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“Listen, Temper, I need to talk to you about something important.”

Immediately, her tone changes. “What is it?”

“What do you know about fairy wings?”

“Um… they’re sparkly—at least some of them—they come out most commonly when a fairy loses control of their emotions—you know, anger, lust, if a fairy drinks too much … Um, I know there’s more. Let me think, it’s been a while since I read up on this stuff… ”

I remember the look in my ex’s eyes today when he saw those wings:game over.

“Today, when Eli saw the Bargainer’s wings, he backed off. It was really weird, and I just wanted to know …”

What do I want to know?

“Those two met? Again?” And then the rest of what I say catches up to her. “Wait. What do you mean Eli saw the Bargainer’s wings?”

“It’s not like this is anything new,” I say. “Eli saw them before, when he came to my house around the full moon.”

“Yeah, but they would come out when the Bargainer was under attack if he needed to use them to fly,” Temper says. “What happened today?”

I fiddle with my bracelet. “There was another confrontation between the Bargainer and Eli, and this time when Eli saw the Bargainer’s wings, the whole dynamic changed. It was weird. I mean, Eliapologized.”

Perhaps it was because of everything I told him. Perhaps I was barking up the wrong tree.

More silence.

Finally, “Has the Bargainer shown you his wings?” Temper sounds… odd. “Outside of situations where they’re needed, or where he was being attacked. Has he just, you know, walked around with his wings out? And flashed them like they’re his newest ice?”

“… Yes,” I say slowly, my stomach tightening. “Why?”

She exhales. “Girl.”

“What?”

“There is one instance when fairies are particularly fond of keeping their wings out and flashing them whenever they feel like it. Especially the males.”

She just stops speaking.

“Oh my God, your silence is killing me,” I say. “Temper, whatever it is, just say it.”

“Fairies only do this with their betrotheds.”

Chapter 22

May, seven years ago

This can’t bereal life.

An hour ago I didn’t have a date, a dress, or a ticket to the May Day Ball.

Now I have all three, thanks to the man next to me.

I glance over at Desmond as we wait to enter Peel Academy’s ballroom, and my knees go a little weak.

There is a God and he loves me,I think as I drink Des in. I’ve never been particularly fond of men in tuxedoes, but then, I’d never seen Des in one.

His white blond hair is free of the leather band he usually wears, and it skims his shoulders.

He runs a hand through that hair now, looking untouchable. And yet I swear he’s uncomfortable.