Page 101

My nails dig into my palms as emotions flare and die. “He’s right. I can’t bear to think of you in danger. What if I can’t protect you? What if the azeroths find you instead of me? I…” I swallow, my words coming out barely louder than a whisper. “I should never have let you become a target.”

His face twists in hurt. “Lysander…"

I have to turn away. My heart sinks like a stone, pulling my chest in on itself. Firm arms come around me and I go limp in his embrace like the weakling I am, unable to resist him. He grips me tight, his choked breaths in my ear.

“I love you,” he whispers.

I clench my fists in his shirt. “Ez,please.”

“It’s okay.” He strokes the spot where my missing wing would be with his thumb, and I feel his lips press my temple. “I understand.”

Then he’s gone.

35

EZRA

“You must not return to The Sanctum.” The hooded dude talking to me is smaller than the big Watcher who laid down the law, but no less forbidding. He followed Owyn Maddox and I into the parking lot and stopped us. I look past him, trying to catch a glimpse of Lysander inside Maddox’s office, but the windows are darkened by shadows.

It feels so wrong to leave without him.

“What?” I finally register what he’s saying. “My job is there, man.”

“Shit.” Maddox pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry, Ezra. He’s right. The Protection Agency will go full scorched earth with Syril if you go back to The Sanctum. They’re on high alert now. Honestly, Zagoth is going to be pretty pissed at me about the whole thing, too.”

“What do you mean,scorched earth?” I demand, feeling the life I’ve built slipping between my fingers.

They’re really going to do this.

They’re really going to take everything.

“We will be forced to shut down the dryad’s business.” The Watcher sounds sympathetic. “You must not underestimate thethreat of the azeroths. Clean yourself of fairy dust and stay in the human quarter of the city. Otherwise, they will be able to trace you. Use this.”

He shoves a small green bottle at me. I stuff it in my pocket, too angry to look at it.

“How long? When can I see Lysander again?”

The Watcher shakes his head silently. I look at Maddox.

“I don’t know. I can’t promise anything. I’ll talk to Zagoth, but…” He grimaces. “It’s better if you lay low for now.”

I want to demand why the hell he sent me to The Sanctum in the first place. I want to make him and the Watcher see exactly what they’re ripping away from me.

I want to march back into the office and grab Lysander and take him home.

But Lysanderbeggedme to leave.

It’s not his fault this hurts so much. It’s not the fault of this Protection Agency, or even Owyn Maddox. I wish I had anyone to blame besides myself for falling in love.

Maddox takes my amulet.

“I’ll give it back to Syril for safekeeping,” he tells me. Part of me is pretty sure I’ll never see it again.

It doesn’t really hit me until I’m home, and then it’s like I can’t breathe.

I can’t go back.

The apartment is empty when I get in. Thank god. I couldn’t face Fitzie like this. I feel like such an idiot for nurturing my little crush and letting it grow out of control, letting it spiral into something big, and real, and heartbreaking. I knew Lysander wasn’t for me. Besides being a whole-ass part of the royal family,his demons are all too real, and I’m helpless to fix that for him. I wanted to close my eyes and pretend it wasn’t gonna kill me when this inevitably blew up in my face.