magic.

“It’s fine,” Everleigh scoffed. “Just… a shock, that’s all.” She pulled her hand out of mine and shook it.

If Soo Min had been an elf, I would have insisted on healing Everleigh anyway, as my healing magic was much more potent than hers. But as Soo Min was a fae, I knew the magic wasn’t really injurious. It just felt like it was.

Not that I wanted my fiancée feeling injured either.

“It wasn’t meant for you,” Soo Min scowled, playing with her shiny black ponytail with its signature pink stripe–a sure sign of guilt, though she would never admit it. “I meant it for him.” She glowered at Jamie once more.

“If you all practiced magic as much as you argue, this ridiculous group would rule the world.”

We looked up as a grizzled old man dragged a lawn chair behind him with one hand and clutched a can of sweet tea with the other. With an air of saintly patience, he entered the park gazebo we’d chosen for our picnic. His clothes were as ostentatious as they always were, his Hawaiian shirt a brilliant yellow with pink flamingos all over it, and his swim trunks an alarming shade of purple beneath. He hadn’t shaved in about three days, and his wiry gray hair stuck out all over his head. It was rather rich that his favorite pastime was criticizing me and my friends.

I was also reminded to cast a mild muffling charm around the gazebo, just in case any humans got close enough to listen to our usual bickering. We had chosen a spot in the park as far from the main playground as we could get, but as the entire green served as a disc golf course, you never knew how close some unsuspecting humans might come.

Christian entered the gazebo behind the grumpy old fae, carrying several bags of groceries. “You know, we could practice more if you would ever wake up before we had to go to work.”

“The king isn’t paying me anymore.” Maverick slurped loudly from his can of sweet tea as he fell into his chair. “I get up when I please.”

“Yes,” Christian said patiently, “but you’re also living in our house rent-free.”

“And eating all our food!” Jamie added. Then he stopped and looked around. “Where’s Julia?”

“I’m here!” a feminine voice called from over a little grassy hill. Everleigh hurried back to help her friend with the two giant plates of cookies she was apparently carrying up from Everleigh’s car.

“Wow,” Everleigh said, taking one of the plates. “This is a lot of cookies.”

Julia placed the cookies on one of the picnic tables. “Well,” she said somewhat breathlessly, “the boys always eat a lot of cookies.”

“Is that all of us?” Everleigh dusted her hands off and looked around. “Aithan, Christian, Aaron, Maverick, Jamie–”

“Why do you always have to count me last?” Jamie whined.

But Everleigh ignored him. “Soo Min, Julia, and me.” She turned and beamed at me, letting a little of her blue and pink fae magic sparkle through the brown glamour she wore in her eyes. “This was a fantastic idea!”

It really was a great evening for a cookout at the park. The day was unusually cool for southern Nevada in early September, and the green grass surrounding our picnic spot–one of the few places grass was still allowed to grow in bone-dry Las Vegas–made it even cooler. The air smelled of starter fluid—thanks to Aaron’s grill preparation—as well as freshly cut grass, and the sounds of children laughing and shouting filled the air as both human and supernatural families enjoyed the park. Like us, they were enjoying the last day of our Labor Day weekend.

“Of course, it was a good idea,” Jamie said, looking through the bag of colorful plastic discs, which Everleigh immediately snatched away from him. “We’re all unemployed. And the park is free.”

Soo Min made a face. “You’re not unemployed. You’re working at a human car garage.”

“Maybe so,” Jamie said with a shrug. “But Everleigh, Aithan, and Julia are. All thanks to the king.” He bowed with a flourish, nearly knocking Julia over when he swept his long arm out. “Oops! Sorry!” He hurried to right her, which I think she appreciated about as much as she did being knocked over.

“I’m not unemployed,” I reminded him as I opened my bag of grilling tools. “I’m working for Aaron’s dad.”

“And I’m working for my uncle while I take online classes,” Everleigh added. “And Julia’s a full-time student.”

“Fine.” Jamie rolled his eyes. “Because the second-in-line heir to the world’s most powerful elven throne is going to make his fortune mowing lawns for the rest of his life.”

“Would you like to enjoy your hot dog tonight?” I asked him, brandishing a bag of hot dog buns. “Or should I just shove these down your pie hole so the rest of us can eat in peace?”

“Ignore reality all you want,” Jamie said, seating himself at one of the tables and stretching his long, hairy legs out in front of him. “But you know your grandfather isn’t going to be okay with you working for werewolves for very long. There’s a reason no sane supernatural business owner has offered you any sort of real career options.”

I glared at the chupacabra shifter, my hands itching to do to him more than Soo Min’s charmed disc would have. But, annoying as Jamie could be, he was right. My future wife and I were supposed to be planning not only our nuptials, but our entire future together, and instead, we were scraping the bottom of the barrel for any sort of work we could find. After we had informed my grandfather earlier that summer that we would not be pledging fealty or unquestioning obedience the way he wanted, he had made sure there were little to no real job opportunities for either of us to start our life with.

And he’d made good on that promise. Heck, the personal security business I’d only recently worked at full-time was owned by a human, and suddenly, not even he had any jobs for me anymore.

All that to say, it was a fantastic way to start a marriage.

“And I don’t really want to talk about this right now,” Everleigh announced. Her voice was as sweet and girlish as always, but there was a ring of authority to it that no one–not even Jamie–dared question.

“What do you want to talk about?” Aaron asked kindly as he lit the grill.

“Actually,” Everleigh turned to Julia and Soo Min as she started setting out all the side dishes, the sparkle back in her eyes. “I meant to tell you about the venue my mom and I toured the other day!”

I could immediately see the guys tuning out as she spoke, but as I helped prep the meat for Aaron, I couldn’t help focusing on the excited tenor in her voice, knowing with a heavy heart that I would have to put a halt to that excitement before the evening was over.

That was one of the things that made me angriest about my grandfather’s dogged determination to gain our oaths of fealty. It wasn’t enough for us to say that we would work alongside him to protect our people. He had to have our undying and unquestioning obedience, too. But that obedience was something neither Everleigh nor I were about to give. Not now and not ever. From cursing me and my brother when we were small children to putting Everleigh in unnecessary danger far more times than I could count, I knew more than enough of my grandfather’s heart to ever entrust him with our implicit obedience.

Because though we might not advertise it, between the two of us, Everleigh and I had a lot of power. I was second in line to the Nomos throne, which, as Jamie had pointed out, was the most powerful supernatural line in the world. So while I might not have as much power as my grandfather, father, or older brother, I had far more power than the vast majority of supernaturals. And Everleigh…

Well, Everleigh was a wizard. The only known wizard in existence, actually. That wasn’t unusual, of course. Wizards were rarely born more than once a generation, if that, and their births always acted as harbingers of trouble that was coming for the world–the kind of trouble that came from cataclysmic events. Wizards, the ancient wisdom said, were God’s way of evening out the playing field for supernaturals and humans as a whole. Whenever something bad was coming our way, a wizard was born. And it was that wizard’s job to help right whatever wrong was coming. Because unlike the rest of us, wizards weren’t stuck with using one kind of magic.

They could use them all.

Unfortunately, that often meant that the wizard was left to shoulder most or even all of whatever danger he or she was born to face. And although Everleigh was far from alone, as she had me, her parents, my parents, our friends, and many allies ready to help her, I was concerned that it was becoming increasingly clear Everleigh intended to face the world as a typical wizard would.

All on her own.

Because, sweetheart that she was, my fiancée couldn’t stand watching others suffer.

And my cold, hard-hearted grandfather had already and undoubtedly would continue to abuse that goodness all for his personal gain, no matter what the cost, just in the same way he’d ensured that we wouldn’t be able to financially support ourselves unless we agreed to work for him.

And only him.

“…and they said we could even have the cake catered by an outside party!” Everleigh was exclaiming to her friends. “Which is perfect because my mom knows this amazing fae baker from church. And if we’re able to book the place for June, just after graduation–”

“What’s wrong?” Aaron asked in a low voice. “You look like you’re in pain.”

“Oh, nothing.” I sighed. Then I lowered my voice. “Except that I talked to my mom today, and apparently, my grandfather has an offer he would like us to consider.”

Aaron frowned down at the hot dogs he was cooking. “For work?”

“No.” I grimaced. “Worse. For the wedding.”

“Well, in that case, I don’t envy you. Dinner’s up!” Aaron called, waving his tongs. A few minutes later, we were all sitting quietly, enjoying the peaceful evening and appreciating Aaron’s expertise with flame-broiled food. Even Jamie had shut up as he scarfed down yet another hot dog.

“You do remember that we all have to go to the doctor tomorrow,” Soo Min said, staring at Jamie with a look of disgust.

“Yeah,” Jamie said after swallowing. “‘What about it?”

“Do you seriously want to be crazy bloated for your exam? Because you’ve eaten like… four of those things in five minutes.”

“This will actually be number six, I’ll have you know,” Jamie said with a grin as he helped himself to another. “I’m a growing chupacabra boy, Soo Min! I’ve got to keep up my strength!” His brown eyes glinted mischievously.

Soo Min rolled her eyes, but I smiled. What Jamie claimed was actually probably true. Shifters like him burned a ton of calories, as they had to eat enough to support both their human and supernatural shifter forms.

“Remember,” I pointed out, “tomorrow isn’t a test day. It’s just a conversation.”

“As long as I don’t have to get any more blood draws or shots.” Jamie shivered.

“Why?” Soo Min purred. “Do the needles make you cry?”

“I’m just glad we’re done being guinea pigs for the moment,” Christian said, looking up from the historical military novel he was reading and helping himself to another hot dog. Once he had the hot dog in his hands, he glanced around to make sure we were alone and held up an index finger, which suddenly burst into a small flame. With this flame, he expertly darkened the edges of the hog dog. “We’ve had enough tests run on us this summer to last a lifetime,” he said as he grabbed another bun.

We all winced. Christian wasn’t exaggerating. When we’d been taken hostage by a crazed vampire doctor earlier that summer, we’d been exposed to a high amount of Pandora powder–a super secret powder that came from a magical stone. It was basically the equivalent of a toxic steroid for supernaturals. My grandfather had rallied his most trusted members of the scientific community to see what the effects had been on our bodies, and their research had been… quite thorough.

For most of us, the outcome was completely unknown. If anything, we’d grown somewhat stronger in our abilities. But for Everleigh and Julia, the exposure had been nearly fatal.

I put my food down, suddenly losing my appetite.

“Who will be there?” Christian asked me.

“Well,” Everleigh said with a thoughtful frown, “from what I understand, a few of the doctors who were there at the last set of tests will be there. And Dr. Petras as well.”

“Ben Petras?” Jamie repeated. “What’s he going to be there for?”

“Honestly,” Everleigh said, pushing her food around her plate, “I think emotional support.”

“Nothing’s wrong with that,” Aaron said kindly. “Julia, would you like another hot dog before Jamie eats them all?”

