Page 63 of Changeling (The Incubus Saga #2)

“Now, now,” the sidhe interrupted with a dainty hand raised into the air.

“Not both, darling. Either/or. I just don’t see the point in limiting myself.

There are benefits and good points to either gender.

” She batted those awful yellow on black eyes at Nathan and her tongue darted out at her bottom lip.

“You understand that quite well these days, don’t you, Nathan?

” She glanced pointedly at Sasha. “Now, why don’t you three get up off the floor and come have a chat.

I’m afraid the usual tricks James uses will be quite lost on me.

Better if we talk this out like civilized men.

Well…civilized people anyway,” she grinned.

Nathan only got up because Jim and Sasha did, but he didn’t like the idea of having a sit-down with the fae who owned his soul. They’d been so hopeful that Jim’s powers could control this… them . Clearly they were wrong.

“Err…” Jim coughed and discreetly averted his eyes from Nathan and Sasha. “You two do realize that you’re both a little, uhh… naked . Right?”

Crap .

Nathan promptly turned from the doorway and began searching for the nearest thing to cover himself with.

Before he even really had time to look for something, Sasha thrust a pair of sweatpants at him.

The incubus was already wearing sleep pants that he had seemingly pulled out of nowhere—or maybe just materialized with a glamour.

As Nathan briefly decided if it was worth it to grab a shirt, he looked down and saw that his bandages were gone, back on the bed somehow, and where there should have been the remains of his wounds were only the faintest scars.

He rolled his shoulders; there was no pain.

He touched a hand to his eyebrow and felt only the fine grooves of a thin scar through the hair, not the still slightly red and healing cut.

His scars were still scars—his mark, the divided circle on his palm—but his fresher wounds had healed and scared over too. Whatever time he had spent as an almost-incubus had healed him, but Nathan didn’t have time to think on that now.

“Look, princess ,” he snarled at their uninvited guest, stepping out of the doorway finally to approach her.

He kept his distance, but he wasn’t about to stay cowering with the others.

“I don’t know what you did to my brother just now, but if you actually want to talk, then you better spit it out before we kick your gender-confused ass back through the Veil. ”

“Oh?” she said without moving an inch, leaning back casually against the sofa.

“And…how would you go about doing that? You’ll find no spell would be quite the right flavor for me.

And James’s powers? Very nice for a beginner but he has a lot to learn before he even comes close to a fraction of what I can do, let alone being a challenge for me.

Where do you think all that power comes from?

” She looked at Jim who along with Sasha had slowly followed Nathan out of the room.

“He was with me in the Veil for several months, after all. Who do you think taught him everything he can do? Why do you think his eyes turn amber ?”

Nathan felt his resolve waver. Red and yellow equaled amber—a mark of this sidhe’s control.

She moved finally, smiling, all pleased with herself as she walked casually around the sofa.

“I’m actually a very reasonable person you’ll find if you cooperate.

For example, I could allow myself to be very angry right now with James for how he’s hunted me on your behalf…

and yet, as you can see, I haven’t touched him.

Well, not since you corrected that little mistake a few moments ago…

Nathan .” She paused halfway around the sofa and glanced back with a wider smile.

“I’d say that’s very hospitable of me, wouldn’t you? ”

Realization clanged in Nathan’s head like a gong.

She was still considering the deal Nathan had made with the Messenger legit—Jim for Nathan.

And Nathan had been about to take himself off the table if he became an incubus, so she had taken it out on Jim.

Only a human could become a Shadow Immortal.

Nathan had never considered being initiated by Sasha to escape his fate.

Now, knowing it was an option, it was already out of the question.

Before Nathan could think of anything in reply, Jim sprinted past him for the side table, grabbing up the gun that lay there, and aimed it at the sidhe. “Let Nathan go,” he demanded. His hands were steady, his aim perfect at her head, but he was panicking—he had to be.

They were out of their league and all of them knew it.

“Let him out of the contract!” Jim commanded more firmly. “Or I shoot.”

