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Malachi crossed his arms and leaned against the bathroom wall. The shadows of the corner covered the expressions of his face, and his black wings were tucked tightly behind his shoulders. “Us,” was all he said.

“What do you mean?”

Malachi lifted his eyes and stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.

“If you’re talking about our magic, I don’t think–”

“Not just our magic, Jade,” he said, pushing himself from the wall and approaching the bathtub.

I tensed, but I didn’t stop him.

He kneeled next to the tub but his eyes didn’t leave mine. “I’ve known you were different from the moment I saw you, Jade. I could just…feelit. But not just me. I’ve felt something more than simply whatever this is between us, Jade. After today, it all makes sense.”

My blood stilled. “What makes sense?”

“My power recognizes you, Jade. It calls for you. When you used your magic today, I could feel it electrifying my entire body.”

“But why?” I asked. “Does that happen when you’re around others with magic?”

“Never,” he said. “I’ve spent years with the Paragon, each of them possessing a gift similar to ours. I’ve never felt anything like this.”

I shook my head, trying to make sense of his words. “Well…what does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” he answered. “But as crazy as this sounds, I think we were meant to find each other in this life, Jade Farrow.”

“Weyland,” I corrected, shocked that I even said the word.

“What?”

“It’s Jade Weyland.”

An emotion I couldn’t name flashed across his face in the dim room before he quickly covered it up, clenching his jaw and clearing his throat.

“Whatever you say, Jade Weyland,” he added.

I didn’t try to hide my own smile.

As much as I hated what had transpired between me and Mal, Iwashis wife. Sometime in the chaos of our lives together, I had accepted that.

There was no going back.

Even if I did pretend to hate him.

Malachi let his arm fall over the edge of the tub, his fingers barely touching the surface of the now-barely warm water.

I froze.

His fingers moved toward my shoulder, tracing the outline of my upper arm in the water.

“Beautiful,” he muttered.

The sudden compliment nearly made my jaw drop. He turned his attention back to my eyes, and I saw the deep longing that swarmed beneath them.

My heart twisted.

“Malachi,” I whispered. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say next. I wasn’t sure what I wanted. But I did know what I felt.

I felt pulled to Malachi in ways that were indescribable.