Julia, the only true human among us, gave him a hollow smile that reflected Everleigh’s. “No, thanks. I think I’m good.”

Maverick let out a loud snore from his lawn chair, where he had passed out with his food half-eaten on his lap.

“Well,” Jamie said, standing. “If you’re all just going to make fun of me, I’m ready to play.” He grabbed the bag of plastic frisbees. “Where does this course start?”

Glad not to be talking about the impending medical visit tomorrow, we all threw away our plates, packed up the rest of the food, and made our way out to the course with Jamie. But just as we started to make our way to the first target, the skin on the nape of my neck stood on end.

I looked around wildly to find the source of the foreign magic. But my heart nearly stopped when I realized it was coming from the pink disc in Everleigh’s hands.

“Someone must have dropped this…” she started to say. But she must have felt the magic, too, because immediately, she looked around and tossed it toward the emptiest part of the field.

I dove toward her, tossing up the heaviest shield I could muster with one hand while pulling her against me with the other, then turning my back so the explosion was behind me.

And it was quite the explosion.

We were all thrown to the ground by the blast. As soon as the smoke cleared, Christian, Jamie, and Aaron took off running, looking for whoever had left the bomb. It was obviously elven and had been charmed to go off as soon as someone touched it. Soo Min, Everleigh, and Julia stayed with me, Soo Min’s hands glowed brightly with pink magic as she stood behind me, back-to-back just the way we’d practiced. Everleigh’s own magic was pulsing now as well, its many colors swirling around her hands. To my relief, however, she stayed at my side, though that was probably only because Julia was behind her.

Screams were coming from the humans now on the other side of the park, and several already looked like they were ready to come investigate. I glanced anxiously at the place where our friends had disappeared over a small grassy hill, but a moment later, they reappeared looking frustrated. Aaron gave me the smallest shake of his head, and Jamie was scowling outright.

“If they were still here when the explosion went off,” Aaron said as they returned, “they’re long gone now. And there are too many scents here for me to pick up a decent trail.” His jaw tightened, and I knew he was dying to shift into his werewolf form, where his nose would be even more sensitive than it was now. But there were too many people watching us to risk that, even with the protection of Soo Min’s glamour.

“Which means,” Soo Min sighed as she put her own magic away, “that we need to start rounding people up for memory wipes.” She made her way toward the humans, who were very much panicking and had their phones out in alarming numbers, trying to record what they had just seen. “Everyone, if you’ll just come here, I’ll tell you what just went on…”

Everleigh already had her phone out and was calling her parents as well. “Mom,” she said, her voice still somewhat unsteady. “We need you to come down to Charleston Disc Golf Park.” She paused and drew in a shaky breath. “There’s been an attack.”

Chapter Two

Everleigh

My parents arrived faster than I’d ever seen them get anywhere before. Probably because they cheated and used a portal to transport a squad car to the park, with Aithan’s parents, the Nomoses, in tow. (It’s not unheard of to use a portal to transport large vehicles. Just unwieldy and generally aggravating, as you have to put up enough glamours to hide the fact that you’re driving a car into what looks like a fire hydrant or a neighborhood mailbox. Things like that tend to freak the humans out.)

To my surprise, however, not only did they arrive at record speed, but a number of the king’s men did as well. Because of the timing, I could only guess that my parents had called them in to help cover the scene. Unlike my parents and the Nomoses, however, they didn’t wear traditional police uniforms. Instead, they wore clothes that looked like they belonged to a human bomb squad.

Very little of this was technically legal, but my parents had learned long ago that straddling the supernatural and human worlds often meant bending rules if they wanted to keep the humans safe. The supernaturals’ number one rule was to prevent the humans from detecting us at all costs, and this incident was possibly one of the most public situations that had taken place in recent days.

Evidence of any magic would have to be erased, hence the presence of the royal guard fae. My mom would do most of the work on the main witnesses, altering their memories of the event just enough to protect them. She would most likely leave some details of the explosion itself, but she would make the event appear in the witnesses’ memories like a typical human terrorist attack. As she did this, the royal guards’ job was to seek out any witnesses who weren’t directly in the park. They would make their way around the houses with a good view of the field to see if anyone else had witnessed the explosion and needed “convincing” as well.

The elves, meanwhile, would erase all physical signs of magic around the supernatural sight. They could do this easily because their magic allowed them to manipulate matter. A few planted pieces of a “firecracker” would do the trick in case any humans came sniffing around.

Most important, however, was the job of the brownies. In ancient days, brownies had preferred to tend gardens and houses, acting with dedication as servants and groundskeepers to families who treated or paid them well. Some have kept those preferences even in modern times, choosing to serve the elven and fae royalty or the vampire lords, but many of them switched their talents to the world of IT. Because, much to the supernatural world’s surprise, brownies, it turns out, are major tech nerds.

While the fae worked on altering the humans’ memories, the brownies would go through the dazed and confused humans’ phones to either delete their videos or put bugs in the code of the videos that were already posted online. And I knew without a doubt that they were coordinating with more brownies who were back at headquarters in the royal resort, The Realm, making sure to delete any videos or proof of magic that might have slipped through online.

“… want to thank you for your help in assisting us in this investigation,” my mother was telling the humans, using her fae abilities to keep them spellbound. Sure enough, they all looked as though she were telling them the most riveting of bedtime stories. “Anything you can tell us will be used to better understand what really happened here.”

Meaning, as my mother was fae and couldn’t lie, that the humans might have seen the person who planted the explosive. This would then be recorded before the witness’s memory was altered just enough to remove all the magical elements. Sure, it might sound cruel, but it was nothing compared to what happened to humans who became caught up in the supernatural world and retained memories of the truth.

I looked back at my best friend, Julia, and shivered. We’d learned that the hard way.

“Everleigh,” my dad called as he and the Mr. Nomos approached us. I ran out and hugged him, closing my eyes and breathing in his slightly earthy (elven) scent. He hugged me tightly back–almost too tightly–and I could feel his hands shaking slightly as mine had been just moments ago.

“What happened?” Mr. Nomos asked. As he spoke, I could feel him erect an elven muffling charm around us so the humans couldn’t eavesdrop or lip-read.

“We’d just finished dinner when we came out here to play disc golf,” Aithan said, his face resembling a harsh statue the way it often did when he was upset. I pulled gently out of my dad’s arms and went to take Aithan’s hand, which he held even tighter than my dad had hugged me. “Everleigh found a frisbee in the grass and picked it up.”

Now that he said it out loud, I felt really stupid. What was I thinking, picking up random objects without feeling first for magic? The explosion could have turned out far worse because of my carelessness.

“Do you think it was the Key?” my dad asked, taking notes on his phone.

My friends and I looked at one another. “I don’t know,” I said slowly. “They’ve never attacked me directly before. I mean, they have, but they never wanted to kill me. They always wanted me to take their side.”

“You’re forgetting that little incident a few months ago when Dr. Dubois locked you in a room full of Pandora powder,” Soo Min said, her voice acidic. “He was ready to kill you, then.”

“That’s true.” Aaron nodded thoughtfully. “But that was one person, not the entire group. And that was months ago.” He looked at Christian. “Did you notice anything about the explosion? Anything human, or was it all magic?”

Christian was a phoenix shifter, but he was also our resident gun and explosives expert. It was an interesting hobby for sure, considering the man burst into flames whenever he needed to fight or fly.

“I think it was a combination,” Christian said. He was kneeling at the sight of the explosion, rubbing a few pieces of charred rubble between his fingers. “It looks like they used a typical human explosive ordinance but charmed it only to go off at a certain time.”

“I wonder if they wanted it to go off when Everleigh touched it, or when any of us touched it,” Julia added in a soft voice. I gave her a smile, glad that she was participating in the conversation. A lot of times, she seemed to blend quietly into the background whenever we had group discussions about magic. Seeing as she was stuck with us in our world, however, I wanted her to feel heard and seen. For better or worse, it was her world now, too.

“That’s a good question,” Aaron said, rubbing his chin. “It would also be good to know whether the guy waited to set it off himself or relied on a sensing spell.”

“It would have been more helpful if we could have shifted and searched for scents that way,” Jamie grumbled, glaring in the direction of the sunset.

“And you didn’t see anyone here when you made your way over?” Mrs. Nomos asked. She had just come over from standing beside my mother as she talked to the humans. My parents had learned long ago that the humans often felt more comfortable talking to the women in our odd little family. They didn’t know we were supernaturals, of course, but the weight of my father’s magic and Mr. Nomos’s made them often feel uptight and on alert, though they had no idea why. But that’s just what happened when the two most successful detectives on the force both happened to be elven princes.

“No one was here.” I shook my head. “I felt the magic before it went off, but it took me a moment to figure out where it was coming from. It started out really weak.” I looked up at Aithan for confirmation, but he and his dad were frowning thoughtfully at one another. “What is it?”

“There is the possibility,” Aithan said slowly, his voice nearly inaudible, “that this wasn’t the Key at all.”

His father didn’t answer, but they continued staring at one another for a long moment. Only as they broke their gaze, however, did I realize what he meant.

Pandora’s Key, a vigilante supernatural group determined to destroy supernatural society as we knew it, had set their sights on me months ago. They had—stupidly—believed I would help them use the Pandora Stone (which was supposed to be a royal secret) to kill or enslave the humans and weak supernaturals. I, however, had repeatedly refused to join them–even bringing down their operatives again and again. So it only made sense that they would be the ones to plant such a device. But what if…

What if King Kostas–the high elven king and Aithan’s grandfather–had sent someone to plant the device to blame the Key and send me running back to him for help? It wouldn’t be out of character. Not that we could say that out loud. The king’s operatives were nearby, cleaning up the remnants of the crime scene, just as they always did when there was a risk of exposure to the humans. But what if…

“Unfortunately,” my father said, breaking the silence in a slightly louder voice, “we don’t have enough evidence to assume anything here. But I will say that there have been a lot of rogue spells popping up all around the city. The Key members, whether they’re responsible here or not, have been making life rather difficult for all of us. They’ve been getting more and more careless, and the humans are starting to get suspicious.”

He looked at me, the misgiving in his eyes already making me regret whatever he was about to say. “I hate to say it, kiddo, but I think it would be best if you stayed in mainly supernatural places for the next few days. Just until we get more information about whatever went down here.” He looked up at Aithan. “Escort the girls home?”

Aithan was already nodding. “Of course. And I can sleep on the couch, too.”

My dad pursed his lips, and in spite of all that had just happened, I nearly laughed. I could tell he didn’t love the idea. I mean, what dad would? But he didn’t have to worry. Aithan had been safely banished to the living room couch, away from the apartment bedrooms my friends and I shared. And this wasn’t the first time he’d slept over. There had been several occasions over the last few months when everyone had deemed it wise to have my fiancé at the apartment while we slept. Life was just that way when you were an international target.