Sasha had moved when Jim did, close on Nathan’s other side like maybe he thought simple proximity would make it easier to protect him.

The sofa was between Jim and the sidhe. In other cases Nathan might consider that a bonus, even an advantage, especially since Jim had a weapon.

But something was wrong. She looked too impassive.

“Let Nathan go!” Jim cried again, bordering on hysterics. This was their one chance, the opportunity they’d been waiting for.

She tilted her head at Jim, a small smirk on her lips as she simply said, “No.”

Nathan saw Jim’s face change into a sneer. The expression marred him. He was sneering, the sidhe was smirking, and something about it all was just wrong .

“Wait!” Nathan called just as the gun fired, his voice drowned out by the distinctive sound of the shot.

He didn’t know what he expected. Maybe a little Magneto action and for the bullet to just stop mid-air before meeting its mark.

Maybe for the bullet to just go poof. What he certainly didn’t expect was for the shot to reach its goal clean and unchallenged.

It hit her forehead with a burst of arcane energy, little jolts of electricity like an internal thunderstorm spasming through her body. It was too easy. Too easy. It couldn’t be that easy .

And of course Nathan only had a few seconds to feel the beginnings of joy and relief before it became quite plain that it wasn’t easy at all.

The little shocks fizzled away, but she did not drop to the ground, wide-eyed or at all dead. She blinked full consciousness, gave herself an almost pleasured shake, and grinned slowly at Jim as the wound left behind by the bullet began to close. In a moment there was nothing but smooth skin again.

Raising her left arm, her palm out facing Jim, she tilted her head at him as she said, “Now that, my dear James…was rude.”

Jim flew backwards across the room, striking the far wall. The gun was knocked from his hands and the picture that had been hanging along the wall fell with a thud. Jim remained pinned an inch above the floor, grimacing within her hold.

Sasha and Nathan stood frozen. Iron to the head or heart could kill any fae. Any .

“Well, clearly I am not merely any fae,” she said snidely at Nathan, unrepentant of the ease with which she slipped into his mind. “Honestly, Nathan, do you not yet understand just who I am?”

She lowered her arm but Jim remained pinned against the wall.

He seemed unable to speak because of the strain on his body though it looked as though he had a few choice words that were bubbling up within him.

She turned her attention back on him and her head tilted once more, as if she were merely regarding him.

Jim released a slowly building cry that ended in a full blown scream.

“You have become quite irritating, James. And I had such hopes for you.”

“Stop,” Nathan said, trying to find some leverage, some way to talk them out of this steadily worsening situation. “Just tell me what you want. You came here so you obviously want something. What?”

She turned to Nathan with a gauging expression, and Jim’s pained noises lessened.

“Oh, so I came here for you, did I? And here I thought it was you who were seeking out me .” She was beautiful in a way that seemed cruel and Nathan hated her for it, hated her even more for that red hair that was so like Sasha’s.

“I don’t think you fully comprehend yet what your place in this is, Nathan.

After all, it would appear your brother is still alive and back in the mortal plane.

I do believe that was our deal. Now, I cannot guarantee that he won’t get himself killed sooner than you might want, but I carried out my part of the bargain.

Why then, I ask myself, do you insist on trying to swindle your way out of yours .

” Her eyes snapped to Sasha with a flash of her yellow on black eyes.

“Wait!” Nathan cried, stepping in front of Sasha to block him from her.

“That was an accident. I wasn’t thinking.

I don’t want to be an incubus.” He didn’t have time right now to care if Sasha was pained to hear that.

“Caught up in the moment, ya know? You can’t take Jim back.

See? All human again, just like you want. ”

Now Jim knew what he had interrupted, but Nathan didn’t have time to deal with that either.

The sidhe pursed her lips, not yet swayed.

“If not for the consequence of losing your brother, you would have gone through with that little ritual tonight, I think. Perhaps it would be better if I removed the temptation. Tell me,” she said with a cruel quirk of her lips, “do you know what it looks like, Nathan…when an incubus starves to death?”