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16

NICO

I ’m already transfixed by Emberlynn, and I’ve only known her for a few days. I’ve never felt this way toward anyone. I’ve spent the last handful of years sleeping around and drowning out the pain of not only believing my heart was dead but the agony of mere existence.

My life hasn’t been easy. And I used sex to cover that up, to drown the pain. It’s what I was taught to do by my faerie father at too young of an age. And now I’m left with the regret of my choices.

The heart of the coven is supposed to be the soul mate of each member. Typically, that’s how it works, although some members stray and are unfaithful. I’m a product of that when my mother cheated. The members of her coven didn’t leave her, but growing up, I was a reminder of what she did. My home life in the witch world was—and still is—awful. But I prefer it over the time I have to spend in the Fey Kingdom with my father, who just so happens to be the Winter Fey King. His wife, the queen, treats me like a bastard, which with how much I see my father, technically, I am.

“How long do you think this will take?” Phoenix whispers as he watches Kaiden dig around in Emberlynn’s mind.

She looks peaceful with her head tipped back and her eyes closed.

I love seeing her eyes. They’re an otherworldly kind of pretty. I could seriously stare at them all day.

Kaiden doesn’t respond, too lost in performing the historia legere . He looks creepy as fuck with his eyes completely white.

“It might take a while, depending on if she has blocks on her mind,” Wylder replies, gazing at our heart like she’s the most precious thing in the world.

I feel the same way. And she’ll probably eventually feel the same way about Wylder. Even Phoenix and Kaiden. Me? When she learns about everything I’ve done, I’m unsure if even the bond of our souls will be enough to let her love me.

“ You’re completely unlovable ,” my mother is always telling me.

She’s right. I really am. Half-warlock, half-fey, it’s a brand in my bloodline that no one wants to deal with.

Without taking his eyes off her, Wylder whispers, “I worry something bad has happened in her past.”

“I got that impression, too.” For a moment, Phoenix becomes lost in looking at her.

He’ll fight his emotions a bit more than Wylder and me. It’s part of who he is, and his power makes it more difficult for him. And don’t even get me started on Kaiden. I’m not even certain he knows how to process love. Kaiden’s powers derive from dark magic, a rare form of power. We refer to witches and warlocks who possess that power as witches and warlocks of shadows. They’re powerful and, at times, scary.

The most frightening power they possess is necromancy. It’s never scared any of us, but the creatures we go to school with are terrified of him. Like Lila did today, we use that to our benefit. Kaiden adds to the problem because his father trained him to be emotionally detached in order to keep his powers under control.

I’ve seen him lose his composure a few times, though, like right after we were told Emberlynn was dead, and let’s say that graveyard keeper had his hands full with reburying bodies.

“What do you think it could be?” I wonder. “The bad stuff in her past? If she spent most of her time with humans, it has to be related to that, right?”

“Well, she wasn’t always with humans,” Wylder reminds me. “I think she said they found her when she was around seven.”

“She never went into details about where she was found or what happened before that,” Phoenix says, absentmindedly tracing his fingers across Emberlynn’s palm. “But she remembers that part of her, right?”

“I think she remembers some of it.” Wylder adjusts his arm that’s tucked under Emberlynn’ s head. “When we first met her, she ran because she thought we were going to capture her. It’s pretty clear someone is after her.”

“Probably the same creature that made her pass out on the elevator.” I shudder at the image of how horrified she looked as she lay on the elevator floor.

“She doesn’t want to talk about it, though,” Wylder adds as an afterthought.

“She might have to if it means she’s in danger,” Phoenix states with a shake of his head, “so we can protect her?—”

Emberlynn suddenly gasps, her eyelids opening. I’d think she’s waking up, but with the way her eyes are rolling into the back of her head …

Something terrible is happening inside her head.

And my suspicions are confirmed when Kaiden jerks back, looking more worried than I’ve ever seen him.