“All right,” Christian sighed, looking back at the gazebo. “I’ll gather up the food if Aaron gets the grilling stuff. And Jamie, go fetch Maverick. He won’t think it nearly as funny as we will if he has to walk home.”

Jamie made a face. “It would serve him right.” But he went and woke the grouchy fae, just as Christian had said. A few minutes later, we were all headed home, the boys in Christian’s truck and Aithan, myself, and the girls in my car.

Happy Labor Day to us.

* * *

The girls and I waited in the car while Aithan unlocked our apartment and did what was now a routine inspection, making sure none of the security wards or intruder charms had been disturbed. He took longer than usual, but considering how the evening had gone, that was no surprise. And though Julia tried to restart the conversation about my wedding venue options, it suddenly felt as though we had all run out of words.

“Okay, you’re all good to go in,” Aithan said, opening the driver’s door again. “Julia, if you give me the cookie plates, I’ll bring them up for you.”

We made our way up to our apartment, and though I’d been disappointed to forfeit the fun evening we’d had planned, I suddenly longed to be in my bed in my pajamas with the lights out and white noise playing from my phone on the nightstand. Just as we’d run out of words, my mind seemed to have developed a brain fog that made all useful thinking impossible. So after Aithan had shut and locked the door behind us, I followed my friends to the hallway that led to the bedrooms, but before I reached it, Aithan grabbed my hand and gently held me back.

“Hey,” he said, pulling me into his chest. I closed my eyes and let myself lean into him, enjoying the way his voice rumbled pleasantly through his chest. “You okay?”

I blinked, mentally shaking myself awake before wrapping my arms around his waist and wishing, as I often did these days, that we were already married, and that I wouldn’t have to say goodnight. Had I really been so tired I wasn’t going to kiss this man goodnight? That stupid explosion had messed with my head.

“I am now,” I said, my voice muffled by his shirt as I buried my face in it. As always, he smelled amazing. All elves had a slightly earthy smell, as I’d noted earlier that night when I’d hugged my dad. But Aithan’s natural elven scent mixed with his cologne to make him smell bewitchingly good–like rain and sage in the desert kind of good.

Reluctantly, I leaned back and smiled up at him.

Good Gatling guns, the man was attractive. His chin and cheeks were beautifully defined, as if he were one of those statues the ancient humans used to carve of his ancestors. His hair had been blond when we were little, but in the years since, it had darkened to a light brown, though there were still blond highlights that showed through whenever he let it get too long. His skin, darkened by all the time he’d spent outside this summer, had changed from a light olive into a warm tan, and his emerald green eyes, unglamoured now that we were away from humans, nearly glowed as they stared down into mine.

“What are you thinking?” he whispered.

“Honestly?” I whispered back.

“Obviously.”

“Okay. Well, to be honest, I was thinking about how much I like your shoulders.”

He had been leaning in, but at this, he let his head fall back and laughed.

“What?” I whined, disappointed that I had lost what had been shaping up to be quite a kiss.

“Everleigh.” He shook his head. “Someone just tried to kill you using a pink plastic children’s toy. And you’re thinking about my shoulders?”

I stuck my chin out defiantly. “And what’s so shocking about that? They’re a nice distraction from what has become the mundane.”

“You are absurd,” he said, but to my delight, he then leaned down and this time, gave me a good solid kiss that sent shivers from my lips all the way down to my toes.

“Everleigh.” Soo Min’s head popped around the corner, and her eyes grew wide. “I knew it! Girl, get in your room and get to bed!”

Aithan scowled. “For your information, young lady, I am allowed to kiss my fiancée! Besides,” he straightened, “what happened to respecting royalty?”

“I am respecting royalty, as her father,” Soo Min pointed to me, “is a prince!”

“Yeah, well, I’m a Nomos.”

Soo Min rolled her eyes so hard I thought they might get stuck in the back of her head.

Aithan huffed, but then his bravado faded as he looked down at me. “Actually, I do have something less than fun that we have to discuss before you go.” He nodded at the couch. “Let’s sit.”

“Do I need to watch this discussion?” Soo Min asked, leaning against the wall and folding her arms over her chest.

I chuckled and shook my head. “We’ll behave. And I’ll be in bed in just a minute.” I could tell by the sudden anxiety on Aithan’s face that this conversation was going to be far from enjoyable, and after the evening we’d had, I had no desire to drag it out.

Soo Min made a face at me, but to my relief, she decided, it seemed, that she could trust us.

“What is it?” I asked, but Aithan just led us over to the couch. And even though we sat beside one another, he didn’t try to snuggle. Instead, he sat so he was facing me. Then he took my hands and frowned down at them.

Foreboding filled me as I decided that I probably should have gone to bed after all. Whatever this was could surely wait until the morning.

“I know you and your mom have been trying to find a place for the wedding,” he said, his eyes still on our hands.

I nodded. “Yeah. But June is… busy. A lot of venues are already booked, including the church. But we’ll find something.”

“Well, maybe it’s a good thing you haven’t signed for a location yet,” Aithan said slowly. “Because my grandfather has invited us and our families over to dinner this Sunday to discuss an… offer, of sorts.”

I sat straight up. “What kind of offer?” I asked, alarm bells going off in my head.

Aithan sighed and ran a hand through his short hair. “A wedding one.”

I stared at him for a solid five seconds before I could respond. But in my head, I was racing through the possible implications of this “offer” faster than the speed of light.

If the king had anything to “offer,” it meant he had something to gain. And when the king stood to gain, it was usually at someone else’s expense. Which begged the question, what did he stand to gain from having a hand in our wedding? Monetarily? Unlikely. The crown was faring quite well, all things considered. Influence? Possibly. Power?

Nearly always.

“Oh,” I finally said, smoothing back a piece of my hair and trying to sound flippant. “Of course he does. Has he decided now that I need to take an oath of celibacy and join a convent too?”

“Before you jump to conclusions,” Aithan said quickly, “this offer actually has less to do with my grandfather and more to do with… well, me.”

“Explain,” I demanded. My voice was cold and clipped, but I didn’t care. Was Aithan seriously considering accepting any offer his grandfather sent our way?

“As in,” Aithan said, watching me closely, “all royal children and grandchildren have rights to a number of traditions associated with the crown. In the past, certain high kings and queens have tried to deny their progeny these rights… such as royal weddings. But the law requires that a royal wedding must be offered to a direct descendant of the Nomos crown.”

“And you’re just telling me this now?” I snapped.

Aithan grimaced. “I honestly didn’t think we would be offered anything. And that was fine with me. But my mom called me this afternoon. She said my grandfather’s legal experts have been going over the law for the last few months, and they finally advised him to offer the wedding, even with things being as… as tense as they are.”

I glared at Aithan. “You know he’s going to try to use this to his advantage.” I could already see the color scheme I’d painstakingly picked going out the window as his grandfather stuck me in some ridiculous, gaudy wedding dress to humiliate me on the most important day of my life.

Although… the fact that his grandfather had been trying to get out of offering the wedding at all did make me feel slightly better.

But only just.

“Oh, I fully expect it,” Aithan said, shrugging. “But I also know that there are legal lines that not even my grandfather wishes to cross. Elves are, after all, strict adherents to the law, generally speaking. That said, there are ways we could leverage this to our advantage, too.” He scooted closer and took my hands in his again. “Everleigh, I want nothing more than to marry you now. If it were an option, I’d take you to the courthouse tonight.”

He gave me a bitter smile. “But our… unusual alliance–the rebellious spare Nomos prince and the insanely independent wizard–is going to need as much support as we can get. If we play nice, there’s a good chance we’ll be able to make new friendships and renew old ones. It will also make our marriage solid and public, where we can present a united front. Think of it as… as good public relations.” He gave me an annoyingly cute half-smile.

But I wasn’t ready to give in that easily–even if his smile did make me want to kiss him again.

“But partnering with your grandfather…” I started. “It’s just not how I want to start the rest of our lives. We’re already working with him as freelance operatives. That’s honestly the closest I want to be.”

“Everleigh.” All laughter went out of Aithan’s eyes as he spoke. “You know I’m the first one in line to tell my grandfather where he can stick his ambitions when it comes to our lives. But I’m not a free agent anymore. I have you to think about. And hopefully, one day, our children.” He gently squeezed my hands, essentially turning my insides to mush. “We’re going to need all the help we can get. And as much as you might not want to admit it, just like the humans, the supernatural world loves a royal wedding.” He put a finger beneath my chin to tip my face toward his. “If we do this right, we might win goodwill in the supernatural world for years to come.”

He had me. He knew he did. The second he mentioned our children, he knew I would have no way to argue. Because as much as I despised it, he was right. Aithan and I on our own were targets enough. Together, we each had a weakness. Well, I had two, as Julia—my human “pet”—was essentially helpless without me. Add children into the mix, though, and our family might as well have bright red targets painted on every single one of our backs.

“Fine!” I huffed, letting my head fall back. “I’ll… hear him out. But that doesn’t mean the king gets to pick my dress! If anyone gets to be Bridezilla in this fairy tale, it’s me!”

“High king or not,” Aithan said, leaning forward, his eyes on my lips again, “I would never presume to think such a thing.”

“Well… good!” I retorted. “Because… Because he would look terrible in a dress!” It was lame, yes. But all of my good comebacks were thrown into chaos by the suddenly hungry look in Aithan’s eyes. I closed my eyes and sighed in anticipation as I awaited his kiss.

Just as his lips brushed mine, however, footsteps stomped into the living room, and two small hands grasped my shoulders and plucked me unceremoniously out of my seat.

“And this is why Soo Min sent me out,” Julia said.

I just rolled my eyes, but Aithan shook his head. “Guys! It is not against the law to kiss my fiancée! What is with you people?”

Julia smiled sweetly. “Protecting the princess’s honor, of course. Goodnight, Your Highness. You know where the extra pillows and sheets are. I assume you can set them up yourself.”

“Julia…” I rolled my eyes.

“You two can continue scandalizing the world all you want,” Julia said, pushing me toward the hall. “Just as soon as you get married.”

Chapter Three

Everleigh

Despite going to bed much earlier than we’d planned, it seemed I’d barely closed my eyes when my phone was screaming at me to wake up and get ready for the doctor.

“Can’t we just not go and say we did?” Julia mumbled from her bed on the other side of the room.

“I wish.” I fumbled for my phone to turn the insanely annoying alarm off. Then I sighed and pushed myself out of bed.

The night before, fully self-aware of my dislike of early mornings, I’d had the forethought to hang my clothes on the back of my desk chair. And though I inwardly growled at the thought of climbing out of bed, I decided I might as well get dressed and prevent myself from going back to sleep.

“Oh. Wow.” Julia blinked as she opened the door and the smell of bacon and eggs hit us like a tidal wave. “Someone’s been up for a while.”

