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She smiled at Saint, who smiled hesitantly back.I think he was probably beginning to think my parents were crazy—or at least eccentric—but he seemed to like my mom all right.And thankfully, she seemed to like him as well.

“Thanks, Mom,” I said gratefully, caressing one vellum page carefully with my fingertips.I could feel the power inside the ancient book—it tingled through my veins like someone had replaced all my blood with carbonated liquid when I touched it.

“I hope it will help you,” she said, smiling at me.

“I’m sure it will,” I told her.

And I was almost positive it would.

30

SAINT

“So, do you think my parents are crazy?”Avery asked me, later on that evening when we were back at Nocturne Academy, alone in our room.We were lounging on my bed and he was lying with his head on my stomach as I played with his hair.I loved the sunshine blond color of it—so different from the black hair of my own people.

“Crazy?”I asked, frowning.“Why would I think that?”

“Oh, I don’t know…maybe all the shouting and shoving and the way my mom basically threatened to divorce my dad right in front of everybody.”He sighed.“Not that I blame her.She’s still young—maybe she can find someone else that will treat her like she deserves to be treated.”

I looked at him with a frown.

“Do you really mean that?You wish your parents to divorce?”Divorce was an alien concept to me, since once a Drake claimed hisl’lorna,they bonded for life.But I could understand if Avery’s mother wanted to get away from his father—who didn’t seem too different from my own Sire, to be honest.

“No.”Avery put a hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose, as though trying to drive back a headache.“Of course not—nobody wants their parents to get divorced.But my poor mom—I’ve never seen him shove her before!I mean, he’s never gotten physical with either of us.”

“Perhaps we pushed him too far,” I said quietly.“There is no excuse for physical violence, of course, but some people simply cannot tolerate the idea of two males together.”

“Well, ‘intolerance’ismy father’s middle name,” he muttered.

“I’m sorry about what happened between your parents,” I offered—and I was—my heart burned for his pain.“I cannot help feeling that it is all my fault,” I told him.

“No, don’t feel like that!”Avery looked up at me earnestly.“Please, Saint—they were like that well before you came into the picture.If it’s anyone’s fault, it’smine.”He shook his head.“My father has hated what I am all my life.I don’t think that’s ever going to change.”

“It doesn’t matter if he hates you,mi Corazon,”I murmured, carding my fingers through his hair again.“You have many who love you—including me and my Drake.”

Avery smiled at me—a warm, sunny smile that was just for me.

“How is he lately?”he asked and I knew he was speaking of my Drake.“He’s uh, been kind of quiet lately.I thought he might get angry when my Dad made such a scene—I’m really glad he didn’t, though,” he added hastily.

“I am glad too,” I told him.“I believe he was quiet through the scene with your father because he didn’t really feel that you were threatened.And he knew that no matter how much your father threatened or shouted, he had no real power to take you away from us.”

“No, he can’t do that.”Avery got a stubborn expression on his face—which only made him more adorable.“No matter what he does or says, he can never separate us,” he said.

“Only breaking the curse can do that,” I said softly.“Avery, are you certain you even want to try?”The thought of not being with him—of not loving him anymore—was unbearable to me.And I was terribly afraid that was what would happen.

Avery sighed.

“We have to try, Saint.Think of it this way—you owe it to yourDraketo try.The curse torments him—I can see it in his eyes when he comes forward in you.And I’m afraid one of these days I won’t be here to talk him down when he gets upset—it’sdangerous.”

“Breaking the curse might be dangerous too,” I pointed out, though I knew he was right.It was getting harder and harder to control my Drake—maybe because this was the longest time I had spent in human form without letting him out in my entire life.

Avery frowned.

“That’s a chance I’ll have to take.Magic can be risky at times—especially if you’re trying to do something big—orundoit.”

“I just don’t want you to be hurt,mi Corazon,”I said anxiously.

“I don’t want it either, but I think I will be, one way or another,” Avery said in a low voice.Twisting around in my arms, he put his own arms around my neck and drew me down for a kiss.“Which is why I’m putting off looking in the grimoire for tomorrow,” he murmured as he pressed his lips to mine.“We’ve had enough drama for one day—now I just want to be with you.”