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“Figures,” she mutters with a long sigh. “Back to GV again. The hexes gave her a boost then? Wait, that isn’t right. Those weren’t placed before the Witches were kidnapped, right?” She looks at her guard for confirmation.

I can gaze at it only when it is docile, like now. Whatever its essence is made of repels me on a visceral level when it becomes the slightest bit agitated.

I meet its eyes for the first time, gazing deep into the odd violet and pink orbs to see what hides in its center and find myself in an abyss ofhunger. The need is so complete that my stomach begins cramping with the urge to assuage it, and my mouth fills with saliva. I can feel it when its monstrous lips curl up as its eyes narrow on mine knowingly.

I shut my eyes to break the connection and take a moment to catch my breath. I’ve been using more force than necessary out of habit, slamming into minds instead of tiptoeing, and I need to change that. No one should feel me enter their mind.

My suspicions are confirmed. I’m using more force because that is what I have had to do for many years. At my age, the use of my power has steadily become weaker and weaker, requiring more concentration.

Yet now, I am back to the pinnacle of everything. My mind and body refreshed as if I were a youth instead of nearing the end of my existence. Because of my second mate.

She strengthened me. My bond with Mal has been reinforced somehow, holding steady and strong despite the block he has erected there. And I believe she has forced my body to regress into a younger, more powerful age. Was this by choice or chance?

I open my eyes and study her again. Not the inside of her mind’s working, but her physical appearance.

Despite the obscene amount of bruising and swelling overtaking most of her body, she is attractive.

In the homely way of Humans, her features are softened and dulled to an ordinary-looking façade. Her pale blue eyes appear fatigued, dark rings circling them,and her dark hair is in wild disarray around the crown of her head. Her shirt is slowly sliding down her left shoulder.

I would believe she was trying to seduce me if she were a different person. With her character, it has to be absentminded disdain for the physical.

The skin revealed is swollen, tight, and covered in black and purple bruises. She has to be in considerable pain, yet she sits across from me with a bland expression of insolence. A far cry from the menders I have heard about, but undeniable in her power.

“It wasn’t until she attained the ring that we began to succumb to her manipulations,” I abruptly begin again.

“What ring?” Beatrice frowns in confusion and glances down at her thumb. The pieces of the artifact lie around it innocently, and the downturn of her lips becomes a scowl as she looks back at me.

I’m strong enough that the artifact means nothing to me now. She’s already guessed correctly without saying a word.

“A gaudy piece. Gold with an opal at its center, diamonds around the edges,” I inform her.

“I thought you bought that for her? It was hideous,” Mal inserts with surprise.

“Not I,” I scoff with disbelief. “You are the only one I would give gold to.”

Mal looks away towards the table, hiding his thoughts from me, and I do not like it. Where once our union was solid and sure, it is no longer. We have a disconnect that I want to wipe clean. I want my mate back.

“Wait,” the thing interrupts. Ben is such an innocuous name for a being so abominable evenIcan’t stand to look at it. The cloud gets closer to Beatrice, and I stiffen, suddenly even more uneasy with its presence.

She seems to be listening to it, even though I can hear nothing. Her attention comes back to me abruptly as she nods.

“Was the ring about this big?” She holds her thumb and forefinger two inches apart in a demonstration.

“Yes,” I confirm with a frown.

“And Tremaine wore a ring just like that?” She pauses and then turns to glare at the smoke. “Of course I will, but you have to step past the shyness and speak for yourself at some point, ok? Ben says it was so big it took up her entire finger. So, an artifact to amplify her power or something?”

“I think the ring itself was the manipulation,” I glance between them in confusion. It isn’t speaking because it’s shy? I can’t see a being like this as embarrassed by much if anything.

“Why didn’t you break it?” Beatrice glances meaningfully towards the pieces of the ring she wore, then back to me.

I won’t mention that I would not have had the strength to at that point as I had weakened with age.

“She was able to manipulate us through touch with the ring. The more contact she had, the firmer the hold on a person’s mind.”

“And you were having sex with her,” she winces in a sympathetic display and bites her full lower lip as if she hadn’t meant to say the words aloud.

“Correct,” I calmly reassure. I have no feelings for my sexual activities over the past few years. I vaguely recall the act with her, but not with any substance, and I would prefer it to remain that way. “She kept her hold over us, slowly losing the need to touch us the further we fell into her web. Until you arrived.”