There had been enough close calls that summer–usually written threats directed at me by random Key members or supernatural weirdos–that we’d come up with a routine for the nights after a threat. Aithan would sleep on the couch. Then, upon waking up at a stupidly early hour of the morning, he would change into the spare clothes he kept in our linen closet, shower, and make breakfast for all of us. Usually, I loved it when he did this. He didn’t know how to cook anything that wasn’t bacon, toast, or barbeque, but the fact that he’d learned how to make even these–with only a little magic necessary–was a testament to his devotion to my comfort.

But as much as I usually loved his breakfasts, this morning, my stomach was doing somersaults, and I realized I had absolutely no appetite whatsoever. The day I’d spent the whole summer ignoring had arrived. Today, I would learn the effect of the Pandora powder on my friends and fiancé. I would also learn more about the hole it had made in my heart.

“What’s wrong with your toast?” Aithan frowned down at my plate. “Did I overcook it again?”

“You don’t cook toast, Aithan.” Soo Min smirked. “You toast toast.”

“What?” I blinked back to reality. “Oh, no. It’s great.” I gave him my best forced smile.

But his frown only deepened. “Then why aren’t you eating?”

“I just…” I shrugged. “I think we should go soon. Don’t want to get caught in traffic or anything. Big day and all.”

Aithan gave me a look so aggravated that I nearly asked him if he had gained the ability to shift into a mother hen. But I bit my tongue, not wanting to hurt his feelings. Besides, Soo Min was being nearly as bad with Julia. I could hear her trying to shame our poor human into eating as well, though she wasn’t being nearly as nice as my fiancé. And while I knew they were both doing their best to distract us, I really did just want to go. The faster we got there, the sooner we could get this over with.

* * *

We met the rest of the guys–Maverick excluded–at the medical center forty-five minutes later. It was on the south side of town, tucked back into an older but well-kept neighborhood. As though getting revenge for the mild temperatures the day before, the sun beat mercilessly down upon us as though it were the beginning of August, rather than early September.

“The next tourist who says, ‘But it’s a dry heat,’ is growing a glamoured tail,” Soo Min grumbled as we made our way from the parking lot to the building’s main doors. “I don’t care if there’s no water in the air, Felicia! It’s ninety-seven freaking degrees at nine in the morning!”

“Today’s supposed to reach a hundred and twelve,” Christian said, looking at his phone. “That’s almost a record.” Then he looked thoughtfully at Soo Min. “But you’re a fae. Can’t you make yourself feel cool, even if it’s warm? Why does the temperature upset you?”

“Because, Flame Boy,” Soo Min retorted, “using magic makes me hot! It’s like moving closer to the sun to power a solar fan!”

“Someone’s spicy today.” Jamie poked Soo Min in the bicep as we made our way through the now familiar automatic doors and into the blessed frigidity of the air-conditioned building.

“Oh, you think I’m spicy now?” Soo Min glowered at him as we made our way to the elevators. “Just wait until–”

“Good morning, everyone,” Miss Lillian interrupted smoothly as she and Dorian approached from the other side of the lobby, her gentle Irish accent recalling everyone to their surroundings.

“If you’re determined to shed Jamie’s blood this morning, Soo Min,” Dorian said with his slightly sharper British accent, “I would suggest you wait until we’re upstairs. At least they have blood draw kits, and we could put whatever you spill to use.” He glanced around at the increasingly busy lobby, where patients, nurses, and doctors walked briskly around us.

Aithan smirked down at me as we all filed into the elevator, and this time, I couldn’t help smirking back. Soo Min always got spicy when she was stressed, but Dorian–our resident vampire–was one of the few people who could put her in her place. Not because she was afraid of him. Everyone trusted Dorian implicitly, as he’d saved all of us more than once. Rather, I was convinced it was because she actually respected him.

And that was saying something, as I could count the number of people Soo Min revered on one hand.

Quiet settled on the group again as the elevator began to climb. And kept climbing.

The supernatural medical center looked very much like any human medical center might from the outside. Six stories with alternating layers of windows and cement, it had been glamoured to appear much smaller from the outside than it actually was. Inside, however, it was nearly as large as the high elven king’s personal resort. Supernatural specialists from all over the world flocked to Las Vegas, begging to be allowed to work or intern within its doors.

But all thoughts of the building and its occupants fled my mind as the elevator doors slid open, and my heart gave an extra little skip. It all came down to this.

Today we would learn our fates.

I glanced up at Aithan to find his face in its familiar stony expression. But I’d expected that. Nomoses tended to shut down emotionally whenever they were stressed or unsure. Still, when I slid my hand into his, he twined our fingers and squeezed.

He was worried, too.

We headed toward the front desk as a group, and I could feel the notification ward go off the moment we exited the elevator doors. Almost immediately, a short woman in scrubs and unusually thick glasses popped up from behind the desk.

“Well, if it isn’t Everleigh and friends!” she squeaked in a high voice, her red curls bobbing with each word.

“Hi, Lucy,” I said, smiling at the leprechaun. “Would you mind getting us checked in?”

“Done and done,” she said, tapping away at the tiny keyboard in front of her. “Nurse Kevin should call you back soon!”

I thanked her, and we turned to find chairs in the tiny lobby. It was a room we’d become very acquainted with over that summer, from the teal and white chair cushions to the colorless carpet floor. A TV in the far left corner played a local fae celebrity gossip show, and the TV across from it showed a human football channel–a siren call, it seemed, to which not even supernatural men were immune.

We didn’t have long to wait, however, because the door on the far side of the room opened a moment later, and a guy in scrubs with a nametag that said Kevin gave us a big grin. “Are you all ready? Or would you prefer to be seen one at a time?”

Miss Lillian stood and looked around at us as though we were her children. In a way, we had all become so over the last six months. “I think we should all go back together,” she said in a kind but firm voice.

Kevin blinked at her and then down at his chart. “Um, no offense, ma’am, but you’re not a patient. Were you… there when the incident occurred?”

“Not in person,” Miss Lillian answered stoutly. “But these children are under my care, and I’ll not be left in the dark about them.”

Dorian raised a thick eyebrow at her over the word children, but she ignored him.

“Well, um…” Kevin stuttered, but when the rest of us stood, he shrugged. “Oh. Okay. Alrighty then. I guess we’re doing this.” Then he turned and made his way down the hall.

Julia had been horrified when we’d first started our tests together. In the human world, there were laws about medical privacy that were strictly kept. But the supernatural community was often more lax when it came to sharing personal medical information, and she’d quickly come to learn that HIPAA was more of a guideline in our world. Today, however, she didn’t even blink as we all crowded into the tiled hall behind Kevin, who led us to a large room with a bunch of plastic chairs pulled up in a circle. I think that over the summer she had come to realize what the rest of us already knew–when it came to magic, it was usually good to have friends at your side.

Three of the chairs in the circle were already filled, though their occupants stood to shake our hands as we filed in. Dr. Kabir Duggal, one of the world’s leading elven medical researchers, sat in the middle. He was shorter than the average elf, with warm brown skin, sharp eyes, and just the slightest hint of gray at his temples.

Dr. Lisa Heinz, a decorated brownie cardiologist, sat to his right. She wore a well-tailored purple pantsuit, and despite being so short, sat quite elegantly on the obviously ill-fitted chair.

The face I was most grateful to see, however, was the familiar one on the far end with thick brown hair and round glasses. Wearing his usual khaki slacks and white button-up under a brown sweater vest, Dr. Benedict Petras, local prodigy and seer extraordinaire–and also my former university professor–sat on Dr. Duggal’s left.

Honestly, I was still kind of in awe at how much interest he’d taken in our little group. I mean, yeah, I was a wizard. But the guy could think circles around the rest of us while seeing visions of our futures. And yet, he was honestly one of the nicest people I’d ever met. Hence his presence today, which I was convinced was largely to translate his colleagues’ medicalese into English for us, as well as to provide emotional support.

“It’s good to see everyone again,” Dr. Duggal said, nodding and smiling at each person in turn, apparently not seeming to care that our group now included an extra elf. “I know you were asked already, but are you sure you don’t want to meet with us privately?” He glanced at Julia. “I’m aware that the human medical society generally values secrecy.”

“Thank you.” Julia gave him a rather sick-looking smile. “But… I think I want to know with everyone else.”

“And that goes for the rest of you as well?” Dr. Heinz asked, glancing around the circle once more. We all murmured our assent, so with a single shared glance, the two doctors nodded and looked at their tablets.

“Since there are so many of you here, we’ll address the supernaturals–with the exception of Princess Everleigh–first,” Dr. Duggal said. As he said it, my heart seemed to skip a beat, making me feel somewhat nauseous, and Aithan’s hold on my hand grew tighter, but I did my best not to visibly react. It would only make sense that they would want to get the group out of the way first.

Of course, it also likely meant that whatever they’d diagnosed in them was not what they had found in me. But then again, I had a magical freaking hole in my heart. Obviously, my case wouldn’t be the same.

“… and I will say that I’m quite pleasantly surprised by what we’ve found,” Dr. Duggal was saying. As he spoke, he began passing out thin manilla folders with my friends’ names on them. “We’ve run nearly every test we can think of, but the only difference we can seem to find is that you’re stronger, faster, and your magic is more powerful than it was before.” He took his glasses off and shook his head. “It’s amazing, really. What little we know of the Pandora Stone has made it out to be primarily a deadly toxin. But… the results here seem to suggest that it could be otherwise.”

“Why do you think that is?” Aithan asked, frowning.

The doctor put his glasses back on. “All we can find to account for the difference is the princess’s power. She seems to have filtered out the negative effects when she protected you in the lab, leaving you all to reap the benefits.”

Aithan sucked in a sharp breath, but the others sighed with relief. And I was glad for them. My sacrifice, it seemed, hadn’t been in vain.

“But what about me?” Aithan pressed. “I protected Everleigh while she protected the others. Surely her magic wouldn’t have filtered it out for me as well.”

He didn’t say it, of course, but I could already hear the pieces coming together in his thoughts, and I nearly groaned. Because if there was any chance he could blame himself for my condition, I had no doubt that he would do so. But as it was, we’d both nearly died as we had fought to save our friends from the evil vampire’s Pandora powder experiment. Me protecting the others, and him protecting me. Knowing Aithan, however, he would continue to blame himself until the day he died, even if there had been no way to prevent the hole. He was my sworn protector. It was just in his nature.

Dr. Benedict Petras’s eyes shot to mine, and I immediately looked down. With his special gifts, it was highly likely that he already knew. And Aithan wasn’t going to like it a single bit. But I didn’t have to tap into my seer powers to know that.

“We discussed that at some length,” Dr. Duggal said. “And I think the only possible answer is because–”

“What about Julia?” I interrupted, raising my eyes to Dr. Duggal’s face and ignoring Aithan’s suddenly suspicious gaze. “What Dr. Dubois did to her should have killed her. And yet… she’s alive.” I shifted in my seat. “Dr. Dubois claimed he was experimenting with children of two magics. Is… Julia’s survival related to that research?”

