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“It—it wasn’t like she introduced herself!” I pulled my hand away from his.

“Okay.” Bryce was still watching me in suspicion, and the hair on the back of my arms stood straight. “But you’re well aware now of whom it was. So, what did you talk about?”

Darn him!

“It’s not your business. I—I’m not supposed to tell you!” I protested, pushing back in my seat, but it wouldn’t scooch away this time. “Only Finn! Otherwise, she said it would be very bad!”

“Bianca.” Miles reached across the table, grasping my hand. “What did Kiania say?”

“It might not be her—it wasn’t an animal. She was a human,” I looked at him.

“Shikigami do have human forms, although they rarely take on those appearances in this realm,” Miles responded pensively. “It makes them vulnerable. What did she say?” he asked again. “Was Finn there?”

I shook my head and let my attention linger on my uneaten breakfast. “She was waiting for me when I was alone. She—she said that he was dying, but he could live… if I helped.”

“If you ‘helped’ how?” Miles asked, and my pulse jumped as he continued, “What were the exact words of this exchange?” Of course, he would be the one worried about the legalities.

“Ah,” I mumbled and looked to the ceiling. “I—I don’t exactly recall. But, see, she might have asked me to let her use me instead of him… and I said okay?”

“What do you mean ‘ okay ’?” Miles asked, sounding perturbed.

“It was all very professional,” I assured him. “She said I wouldn’t die. Then, when it was over, I woke up in the hospital, and all the adults were very upset.”

Miles lifted his eyebrows. “How much time passed between your adoption and this stuff with Finn?”

“Um.” I tapped my chin. “A few days?”

“ A few days ?” he repeated, distraught.

“Well…” Why was he so upset? “Yes? What difference does it make?”

Miles didn’t reply and instead placed his palm over his eyes. He’d been plenty worried about me seeing him angry earlier, but he certainly was doing a terrible job of hiding the emotion now.

What was his problem?

“Well,” Bryce interjected with a smug little nod. “You’re nothing if not resilient.”

“Don’t act so nonchalant about it!” Brayden was glaring at Bryce. “This is terrible!”

“Wha—what’s so terrible anyway?” I asked, looking between the two.

“There’s a reason why Kiania didn’t want you to tell anyone,” Brayden answered.

“A contract between the shikigami and onmyoji is sacred to them only. Adding a third individual—especially one not onmyoji—will endanger that party. An onmyoji’s magic is from the Underworld.

A bond between a non-onmyoji and a shikigami kills the outsider. ”

I leaned back. “I’m alive,” I pointed out.

“It makes sense now,” Bryce continued, stroking his chin as he looked to the ceiling. “It’s always been strange that Finn didn’t need more support from me. So he’s been getting help from you all this time.”

“What?” I frowned. “He’s never once asked me for help. In fact, he says I’m ‘hindering’ him.”

“Probably because he doesn’t want to rely on you any more than necessary,” Brayden reasoned. “Are you affected when you overly use your abilities? Or how about when he uses his abilities or loses his temper?”

“I—” I looked away. “Um…”

“I already know the answer,” Brayden added. “I was there. You grabbed your chest when we confronted James Cole.”

I lowered my hands and tucked them under my legs at his words, but he wasn’t done.

“Then Finn threw you out of the way when James attacked,” Brayden said. “He mentioned you’d have a bruise. But there was no way he would have known unless it’s happened before.”

“I already had a bruise,” I pointed out.

Bryce was frowning at me. “I know. I’ve seen it before—it had an onmyoji’s touch. I thought it was Damen’s fault. Did Finn hurt you?”

“Not really,” I replied. What were these questions? I didn’t like being put in a position where I had to defend my ex-best friend, but I couldn’t let lies stand either. “He was angry, and…” I bit my lip as my skin flushed. “Well, I pushed him first! He grabbed my wrists to get me to stop.”

“Bianca,” Miles said, having finally regained his composure.

“When an onmyoji uses a third party in this way, their victim is burned to death from the inside out. It’s such a huge misuse of their magic that the shikigami and onmyoji are killed for violating this law.

Finn and Kiania could be in serious trouble. ”

“What?” I curled my hands into fists. “He wasn’t even there!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Miles responded. “There are certain rules that are not meant to be broken, and for both Huo and Shui, this is one of them.”

“Damen and Julian?” I felt my stomach drop. I touched my palm to my chest and added, “But it was my decision!”

“You had just been removed from a traumatizing situation without a chance to normalize,” Miles said softly but firmly as he held my gaze. “How much of a choice did you have?”

