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How can he be in two places at once?

“How very beautiful you are,” he says.

Again, my gooseflesh rises. Something about his voice is…off. But what?

“Callypso Lillis, the enchantress,” Des says, strolling forward.

“Des, what’s going…?” My words die away as he nears.

That hair, those eyes—it’s a spitting image of Des. But the shape of his face is a little squarer, and the curve of his mouth a little crueler.

Not Des!

I take a step back.

“I’ve wanted to meet you for some time.”

My heart’s thundering, my gaze moving from the fairy’s pointed ears to his white hair and sculpted frame.

Not Des, but similar.

This man’s body is a shade more compact than my mate, his frame a bit wirier.

Despite the incongruences, I recognize him from my dreams.

Dreams are never just dreams…

“Who are you?”

He disappears, only to manifest behind me.

“A ghost.”

I whip around, expecting to see him at my back, but there’s no one there. I spin in a full circle, but the man who could be Des’s doppelgänger is gone.

“So the Bastard of Arestys found himself a human mate.” The man’s voice comes from above me. “Here I was, ready to pity him.”

The Bastard of Arestys…I’ve heard that from somewhere…

“But you are nothing quite so ordinary,” he continues. “A human with wings and scales. A siren who can ensnare mortals with her voice alone. Even I might’ve made an exception for a mortal like you.”

I stare at the canopy above me, trying to track his voice.

“How did you lead me here?” I ask.How did no one sense you?Des rules the darkness and everything in it.

The fairy laughs. “By the time your mate was learning tricks in the darkness, I had already mastered them.”

I glance around me, trying to pinpoint the man’s voice. Damn him, he keeps moving about.

“The foolhardy ruler of Night is everything he is because of me—but not for long.”

The fairy reappears in front of me, brandishing a dagger.

“Shit.” I jerk back just as he slashes it across my chest. Silk rips as his blade cuts through my dress, and a line of blood blooms in its wake, seeping into the frayed material.

The sting of pain and the thick rush of adrenaline are enough to call out my siren. My skin illuminates, andyessss, I feel my own viciousness rising.

The man backs away, his eyes drinking me in. “A shame to kill you when I could keep you as a pet.”