“Ope, I forgot to put that in this report,” Dr. Heinz said, swiping at her tablet. “Ah, yes. Here it is.” She peered at me thoughtfully. “You say you didn’t get access to the research Prince Aithan downloaded from the lab?”

Aithan’s cold, hard gaze hadn’t moved from me once, but now he reluctantly looked at the brownie. “I tried to tell the others afterward, but before I went on the mission, I swore silence to my grandfather over certain aspects of the mission. The silencing bond was… stronger than I’d expected it to be.”

“Oh…” Dr. Heinz looked at Dr. Duggal as though she wasn’t sure what to do. “If he can’t share, does that mean we’re supposed to keep that–”

“Dr. Dubois was indeed doing experiments involving children of two magics,” Dr. Petras interrupted. “And I can share some of that with you later, should you wish.” He tapped the side of his nose, and I nodded gratefully, understanding the need for discretion in the matter. “The information is still raw, and the medical community is still trying to make sense of it before we release it. We don’t want to give these families premature hope.” He took in a deep breath and sighed before looking at Julia.

“As for Miss Mayburn, however, I’m afraid we have even less information to go on. And no, it’s not related. Julia’s… exposure was far more in line with experiments directed by Pandora’s Key.”

“You mean they directed him to do them?” Aaron asked.

“We don’t know what they directed him to do, but they provided him with a large amount of Pandora powder and funding. And there’s no way they would have given that to him without a specific purpose in mind.”

Christian frowned. “He took and exposed so many people. Almost as if… as if he was searching.”

Dr. Petras sighed. “For a celebrated scientist, he was highly inefficient. What little we’ve found in his notes is scattered and incoherent, and the Pandora powder experiments themselves were… Well, frankly, they were so unethical that the privileged few of us who have seen their results are hesitant to believe what little we can gather from them.”

“But what did you find?” Julia asked. She was wringing the bottom of her shirt so hard her knuckles had turned white.

“That there are, apparently, some humans who have a higher tolerance for the Pandora powder than others.” Dr. Petras leaned back in his chair and fixed my friend with a candid stare. “The poor souls he chose for his experiments were on a spectrum of sorts. Some died or went into psychosis immediately. Others held out for a little longer.”

“And then there’s you,” Dr. Duggal said, tilting his head thoughtfully at her. “You not only survived hours of direct contact with the powder, but you recovered after.”

Julia’s face somehow grew paler. “Meaning the others…”

“They passed,” Dr. Heinz said gently.

I reached out and grabbed her hand, and she held on as though she were drowning and I were the rope. That was fine with me, though. She could squeeze until my bones broke if she wanted to. Because her hand in mine meant that Julia was alive. Despite Dr. Dubois’s evil, she had survived.

“But that’s a good thing, right?” Jamie asked, looking back and forth between the doctors and Julia. “I mean, she’s recovered. So it’s a good sign!”

“It’s a very good sign,” Dr. Petras said with a kind smile.

“What does it mean, though?” I asked. “Why did she make it when no one else did? Is it possible the reaction is just… delayed?”

“It’s… possible,” Dr. Duggal said. “But unlikely. She most certainly did react to the initial exposure. For weeks after the exposure, we weren’t confident she would survive. As she’s continued to get stronger, however, I’m of the belief that she’s going to be just fine. As for the long-term implications of this, however, we’ll simply have to monitor her health over time and go from there.”

“To put it plainly,” Dr. Petras said, “your body reacts to magic. At least, it does when it first encounters it. Then… it doesn’t. The magic basically disappears inside of you.” He gave us a wry smile. “Which is not something the supernatural community is accustomed to seeing. Nor will many want to see it.”

Both Dr. Duggal and Dr. Heinz turned and stared at him with wide eyes, which I took to mean that Dr. Petras had shared information we weren’t supposed to know. And if it had been anyone else who had told us this, I would have feared for their life. Dr. Petras, however, was such an asset to the king that if anyone could get away with sharing sensitive information, it would be him.

Dr. Duggal cleared his throat and took over, his voice slightly louder than necessary. “Of course, based on the… delicate nature of the exposure, we’ll have to be careful with how we discuss this in the future. The few theories we have aren’t anywhere near conclusive enough to posit them as possible causes yet. And, of course, the scientific community at large doesn’t even know the powder exists.”

Translated: Don’t you dare speak a word of this to anyone, or we are all toast.

“But that can wait for another day,” Dr. Heinz said firmly, fixing her gaze on me. “Right now, we need to talk about the princess.”

“And I strongly suggest,” Dr. Duggal said, “that this conversation be private.”

* * *

Miss Lillian was the first to stand, immediately followed by Dorian. Then the others followed, too. Soo Min and Julia were the last to go, pausing to cast a long look at me. When I nodded, though, they finally turned and followed the others out the door. As the door banged shut behind them, the sound seemed nearly deafening.

“Your Highness.” Dr. Duggal turned to Aithan. “If you, too, would kindly–”

“In case you haven’t heard,” Aithan said coolly, “I’m marrying this woman soon. I’ve also sworn a Keeper’s Vow to protect her. And as this meeting concerns her safety and health, I’m pretty certain I have an obligation to be here.”

Dr. Heinz pressed a small hand against her chest. “A Keeper’s Oath?” she whispered. “For how long?”

“Seeing as it was the Binding kind, her whole life.” Aithan took my hand again. “So why don’t we begin?”

“Princess.” Dr. Duggal turned to me. “You don’t have to–”

“I want him here,” I said as firmly as my shaking voice was able.

“Well, if that’s what you want…” Dr. Heinz sighed heavily and dropped her hand from her chest to her tablet to give it a few taps. “I wish I could say that your results are as positive as the others’. But unfortunately, they’re not.”

I closed my eyes and swallowed hard. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

In the supernatural world, crying was weakness. And I didn’t need to feel any weaker than I did now.

“The hole in your heart is still there,” Dr. Heinz went on, “and its size hasn’t shrunk the way I was hoping it would have. That said…” She paused and gave me a small smile over the top of her tablet, though I could barely see it, as the tablet was so tall. “The hole hasn’t grown either. The wound caused by the Pandora powder seems to still be in stasis, just as it was a few months ago when we started the tests. Your natural magic appears to be keeping the Pandora powder from entering your heart through the hole.”

“So… what does that mean long-term?” Aithan asked.

Dr. Heinz gave him a slight frown as though she wished he would stay quiet. “It means that the princess should be safe to use magic in a moderate capacity.” She looked over the tablet at me again, but this time, her eyes weren’t smiling. “Moderate being the key word. Of course, avoiding Pandora powder in the future is also heavily advised. And ideally, you would also avoid high amounts of physical and emotional stress as well.”

Based on the events of the day before, there was fat chance of that.

“So…” I had to clear my throat twice before I could speak. “Like, I shouldn’t work out too hard?”

“No, that’s not what I mean. You’ll definitely want to keep up your strength. Aerobic activity is just as good for the supernatural’s heart as it is for the human’s. I mean, I wouldn’t try to win any weightlifting titles anytime soon. Avoiding life-and-death situations, however, is far more important because using too much magic will definitely strain your heart.” She paused and glanced back at Aithan, and I could tell that whatever she was about to say next was not something she wanted him to hear.

“There are also the general stresses of… well, life. The kind that come with age and time. And by that, I mean that you’ll want to make sure you’re being monitored during those periods as well.”

“You mean like getting old?” Aithan asked.

“I mean,” Dr. Heinz said, her cheeks flushing slightly, “stresses such as a big wedding. Or having children. Childbearing puts quite a strain on the mind and the body of any woman, supernatural or not.” She was glaring at Aithan now, as though my inevitable aging were his fault. “Marital discord, divorce, menopause, the death of a parent–”

“Okay, thanks.” I held my hands up. “I think we get it.” I closed my eyes and shook my head. “But I don’t understand what I’m supposed to do. I can’t avoid stress my entire life.” I gave a forced laugh. “I’m a wizard. Stress seems to follow me. It throws parties in my honor.” Like yesterday, for example, when someone had tried blowing me up with a frisbee.

“Of course, you can’t avoid it completely,” Dr. Duggal hurried to say. “It wouldn’t even be healthy if you tried. But what Dr. Heinz means is that there is a limit to how much strain your heart can handle. We just won’t know what that limit is until your heart finds it. And… we would prefer not to find out anytime soon.”

“Everleigh,” Dr. Petras said, looking so deep in thought he didn’t seem to notice that he’d dropped my title. “Is your teacher, Maverick, still here?”

“He is,” I said. Even as I spoke the words, though, I realized just how long it had been since we’d had a lesson, despite him now living with the boys in their shared house without paying for food or rent. “Why?” I asked.

“Because some supernaturals have found that to a point, they can separate their magic from their emotions. Much in the way athletes learn to focus mind over body in exercise. If you were able to learn how to better use your magic without linking it to your feelings, you could possibly use magic more safely, even when you were in a heightened state of emotion. It would likely cut down on the strain on your heart.” He thought for a moment, and I could see his mind working in tandem with his visions. “In fact…” He finally focused on me, his eyes suddenly bright. “You might learn how to create new layers of protection for your heart all on your own.”

I clung to this hope as we finished with the doctors and thanked all of them before saying goodbye. Much in the same way that I clung to Aithan’s arm as we walked out the doors. But as soon as we entered the lobby, I stiffened my spine, stood straight, and forced a smile for my friends. Aithan gave me a doubtful frown, but I ignored him as Julia and Soo Min ran up to me.

“Well, what did they say?” Julia asked breathlessly. As she spoke, the others stood and came near as well, and I was struck by just how close we had all grown in the last few months. All of my friends were obviously worried about me. Even my former Annoyance-in-Chief, Jamie.

“I’ll… tell you about it later,” I said.

Soo Min opened her mouth. “But you–”

“Right now, though,” I spoke over her, “The thing I want most is pizza.” And with that, I marched toward the door.

Chapter Four

Everleigh

As soon as we got outside, Aaron turned to Aithan. “Go take some time together,” he said in a low voice. “I’ll make sure the girls get home safely.”

I didn’t get to hear if Soo Min or Julia objected to this, because the moment the words were out of Aaron’s mouth, Aithan had clapped him on the shoulder and turned toward his car, fairly dragging me behind him.

Neither of us spoke a word as he pulled out of the parking lot. The weight of what we had just learned loomed over us like a thick, foggy cloud. Not just the bad news, but the unknowns, the possibilities, the risks…

Everything.

I felt as though someone had picked up my brain then shook it good and hard, making all my thoughts tumble around like pieces of a board game. Heck, at this point, I barely knew which way was up.

And I hated not knowing which way was up.

Aithan seemed to be feeling the same way. But instead of staring blankly ahead like me, he was breaking speed limits and taking corners way too fast, relying on the heavy spells protecting his car to keep it and those around it from harm.