“I—” My shoulders tensed as the air seemed to be sucked from the room. “I don’t care. I would still do it again. Besides, you could all be overreacting. It might not even be the same thing.”

“No, it is,” Damen’s voice rang clearly through the space. I jumped and looked across the room to where he and Julian stood, both wearing equal expressions of displeasure. “I’ve never seen anyone survive this long before, but now that I know, it’s fairly obvious.”

Julian scowled. “There might be other effects, too.”

Brayden leaned forward, looking between them. “What effects?” he asked. “It won’t stop with the initial bond? What’s going to happen?”

“Well,” Damen said, scowling as he pulled out his phone. “We do have someone who seems to know something, at least.”

Julian glanced at him.

Bryce shot Damen a startled look, and his expression morphed into wariness. “If you’re calling him, then give the others a chance to come. The whole quintet should be present if you’re going to do something.”

“No,” I said, standing as my heart raced with panic. Their solemn faces filled me with dread, and before I realized it, I stood before them. “Don’t blame him! It wasn’t his fault.”

Julian’s gaze softened slightly, and he touched my face. “You’re too kindhearted for your own good. On some level, you had to know that agreeing with this wasn’t safe. ”

“Maybe. But…” My voice sounded so small. “I had to do something.”

My resolve solidified when his expression didn’t change, and I clenched my fists against my thighs. “I don’t care what happens to me. I won’t let you hurt him!”

Julian sucked in a breath, but before he could respond, Damen wrapped his arms around my shoulders, and my face was buried against his chest. He was shaking, the world surrounding me was dark, and all I could feel was him, warm against me.

“Damen?” I asked.

“What about the medication?” Damen’s voice grumbled, and I wasn’t sure what he was asking.

“It must be why my mother has her on them,” Julian responded. “She’s probably watching to see how it affects the contract. The medication possibly blocks that connection as a side effect of suppressing her abilities.”

“So,” Damen said. “Finn was right. She really can’t use her abilities.”

“Maybe,” Julian agreed. “But he can’t use his either. Not without hurting her.”

“Bianca,” Damen said, squeezing me once more before loosening his grip. He held my shoulders as he pushed me back from him. “Can you show Julian your arm?”

My breath strangled in my throat, and I pulled my wrist against my chest. The white cotton bunched in my fist, but I wouldn’t give in without a fight. “Why?”

“We’re not going to hurt you,” Julian said, moving beside me. He reached for my hand. “Darling, just let me see—”

“No!” I told him, and he froze while Damen dropped his hands from my arms. My muscles were tight as I backed up against the kitchen door, looking between them.

Julian’s hand was still raised in the air, his face a picture of surprise. Damen, too, seemed stunned. It was better than their furious looks earlier, but my racing pulse didn’t steady in relief.

In fact, it only worsened. I knew what they wanted—evidence to use against Finn. But I wouldn’t be a part of it. It was one thing to hate him because he was a liar and a jerk.

He did deserve a beating, and I would help.

But it was another thing to kill him over something he had no control over. Something that was entirely my decision.

I would never be able to live with myself.

“Please, Bianca,” Julian said, cajoling. “You don’t need to be afraid. You’re safe now.”

“No, you s-stay away from me,” I told him, trying to talk through my shallow breaths. “You’re trying to use me to hurt Finn.”

“We’re not going to hurt Finn,” Damen said, forehead wrinkling.

“Are you serious?” Julian’s expression grew fierce as he turned on Damen. “This affects you too! She cannot support you and an Er Bashou at the same time! She could die!”

“Wh-what?” I asked, shifting my weight as I looked between them. “I’m fine.”

Damen had become noticeably disturbed at the mention of my potential death and ran his shaking fingers through his morning hair. “Bianca,” he began, but the rest of his sentence was cut short, and his attention darted upward when the door opened behind me.

A shadow fell over my back, and a warmth draped over my shoulders as Titus pulled me back against him.

“What’s going on?” he asked. His voice was light despite the tension in his forearms. “I leave the house for five minutes, and now she’s upset again.”

“Titus!” Julian seemed relieved to see the other man. “I know you’ll agree with me! I can tell already that Miles doesn’t—and Damen’s opinion doesn’t matter in this instance.”

“Hey!” Miles protested as Damen frowned at Julian. The witch finally stepped away from the breakfast nook where he, Bryce, and Brayden had been watching. “I haven’t even stated my thoughts yet.”

