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Cautiously, I creep to Callie’s side, placing my hand against her forehead for the second time this evening. She still feels feverish.

Can’t leave now.Not until I get some reassurance that she’s getting better rather than worse.

So, using a little of my magic, I mask myself from her. If she woke up this minute, she’d see an empty room. But I’m still here.

Every time her glass of water runs low, I fill it back up. Every time she kicks off her covers, I lower the temperature of the room, and every time she begins to shiver, I heat the place back up. And I make sure there’s always a bowl of steaming soup next to her bed.

It’s sometime in the deep night, hours after I should’ve left, when it hits me for the first time—

I love her.Those three words just pop into my head, fully formed.

Iloveher.

This isn’t some bond-borne magic being shoved down my throat. This isn’t even romance. This is love-you-till-your-skin-sags-off-your-bones. Love you till then and beyond. It’s not lustful, it’s not selfish or petty. It’s what has me lingering in Callie’s room right now when I should be collecting bargains or ruling my kingdom because I can’t stand the thought of her being sick and alone. It’s what’s made me flee Callie’s room every time she gets too close because this emotion is bigger than me—bigger than the night itself—and I want things for her that my presence can’t give her, like a chance to be a teenager.

It’s loving Callie’s heart and mind over her face and body.

I’ve known for a while now that I’ve been in love with her, but I never acknowledged it, not until now. I didn’t even realize that those three words people throw around so casually were created to explain this deep and unending emotion.

Dear gods, I love her.

Chapter 16

A Crown of Fireflies

December, 8 years ago

The winds offthe coast of the Isle of Man whip at me and Callie as we stand at the edge of her campus grounds. Beyond the low wall next to us, the land drops off, and the storm-tossed sea crashes against it over and over again.

Callie glances across the lawn, taking in her peers as they move between Peel Academy’s dormitories and the castle proper.

“They can’t see us,” I say, stepping in close. I have to mask my presence as a precaution. I run in dangerous circles; I can't have an angry client bearing down on Callie because I was spotted with her. “But it wouldn’t matter anyway, would it?” I ask.

I’ve seen the way these little assholes treat her. She’s too pretty to blend in, but the students here do a fairly good job pretending she doesn’t exist.

She takes a step back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I move in closer.

“Poor Callie,” I give her a pout. “Always on the outside, always looking in.” I know full well I’m taunting her.

“Tell me, cherub,” I continue, “how does someone like you end up being an outcast?” For me, it was obvious. I was thought to be a powerless fae; the Otherworld scorns such creatures. But Callie is fun and engaging. I don’t have to be in love with her to know she’s the type of girl who should have a flock of friends.

“Why are we even talking about me?” she asks, self-consciously slipping a lock of hair behind her ear.

“Because sometimes you fascinate me.”

… more than sometimes …

She swallows, casting her gaze back over the lawn. “It’s not them, it’s me.” Biting the inside of her cheek, she kicks at a tuft of grass. “It’s hard pretending to be normal after … you know.”

I want to tell her that it’s foolish to feel remorse over her stepfather’s death, but perhaps that’s the fae in me. I haven’t lost sleep over killing my own father. Gods know the world is better off without him.

“I think I have to put myself back together before I make friends,” she continues. “Real friends.”

That bit of honesty levels me. Why the fuck does the world have to be cruel to her? She shouldn’t have to suffer because some monster hurt her. That’s not how the world should work.

I tilt her chin up, studying her face. If I could, I’d syphon her pain away. But there are things not even my magic can touch.