“Well,” I finally said, unable to bear the silence any longer, “I guess I ought to rethink letting the king plan the wedding.” I forced out a tearful laugh. “Heck, maybe he’ll even wear white–”

“Everleigh, stop. Just… stop. Please.”

I turned to look at Aithan. He was glaring at the road, but it was hard to see any other emotions on his face through my suddenly blurry vision.

He finally glanced over at me when we came to a stoplight, and his expression went from fury to regret.

“No, not… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I promise.” He reached out to touch my face, but I moved back, glaring at him the same way he’d been looking at the car ahead of us seconds before.

“Everleigh, I…” He pulled a hand off the steering wheel and ran it through his hair, the way he often did when he was agitated. “It’s not you. I just–”

“Oh, ‘It’s not you, it’s me?’” I snapped, my voice shaking.

“It is me.” He said this with such emphasis that it caught me off guard. “Everleigh, I just.. I don’t have the words I need right now to tell you what I’m feeling.”

I stared at him, shame suddenly washing over me. “Oh,” was all I could say.

“Let’s just… get where we’re going,” he said, looking at the road again. “Then we can talk.”

* * *

About twenty minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of the Wetlands visitor center.

“Isn’t it kind of hot for this today?” I asked, squinting as a wave of air like one from a blow dryer hit me in the face, sand pelting my exposed skin like bullets from a machine gun.

The Wetlands was a county park set aside as a nature preserve for some of the wildlife that had once inhabited much of the Las Vegas Valley. It was largely centered around the natural wash that often caught rain water (on the rare occasions it graced our part of the Mojave Desert), runoff from storm drains, and reclaimed wastewater. When it was full, the wash created a decently impressive river than ran right through the middle of the desert. It also allowed for small pools, streams, and brooks to form around it, creating a place for a surprising number of animal species to live and thrive.

It was also beautiful, as if an artist had taken a primarily beige canvas and added a hundred shades of green in the forms of cottonwood trees, willows, reeds, and grasses, as well as white, red, orange, and yellow flowers. The songs of birds and the croaking of toads filled the air, harmonizing with the distant sounds of rushing water and the whoosh of wind.

Picturesque as it was, however, the Wetlands could be oppressively hot, especially on days like today. And as the sun was overhead and noon was fast approaching, we were coming up on the hottest part of the day.

For the first time since the meeting, however, Aithan gave me the smallest hint of a sardonic smile and raised one hand. In response, a little breeze began to whirl around us, cool like the water and gentle like a mother wrapping a blanket around her child.

“Come on,” he said, taking my hand and leading me down the first trail that led into the park.

We followed the pristine cement path for about ten minutes before Aithan suddenly veered off the path and into the reeds. A moment later, we came out on the other side of the grasses beside a pretty little pond inhabited by what sounded like an army of invisible toads and a few lazy geese. After setting a muffling charm and a protective ward around the pond, Aithan pulled me over to the big willow tree, where he plopped down on the ground to lean against its trunk so that I could lean against him. Shaded from the sun by the willow’s long, drooping branches and kept cool by Aithan’s conjured breeze, I realized suddenly that I never wanted to leave. We could stay here for the rest of our lives, his arms around me as I leaned into his chest, and I would be perfectly fine.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you were protecting me too in the lab?”

I closed my eyes and sighed. I’d known he would bring this up sooner or later, but I had been hoping it would be later.

A lot later.

“I didn’t remember it at first,” I said, opening my eyes to trace circles on his wrist with my fingers. “A lot of that day came back in bits and pieces for weeks after it happened. And when I finally did…” I shrugged. “I didn’t think it really mattered.”

“It matters to me.” Much to my chagrin, Aithan pulled away from me just enough to make eye contact. And just as I had known it would, the look in his eyes nearly broke my heart.

“Aithan, I–”

“Like I said, I’m not… I’m not finding the words I need. But Everleigh, I’m going to beg you here and now.”

I blinked at him. “Beg me for what?”

“Not to try doing this all on your own.”

I turned in the dirt to face him. “What do you mean by this?” I tried giving him a teasing look. “I can’t promise to do it if I don’t know what it is.”

But he didn’t smile back. “Life, Everleigh. I’m begging you not to try doing life all on your own. Facing Pandora’s Key. Protecting our friends and family. Standing up to my grandfather.” He lifted my left hand so the ring on my fourth finger caught the light and sparkled. “We’re in this together. Yes?”

“Aithan…” I let out a sigh. “Of course I’m not going to try doing everything on my own. But we’re facing so much. I’m trying to finish college. We need jobs, and the Key is likely trying to kill me, and your grandfather–”

“See, that’s what I mean,” he said, leaning forward and taking both my hands. “What I need now is proof that you’re not going to run off and try tackling the world on your own just because you’re a wizard.”

I snorted. “And just how am I supposed to prove that to you?”

“First,” he said, slipping his fingers beneath my chin, his green eyes moving to my lips, “by just being with me today.”

I pursed my lips, although the way he was looking at mine was more than a little distracting. “I’m with you now.”

“That’s not what I mean. Be here with me. Just here.” He leaned forward again, this time with his lips brushing mine. “Just… be.”

My heart, which had felt much as though it had forgotten to beat that morning, fluttered back to life as he kissed me there under the willow tree, his mouth gentle and his kisses slow and lingering. And when we’d finally had our fill of kisses, and I snuggled back against him, watching the shadows move across the ground and listening to the sounds of life surrounding us, I decided that he was right.

Simply existing with him in the here and now… Well, there was healing in that. Not for the heart that beat with a hole, perhaps. But for my soul.

Chapter Five

Aithan

My family and Everleigh’s waited silently as we soared in the VIP rose gold elevator toward the top of The Realm, my grandfather’s Las Vegas resort, where we knew he was awaiting us. Somehow, the eventful week had already come to a close, and Sunday had arrived. We were all wearing the same clothes we’d worn to church that morning, clothes in which we had all spent extra time praying before arriving here.

My father, brother, and mother stood like statues, their faces cool and unreadable as the elevator continued to rise. Everleigh’s father wore a similar expression, as elves of royal lineage are taught from a young age not to betray our emotions in any situation in which we are not in control. And Everleigh’s mother, a fae, wore a slightly bored and pouty expression. Proud as though this entire thing was a bore and she was sorry she had deigned to come. Whether fae or elf, however, they all wore expressions meant to shield them from the onslaught of outside attacks.

Everleigh, who had not grown up in contact with the courts, looked less statue-like and a lot more human as she pressed herself against my side, despite having enough room of her own. And I had to resist the urge to pull her even closer. For while self-preservation was strong within elves, our jealous ownership of everything in our lives was just as strong, or perhaps sometimes stronger. We could rival vampires in our jealousy. And it was all I could do to keep my own primal instincts at bay as we flew up toward the lion’s den.

The lion who had once tried to kill this precious girl before.

But no, the primal animal within couldn’t win. That would do none of us any good, I sternly reminded myself. And at least none of us were going in alone as we had before. This time, we were together. None of us were as powerful as my grandfather, who wore the crown. But together, our families stood a better chance of protecting Everleigh than any trained military in the world.

My father and older brother, to begin with, wielded the famed Nomos magic, as did I, even if our abilities were inferior to my grandfather’s. My mother’s power was also that of royalty, even if she belonged to a lower court. Everleigh’s parents were also powerful in their own right, even though they were from lower courts as well.

Then, of course, there was Everleigh–wizard extraordinaire. But after our meeting with the doctors earlier that week, Everleigh facing off against my grandfather tonight was the last thing any of us wanted to see. It had happened too many times already.

As the elevator began to slow, I was hit with a sudden resentment of normal families–human and supernatural alike–who didn’t have to worry about being cursed by their vindictive grandfathers at family meals. Because I was absolutely convinced that family drama was about to go down.

The elevator dinged as the rose gold doors opened to reveal the throne room. Rather than facing the marble dais as we usually did, however, the room had been completely rearranged and decorated to resemble a royal dining hall, like one you might have found in a medieval palace. The ceiling had been painted with a complex and colorful mural in stye of the Italian Renaissance. It looked almost as if Leonardo da Vinci had painted the Sistine Chapel but had featured elves. White stone statues stood around the room, all resembling elves carved in the Greco-Roman style, and the many vaulted windows were open to reveal the glittering stars in the darkening sky outside. Most prominent, however, was a table the length of my parents’ house that stood in the center of the room.

“Welcome, everyone!”

We all turned to see my grandparents entering the room from the far end. My grandfather wore a charming smile–an odd thing to come to terms with when you knew the guy had cursed you before you were old enough to have lost any teeth. He wore a traditional white tunic and trousers beneath a long green robe and leather boots. His long blond hair was gathered neatly at the nape of his neck, and he wore one of his plainer crowns, as though trying to dress down for the occasion. My grandmother’s hair was also long and blond, but she had it up in an intricate knot at the top of her head with a few tendrils falling gracefully around her face. For her dinner dress, she wore one of her many opulent green gowns, scattered with gems and gold lace filigree. Unlike my grandfather, however, she was not smiling, wearing instead a cool, distant expression–as though she was present, but only just.

We all bowed or curtsied to them, after which my grandfather waved us all over to the table. “Come, come. Sit!” He went to stand at the head of the table and then looked around at us, beaming as though this dinner was the most wonderful event in the world and not a recipe for disaster. “Everyone has a name card at his or her seat, so go ahead and find yours. Now where is–oh, there she is. Priscilla. Come here. You’re seated next to Princess Everleigh.”

As a host of servants appeared behind us to pull out our seats, Priscilla–one of my many cousins–also joined us at the table. She was dressed as I was used to seeing her, wearing her long blond hair up in a practical bun at the top of her head and a tailored suit jacket with a pencil skirt and heels. I was pleased (and somewhat suspicious) that my grandfather had seated her on Everleigh’s other side. Everleigh was fond of Priscilla, and my grandfather never did anything to simply bless another person unless it blessed him as well.

“But where is Miss Julia?” he exclaimed as we were all seated, the servants disappearing immediately into the shadows again. He looked at Everleigh. “I was sure she would come, seeing as she’s your pet and all.”

As he said this, I realized that there was an empty seat to my grandfather’s right. And it had Julia’s name on the card in front of it.

There it was. The manipulation I’d been waiting for.

He’d placed Everleigh’s best friend at his own side, making it look as though he was bestowing a great honor on my fiancée’s human pet. But really, he had done it to threaten Everleigh, to make it clear that he could kill her best friend anytime he chose.

I nearly smiled. This time, at least, Everleigh was one step ahead.

“She sends her apologies, Your Majesty,” Everleigh said, bowing her head respectfully. “But she began to feel ill this morning.”

“Surely you could have healed her, though,” my grandfather chuckled. “Considering the… arsenal at your unique disposal.”

Everleigh nodded again. “I could have improved her symptoms, yes. But she didn’t know if the illness was contagious, so we thought it best to simply let her heal.”