“You don’t want to kill him,” Julian replied, waving a hand dismissively at the other man.

“Well, no,” Miles began, “But that’s because—”

“Then I don’t care what you have to say,” Julian interrupted.

“What do you want me to agree with?” Titus asked. “You’re not an idiot—you know damn well that Finn isn’t to blame. You’re just latching on to the first real opportunity you’ve had to get rid of him. We all know how long you’ve been waiting for a chance.”

“Three years ago should have been that chance—and how many times since then? Yet he only gets warnings.” Julian’s expression darkened further as he pointed at Damen. “You need to do something. It will be your fault when he finally crosses a line!”

“I will not destabilize the Er Bashous without knowing the full story,” Damen stated, crossing his arms. “Hasn’t it been made obvious, especially now, that he’s not working against us?”

Julian clenched his jaw and glared at the ground.

I gripped Titus’s arms. What happened three years ago? Finn and I had been in high school, but I hadn’t been aware of him getting into any major fights around that time. Still, this was useful. My earlier suspicions had been correct—there was much more behind Julian’s hatred for Finn.

“Julian—” Miles closed the distance between them.

The ground seemed to rumble under my feet as he grabbed Julian’s elbow, and the necromancer glared at him.

“You need to calm down. This is no time to make a rash decision. Right now, Bianca needs help. You won’t get anywhere if you continue in this direction. ”

At the mention of my name, Julian’s posture dropped. He closed his eyes, and my heart twisted as he pulled his hands behind his neck.

“You’re right,” he said after a moment, dropping his arms back at his side. “I’ll have to thank you later.”

“I’m right here,” Miles looked at him disapprovingly. “You could just thank me right now.”

Julian ignored him and turned to me. “Bianca,” he said, lifting his hand, but the mask was back in place when I looked at his face.

Whatever he was about to say was interrupted when Finn strode into the room with Anthony on his heels. Both looked confused, but the expression wiped from Finn’s face once he spotted me.

It made me feel even worse.

“What do you want?” he said, turning to Damen. “I’d just spiked Anthony’s coffee with NyQuil when you texted. As you can see, it hasn’t worked yet, but you’re ruining my only chance at what could have turned into an otherwise peaceful day.”

“It’s not like I have a choice,” Anthony said, then frowned at the paper cup in his hand. He tossed it in the sink, then gestured at Julian, unperturbed by potentially being drugged. “He told me to.”

“And for good reason!” Julian’s temper was beginning to bubble over once again. “Why do you keep medicating people? Did you actually put something into his drink?”

“Finn!” I couldn’t hold myself back anymore. I pushed away from Titus and crossed the room until he and I stood toe to toe. I wrung my hands as my mind raced .

Where were my brilliant ideas now? “Finn, I didn’t know…”

“You didn’t know what?” Finn’s voice was detached, and he wouldn’t meet my eyes. Something he often did when trying to act brave.

Jiayi was right! I might not have known the truth about Finn’s life, but I did recognize his mannerisms.

Not everything was a lie.

“What do you want?” he ignored me and addressed Damen again.

“I’m only going to ask this once,” Damen said. He’d moved to the counter and rested his hip against the edge. “Why didn’t you come to me when your contract with Kiania changed?”

Finn stiffened; his breath locked as his gaze remained steady on Damen’s. I was right in front of him, but I had no idea how to warn him. I was the worst ex-best friend ever.

“I’m sorry…” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

His focus shot to me. The dread had left his expression, replaced with surprise. “Why are you sorry?”

My heart lurched. Didn’t he realize? “I didn’t know it was bad.”

“Oh, please.” Finn rolled his eyes. “That’s just… you .”

I stared at him. How was it possible to be so full of guilt yet still want to punch him in the face?

Why was he so infuriating?

“Finn!” Damen snapped, and Finn’s attention shifted back. “Stop acting like an idiot and answer my question. Why didn’t you come to me?”

“I don’t know!” Finn threw his hands in the air. “Lee was handling things, and he and Trinity told me to wait. Plus, you would have discovered who Bianca was, which they didn’t want. ”

“I can understand the Council. But do you know why it was so important that we didn’t know who she was?” Damen asked.

“Er,” he began, glancing at me, then Julian. A strange expression passed over Julian’s features, and when he blinked again, he seemed stunned. But Finn returned his gaze to his brother and responded, “No particular reason.”

However, Finn’s answer seemed to make sense to Damen, and his severity melted into contemplation. He touched his chin and began to pace.