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This part of my power had always scared me. Maybe that was why I had instilled fear in all the humans I met before. If they didn’t get close to me, I wouldn’t be tempted to own them.

And yet, I had made the young human stay. Was I better, ultimately, than my mother?

Yes! You did not bewitch him. You are not her.

With a sigh, I poured myself a glass of water from the jug on my desk, thankful for my inner voice. No, I wasn’t like her. In the morning, I would take him back to the passage that came out near the granite labyrinth.

Nikolai turned off the shower. It was an odd feeling to have another person in the house when it was normally just Barnabas and me.

But I couldn’t pretend to hate having him here. Not that I was scared when it was only the two of us, yet Nikolai’s presence still comforted me.

Dreams plagued me in the night. Dreams ofher, fair and beautiful with blonde hair, cold blue eyes, and porcelain skin. She had never relayed to me who my father had been. Perhaps, he had been another unfortunate soul who had perished inside her castle walls.

In my dream, I gazed into the mirror and saw her looking back at me.“I knew it, Julius. You are my son after all. What a pretty plaything you chose.”Nikolai appeared behind her, unreachable to me inside the mirror.

“Don’t touch him!”I yelled, reaching out, fully expecting to meet no resistance. But my fists only met with the cool, smooth glass surface.

My mother gave me a small smirk as she caressed his stubbly cheek, then trailed her fingers over his lips.

“Nikolai! Let him go!”I hammered on the mirror until long cracks appeared in the glass, distorting both of them horribly. She stared at me as she kissed him.

I woke, gasping and shaking, and sat bolt upright in bed. Morning wasn’t far away.

I got up and stumbled across the room to my desk and spilled some water on my chest when my fingers fumbled with the glass.

It wasn’t real. It was a dream. He is safe in the guest room.

My mother had many faults; sentimentality wasn’t one of them. In three hundred years she had never tried to make contact. In her eyes, I was weak for not following in her footsteps—a weakling and a fool. But at least she left me to myself.

She lived in her moor, and I had my forest, where Nikolai was protected by my magic.

Not wanting to risk another nightmare, I took fresh clothes to the bathroom, washed, and dressed. In the kitchen, I brewed fresh coffee and made pancake batter.

It was seven by the time I was done with breakfast and heard footsteps on the stairs.

My heart squeezed in my chest.

By my trees, I love this. But he will be gone in a few hours. How cruel can this world be?

Seven

Nikolai

Iwokeupwellrestedand looked out over the forest. The tree leaves gleamed in the early morning sun. As promised, Jules had left my freshly washed and dried clothes by the door of the guestroom. Odd. I hadn’t seen a washer and dryer anywhere, and the room I had spent the night in had no electric outlets.

How did he do that?

The imprint of a tiny body on the neatly folded hoodie told me that Barnabas must have spent at least part of his night sleeping on my clothes.

So fucking cute, both of them.

Once I got dressed, I headed out and was intercepted by Barnabas, asking for pets. It was only when the scent wafting from the ground floor reached where I crouched next to the Wolpertinger’s basket that I hurried downstairs.

I found Jules in the kitchen, a stack of pancakes on a plate next to him.

“Good morning.”

“Nikolai,” he greeted me, a soft pink blush spreading across his cheeks. “Did you sleep well?”