What Everleigh didn’t mention was that she had been the one to make Julia feel ill. It wasn’t hard, really. All Everleigh had to do was give her friend the temporary faux symptoms of a bad cold using her fae magic. Because, contrary to popular human opinion, magic couldn’t actually heal every ill. Particularly not the common cold.

“Well,” my grandfather said, his smile dulling slightly, “I hope she gets well. And if you need help at least lessening the symptoms, I do hope you’ll ask my grandson for assistance.”

Everleigh smiled politely. “Of course, Your Majesty.” She met his gaze, and for a long moment, their eyes stayed locked.

Just as I was about to clear my throat to draw my grandfather’s attention to myself, my brother intervened and asked my grandfather a rather complicated question about his new training method for the royal guards, a conversation I was thankful for, as my parents and Everleigh’s joined in readily as well.

As soon as the king released her from his attention, Everleigh let out a deep breath and turned to my cousin instead. “I heard you got a new assistant,” she told Priscilla. “How is that going? Are they giving you a little more time to get what you need done?”

“I have three new assistants,” Priscilla said, staring into her glass of champagne. “Two of them are fantastic. I chose them myself from an internship program the king runs at the hotel for supernaturals coming straight out of college.” She glanced at my grandfather and lowered her voice. “Unfortunately, the third one is… Well, let’s just say she’s the favorite daughter of a rich elven duke in Bulgaria, and it was strongly suggested that I hire her as a favor to her father.” She grimaced.

“That bad, huh?” Everleigh asked.

Priscilla sighed. “She accidentally called a vampire coven in Taiwan today when she was supposed to contact The Realm’s kitchen. But by the time she realized she’d made a mistake, she forgot how to use the charmed translator we keep on all office phones, and she just kept yelling into the phone, getting louder and slower with each word.”

Everleigh had taken a sip of her water, but at this, she choked, and I had to hide a snort by pretending to cough.

“My second helper,” Priscilla went on, “is a girl from the hospitality program at the university. I’d had other work planned for her, but she spent all afternoon clearing up the confusion with the vampires, who were more than a little offended.”

A movement at the edge of my vision caught my eye, and I noticed my grandmother examining her glass of champagne thoughtfully.

“Grandmother,” I said, realizing with a start that I couldn’t remember the last time I’d addressed her directly, aside from polite nods and generic greetings. Even while I’d lived here in the resort, I hardly ever saw her, let alone talked to her. And while I was hyperaware that my extended family was the definition of dysfunctional, I got the feeling that by both human and supernatural standards, that was probably more than a little odd.

My grandmother turned and looked directly at me, neither smiling nor scowling. Just… looking.

It was unnerving, to say the least.

“How… How have you been doing?” I finished lamely, unsure of what else to even ask. Now that I thought about it, I seriously knew nothing about the woman who was largely responsible for my existence.

“I am well,” she said in a low, melodic voice.

I nodded. “Have you… done much traveling lately?”

“No.”

That was it. No explanation. No details. No memories to share. Not even a follow-up question to make it look as though we were trying to have a real conversation.

Instead, she only continued to study me, her sharp green eyes nearly as bright as the solid gem plates sitting in front of us. And it made me wonder not only about how little I had talked with her, but how rarely she left her chamber. I could count the number of times I’d seen her in my grandfather’s court, and I had no memory at all of her ever taking the initiative to help my grandfather with any of his dealings. And as inexperienced in marriage as I might be, I knew from watching my parents and Everleigh’s that whenever wives were silent around their husbands, it often signaled that the husbands were in some kind of trouble.

Did she even dare causing a stir with my grandfather–her husband–the high elven king?

I would watch her more, I resolved as I tried not to stare back while she studied me. I would learn more about my grandmother whether she wanted me to or not.

Before I could do more than resolve, however, my grandfather stood and cleared his throat, obviously wanting everyone’s attention. When it was silent, he smiled benevolently down at us all.

“Dear family,” he said, looking around the table. “As our food is being served, I wanted to take a moment and recognize this monumental moment in time when a new member is about to join our family. And in doing so, she and Aithan are bringing once-estranged dear ones together, though we were once torn apart.

And who could have been responsible for that? I wanted to snap. Instead, I kept my mouth shut.

“So welcome, Everleigh,” he continued, raising his glass of champagne to her. “We are overjoyed to have you taking the Nomos name as part of the family.”

Everyone else raised their glasses in a toast and drank. And despite my mistrust of my grandfather, I found that this actually did make me happy. Our families–my grandparents excluded–had always been close, as our fathers had grown up as close as brothers. Sealing our connection in holy matrimony seemed the perfect way to bring years of loyalty to fruition.

As I joined them in this happy toast, however, I watched Everleigh carefully as she drank. I’d personally sipped her wine when it was first brought out to us, and though I hadn’t noticed any tampering, one could never be too careful. Not around the high elven king, at least.

My grandfather put his drink down, obviously not finished with his speech. “I’ve also invited you all here because I want us to discuss the impending nuptials. Seeing as it’s been a while since a royal wedding took place, it seems I’ve been remiss in presenting the happy couple with the high honors bestowed on all direct descendants of the Nomos throne.” He turned and smiled at Everleigh and me. I’m sure he meant it to look kind, but a shiver–like a warning–shot up my spine.

“I don’t know if you’re aware, Everleigh,” he went on, “but tradition has it that the Nomos descendants are given not only the decorations and privileges fitted to their station–privileges like a feast, wedding clothes, jewels, and an invitation list including the most influential supernaturals in the world–they’re also given a number of blessings by various members of the supernatural world and the royal family. A way to begin the union in the best possible position.

“Which means in the coming days, Priscilla will meet with you to discuss the menu for the feast, flowers, and the guest list–which, I assure you, will be quite lengthy. The seamstresses will schedule a date for you as well to design your gown, and Aithan will meet with the Captain of the Guard to prepare an appropriate level of security. My personal chef will also schedule a meeting with you and Aithan to plan the cake.”

To Everleigh’s credit, she met this offer with all politeness and respect. I’d half expected her to tell my grandfather that he could go jump in Lake Mead, and that she could take care of her own wedding, thank you very much. After all, we’d stood up to him just months before to tell him that he wasn’t going to receive our unquestioning obedience. But to my surprise, she only thanked him and gave him a deep nod.

“Did you have a date in mind, Your Majesty?” she asked. As she spoke the words, though, I could suddenly see the wariness in her eyes.

My grandfather reseated himself, obviously done with his speech. “Priscilla has my schedule, so you’ll work with her to find a date on which the event hall is open for the event. That way we don’t accidentally double-book a wedding or schedule some sort of pixie meeting for the same day.” He chuckled, but his eyes suddenly took on a new gleam. Then, as though hearing my silent suspicion, he turned to me.

“So, Aithan, tell me. How are you enjoying yard work these days? Are the werewolves running you ragged?” The question itself was polite enough, but the slight sneer it was spoken with made it clear what my grandfather was doing. He obviously thought working for a landscaping company was demeaning work for a prince, which, I was sure, was the only reason he’d allowed me to stay employed with Aaron’s family for so long. Long enough, at least, that he could try using it to shame me in front of the entire family.

Unfortunately for him, my family and Everleigh’s were fully supportive of me taking any work I could get. My ancient elven blood, however, wanted to sneer back at him and assert my dominance, making it clear that he couldn’t defeat me. My magic must have been building within me as these thoughts flashed through my head, because I could feel my father and brother fidgeting anxiously across the table. So I sucked in a quick, cleansing breath and merely responded as though making small talk.

“The Yousif pack is hardworking and fair,” I said. “I can only hope that my contribution has been useful to them.”

“The Yousif pack. Isn’t that the family Lana Belle married into?”

We all turned in surprise to stare at my grandmother. It was the first time she’d spoken voluntarily to anyone all evening.

“My friend, Aaron, is Lana Belle’s son,” I said as kindly as I could.

My grandmother straightened slightly. “Lana Belle and I went to school–”

“No one cares which hag you went to school with!” my grandfather snarled.

The whole hall seemed to grow colder as we all stared in silence again at my grandfather. He was now glaring down at his supper as a servant placed a steaming plate of herb-encrusted fish before him. Since he wasn’t looking at me, though, I dared a glance down the table at my father and brother.

My brother was glaring down at his own fish, but my father’s jaw was clenched so tightly I wondered if it might break. The magic around him began to grow thicker, and I could see that he was having a difficult time restraining himself, just as I had been a moment before.

How long, I suddenly wondered, had he been restraining himself? Had he ever interfered in my grandparents’ lives before? And if he had, how had it ended?

Of course, I could also feel my own anger and frustration pulsing behind my ears. My grandfather mistreated nearly everyone he came across. This gross misconduct toward his wife, however, was a new low.

But would I, a voice whispered in my head, like my father and brother, spend my whole life restraining myself for the sake of those I loved?

I glanced over at Everleigh. One didn’t simply rebuke the high elven king and live without consequences. Everleigh and I knew that all too well. But then again, I was an elf. How long would I be able to stamp down the desire for justice and order within? Weeks? Months? Years?

Would it make me do something I would regret?

Or would it make me regret my silence instead, hating the fear for my fiancée that held me back?

A moment later, however, my grandfather seemed to miraculously recover his good humor as he engaged Everleigh’s father in discussing some of the more interesting human criminals he and Everleigh’s mother had tracked down as of late, and soon, the table was alive with quiet murmurs of conversations once again. But I wasn’t off scot-free.

Not yet.

“Aithan,” my grandfather called as soon as supper was done. “Grab your drink and join me out on the balcony. I want to ask you something.”

Sharing a long look with my father and an even longer one with Everleigh, I did so, knowing to refuse would just be making things worse.

As soon as I was out on the balcony beside my grandfather, studying the twilight blue of the eastern night sky, he turned and looked me in the eye.

“You know, I haven’t rescinded my offer,” he said.

I took a sip of my drink. “Beg pardon, but which offer is that?”

“The one where you swear fealty to my throne, and I provide everything you could ever desire for your new life.”

My mouth went dry.

“I know things have been… tight for you lately,” he went on as though he weren’t the reason we’d been denied any sort of lucrative income. “And you and I both know you can’t support a wife or family on what you’re making now.”

I took another drink to keep myself from making an acerbic retort. “Your concern is most thoughtful,” I said instead.

“Think of it, Aithan.” My grandfather suddenly leaned forward, his eyes bright. “I would buy you a beautiful house on whichever side of town your wife desired. I could provide all the wards and protection spells you could possibly need.”

He leaned back against the stone railing. “There is, of course, healthcare to think of as well. And medication, should they find something that works for her to lessen the symptoms. She would have nothing to worry about. Not a single need would go unmet.” His eyes probed mine, willing, it seemed, to get some sort of emotional response out of me. “I’ve been informed, of course, that stress is inadvisable for her heart.”

