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I didn’t know exactly what had happened, because he’d basically privacy-spelled them in an overkill way.

Kai had always had a thing for Ariana Martel.

I was pretty sure she had no clue about it.

He’d been fixated on her since they were kids when the two of them used to play together whenever their parents would get together and hang out.

It was a crush, sure, but he also resented her. Something about her wasting her power behind cowardice.

The way he felt about her was as complicated and mind-bending as some of his spells.

But the fact that he’d chosen tonight, of all times, to make some sort of move, was the most mind-bending thing of all.

What the shit had he been thinking?

She was in the home of her family.

And her family members were some of the most powerful beings in the supernatural world.

One of her fathers was even the Head of the Guardian Movement, for fuck’s sakes.

I mean…shit!

Kai had always said that he’d never actually pursue his weird thing for Ariana. But then an opportunity had essentially fallen in his lap tonight for the first time ever, and that promise he’d told himself had just shattered to pieces. He hadn’t been able to pass it up. She’d basically inadvertently walked right into it.

It probably hadn’t been helped by the fact that this was our last year at Maven Academy, and basically the last shot to do anything like this while we were all still in the same space and around one another.

Especially when it came to Ariana, who was barely around anybody even at the Academy, always keeping to herself. Who knew how far she’d remove herself once this last year was over and done with? She could be lost forever.

Or maybe she’d just come back here to her family home, the one place where nobody judged her. Unlike out there in the world and at the Academy.Poor thing.

I drew my attention away from Kai interacting with his parents and being introduced to some officials who ran the Lotus Coven and some other one I’d forgotten the name of. That was Kai’s lot in life, what he had to become a part of once he was done at the Academy. A whole lot of political bullshit and schmoozing, learning to take over control of the Maven Coven, and all that. To say he wasn’t overjoyed about it didn’t begin to cover it.

He had his own plans, as Kai always did with everything.

His own secretive plans.

That secretive aspect was what I was worried about as I turned from observing him, to seeking out Ariana.

There she was over on the other side of the room smiling out at her three dads as she hugged her mom to her tightly. Her mom looked a lot like her, the same facial shape and body type, and the same striking electric-blue eyes. Unlike Ariana’s golden waves, her mom, Mia Snow, had stark white hair with vibrant blue streaks at the front, the latter matching the color of my hair. Props to that. She was wearing the same style of flowing, elegant dress that her daughter was, but hers was a shimmering gold, instead of Ariana’s silver.

Every now and then, as she interacted with her parents, I saw her gaze dart to Kai. There was intrigue mixed with trepidation and anger.

So, a hell of a lothaddefinitely happened there.

She wasn’t aware of it, but the highly-intuitive Ancient, Lucian, had registered her looks Kai’s way, and suspicion had definitely been lit there.

I needed to fucking warn him about that.

This was bad. The whole fucking thing was.

And it wasn’t like Kai at all.

He didn’t act impulsively.

He didn’t make missteps.

He planned every little move out in a zillion different ways before he even made it.