I straightened and met his gaze. “Are you removing the care you’re providing now?”

“No,” my grandfather said with a sly smile. “No, I have work for her to do now, and I’ll need her in top shape for a while yet. The Key is still out there and probably will be for a while. But seeing as you’re working freelance and all.” He took a long sip from his crystal glass. “I can’t guarantee I’ll always have work for her to do. Which means I can’t guarantee that access to doctors and medication will always be there.” He paused. “Not unless I know you’re absolutely dedicated to my sovereign will.”

I stared at my grandfather for an interminable moment. Here it was–the selfish play I’d been waiting for all evening long. Despite our having told him that we would work with him to eliminate Pandora’s Key, my grandfather wasn’t satisfied. He was never satisfied unless he owned a person, mind, body, and soul. He didn’t just want Everleigh and me to help him fight Pandora’s Key and protect Las Vegas.

He wanted to own us, too.

Which was something Everleigh and I could never give. And we’d agreed on that, knowing it was too high a cost.

But oh, what a cost it was.

My only comfort in paying that cost was knowing that if the day came when my wife succumbed to the hole in her heart, my own death would soon follow.

“To your health,” I said icily, lifting my glass. “Here’s to the hope that you never need the mercy of another.” With that, I turned toward the dining hall. Before I’d taken two steps, however, my grandfather grabbed my wrist and yanked me back so hard that the crystal glass fell from my hand and shattered against the tiles below.

“You think you can outlast me!” he growled. As he spoke, he continued to grip my arm, his magic began encircling my hand faster and faster, the bones inside suddenly feeling as though they might spontaneously turn to dust.

I had always been aware of my grandfather’s power. I’d suffered it nearly to the point of death when I’d defended Everleigh from his rage, back before he’d known she was a wizard. But this was different. That magic had been carefully crafted and weilded with perfect control. This magic…

It was feral.

As though my grandfather wasn’t in control.

As if the most powerful supernatural in the world had lost control.

Then, just as quickly as it had started, it stopped, and my grandfather let go of my hand. He blinked down at the shattered glass on the ground a few times before swirling his hand over the shards and restoring it to its former state. Then, as he handed me the repaired cup, he raised his chin proudly, but I knew him well enough by now to recognize the sliver of fear in his eyes.

“At least talk to your betrothed,” he said, straightening his clothes once more. “There’s nothing quite like domestic felicity, you know.”

And then he glided back into the dining hall. But I remained for another moment.

What was that?

Chapter Six

Aithan

After leaving the balcony, I forced my hands not to shake and my voice to stay calm as I returned to Everleigh at the table and bent to whisper in her ear.

“I’m going to use the restroom. Be back in a minute.”

She nodded as though nothing were wrong, but I caught the suspicion in her eyes as I straightened and made my way to the nearest bathroom.

Once I was there, I sealed the door, not caring that I had twelve stalls to myself and that no one else could use it. Then, after I was sure I was really alone, I went over to the sink, placed my hands on the stone countertop, and let myself sag against it.

How had we gotten here?

But I didn’t need to bother answering that. I’d always known it would come to this. Well, no, that wasn’t true either. I never thought I would even get this far. My grandfather had tried to ensure my descent into solitude and madness long ago, back before I was even in kindergarten. And now that Everleigh and I had defied him, he was making sure we never did it again by threatening me in light of the one weakness I possessed.

And as much as I hated to admit it, I was shaken.

I had just splashed my face with water when the door behind me opened, and a familiar magic immediately filled the room. It was one of the few magics that could have broken my ward on the door.

“Whatever you did to Grandfather, I’m impressed,” Alexander said, closing the door behind him and sealing it with his own ward. “He’s zoned out back there.”

I turned to give my brother an incredulous look. “What I did? Alexander, he nearly obliterated my arm.”

Alexander stared down at me. “He what?”

“I don’t know what happened.” I grabbed a paper towel and dried my face and hair, relishing the way my slightly damp skin washed away the haunting feeling my grandfather’s magic had left on it. “He called me out to tell me to reconsider our refusal to swear fealty to him. And when I didn’t jump to obey, he grabbed my arm and…” I looked my brother in the eye. “I could have sworn he nearly lost control.”

Alexander held my gaze for a long moment before turning and running his hand through his hair.

“Look,” he said with a gusty sigh, “I think it would be best if you and Everleigh went home as soon as you can. Dad’s doing his best to keep the conversation going in there, and Mom and the Clarksons are following his lead. Stay for a few minutes so Grandfather sees you return. Then say Everleigh’s got to study since her classes are back in session.”

I nodded and swallowed. “Okay. Thanks.” Then I chuckled ruefully. “We haven’t even said our vows yet, and I can’t seem to keep either of us alive for more than five minutes without your help.”

“Hey.” Alexander put his hand on my shoulder. “Sticking together is the only way we’re going to make it out of this alive.” He gave me a playful shove. “Besides, life has gotten a lot more interesting around here since you jumped in. At least it keeps me from being bored.”

We didn’t say anything else after that, as we knew we had to head back to the table. But when I was back in my seat, my phone buzzed. When I pulled it out, it was a text from my brother.

Stop by my garage soon. I have a part I want to show you.

I glanced at my brother over the table, who was watching me out of the corner of his eye, and I nodded. He didn’t want to show me a car part. It was a safe message in case my grandfather or one of his servants happened to see. Still, it made me feel better. It reminded me that I wasn’t alone.

* * *

Alexander was right. My grandfather was zoned out for the remainder of the evening.

And it was weird.

He hardly talked after I got back, mostly just staring at the opposite wall of the room, slightly slumped over in his chair. Every now and then, his eyes would flick to whoever was talking, but more than not, he simply stared.

Whatever his issue was, it made leaving easier, so I was glad to take advantage of it. We made our escape about half an hour later, when I suddenly remembered that Everleigh had a test coming up for an online class that she needed to study for. Whether or not she did, the girl was a rock star and rolled with it, curtsying to my grandparents, casually waving to my family, and kissing her parents goodbye before following me down to the car. Only after we were buckled in and backing out of the parking garage did she blow out a long breath, as if she’d been holding it all evening.

“That was the most stressful dinner I’ve ever been to.” She looked over at me. “Why can’t your grandparents be adorable chubby elves whose sole purpose is to make everyone fat and happy with sugary goodness?”

I snorted. “You mean you’re not dying to take a family cruise?”

She gave me a look. “I mean, I could, but we would probably start a world war, and there’s a good chance some islands would sink. Can you imagine your grandfather’s face if I beat him at shuffleboard on the deck?”

“You would never win. He would cheat.”

She wriggled her eyebrows and held up a hand, sparkling green magic suddenly swirling around it. “And who says I wouldn’t cheat back?” Then she sighed and slumped back in her seat. “Okay, spit it out. What did His Royal Hiney want?”

I gave her a wry look. “Guess.”

She closed her eyes. “Well, seeing as he has to be the center of attention all the time and in every way, I can only suppose he wants to wear a pretty white dress to our wedding, too.”

“All right, Everleigh. Get it out of your system. Let me know when you’re finished, and we’ll discuss the big boy and girl details.”

Everleigh chortled to herself. “You have no idea how many really awesome zingers I had to keep to myself tonight. Spontaneous combustion very nearly occurred between the second and third courses when your grandfather asked me what kind of wedding cake I wanted.”

“Please don’t tell me you–”

“I almost told him I wanted a Lord of the Rings themed wedding.” Everleigh’s eyes sparkled. “Can you imagine me asking him to get the rings engraved in Tolkien elvish?”

I rolled my eyes as I came to a stoplight. “Well, when you’re finished availing yourself of all these amazing ideas to get us killed–”

“Oh, Aithan, lighten up.” She playfully smacked me on the shoulder. “Obviously, he wants us to swear fealty to him, and if we don’t, he’s going to make life the worst. Now, tell me I’m wrong.”

“You’re not wrong,” I said. “Except I wish his threat to revoke all your healthcare would make you treat this a little more seriously.”

“I’m so over all his threats.”

I frowned at her. “This isn’t a joke. You need access to these doctors. If you don’t, and your heart–”

Her lips grew thinner. “What I would like to know is why you keep touching your wrist.”

The ridiculous girl noticed everything.

“If he’s willing to command your doctors not to treat you,” I snapped, “is it really a shock that he’d threaten me?”

The teasing drained from Everleigh’s face. “He threatened you?” The blue in her eyes turned nearly steel gray, and the car was suddenly stuffy with the many kinds of magics that filled it.

“I don’t think he’d planned to,” I said slowly, wondering just how high her heart rate would spike in her anger. “But it was almost like… almost like he lost control.”

“Of what?” Everleigh asked. “His temper? His magic? His mind?”

“That’s just it. Everything.” I shook my head. “For a moment, I wasn’t sure what he was going to do.”

Everleigh stared at me for a long moment before leaning back into her seat again. “So… The most powerful supernatural being on the planet nearly lost control of his magic tonight. That’s… not ideal.”

I gripped the steering wheel. “No. It’s not.”

We were quiet for a few moments, and I must have gotten lost in thought because she startled me when she asked, “So, what’s up with your grandmother?”

“What?” I shook my head. “Oh, I have no idea, but I intend to find out.”

Everleigh twirled a lock of brown hair around her finger. “Was she always like that?”

“I never really knew her enough to say. On the few occasions that I did see her, she was always so distant that I just assumed it was because she was mad at my dad and didn’t care about us. But now…”

Now I was wondering what exactly she was allowed to feel or do.

We pulled up in front of Everleigh’s apartment, and I was struck by an odd feeling of relief. It felt traitorous, and I would never admit it out loud to the beautiful girl beside me, but…

I was glad we weren’t married yet.

She was safer here than any place we could afford right now. And though I knew that her parents were helping out with the rent (and so was the apartment owner, who had conveniently forgotten to raise his rate when all the others went up), I hated that I couldn’t give her this on my own. But for now, she was safe.

“Hey,” she said softly.

I turned and looked at Everleigh, who suddenly appeared somewhat amused.

“Aren’t you going to kiss me goodnight?”

I raised one brow. “I haven’t walked you to the door yet, young lady.”

“Hm. Maybe that’s a good thing after all.” She gave me a mischievous smile, the one that made my already hot elf blood burn so that it threatened to evaporate. Then she opened the door and climbed halfway out before looking back at me with an ornery grin. “After all, I could meet someone new on the way to the door. Maybe a hot elf who will sweep me off my feet!”

“Oh, I don’t think so.” I unbuckled and was out of my car before she got three steps up the stairs. Without pausing, I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder, and started toting her the rest of the way up. And though her antics didn’t solve any of the problems we faced, as she laughed, I was reminded again of why facing them with her at my side was worth it all in the end.

Want to read the rest? You can find the ebook (and paperback) in Brittany’s store through September 29th! Then, beginning September 30th, you’ll be able to read it through the Kindle Unlimited library!