“You don’t seem that bad off,” I noted. I was tempted to move his hand away and peel back the shirt to have a look, but I didn’t want to make it worse.
Kael grinned. “Well, sorry to disappoint you.”
I shook my head. “No, I mean, you’re not bleeding to death. How come?”
“I heal fast.” He shrugged a shoulder when I continued to gape at him. “It’s a shifter thing.”
Of course, it was.
“Well, that’s convenient,” I muttered. I wished I could say the same for myself. I felt bruised and battered everywhere.
Kael stared at my hand. “Hey, you got the key!”
My fingers were still wrapped around the golden key, my grip so tight my knuckles were white. “Yeah.”
“Wait, where’s the mage?” The shifter glanced around, his eyes narrow and shoulders tensing. He was expecting an ambush, no doubt.
I squeezed the key against my palm, and it was almost as if I were squeezing myself. My soul was bound to the key. I swallowed. What had I done? More importantly, how was I going to fix it?
Kael reached up to touch my cheek. His fingers lingered there, warm and surprisingly comforting. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” My voice cracked. I cleared my throat, then nodded. “I…”
His eyebrows pinched together, and he tilted his head. He knew something was wrong. “Are you hurt?”
His gaze ran over me, though he didn’t withdraw his hand. I knew he couldn’t see any bruises; I couldn’t even see any bruises. Vehrin’s magic attacks had left me hurting on the inside, below my skin and into my muscles and bones.
I paused, glancing up at Kael before dropping my stare back to the key.
Should I tell him? What would he do when he found out? What did it mean to have your soul bound to an object?
Certainly, I was no expert on this new supernatural part of my life, but I was fairly certain that had to be some kind of dark magic. Kael was so honorable, a rule follower. He worked for PITO, an organization that protected magical artifacts, and here I was having just tied myself to a very powerful one.
Did that impede his mission? Would he be upset? Would he report me?
“Livvie, what is it?” Kael pressed.
I worried at my bottom lip, then inhaled a sharp breath through my nose. “I bound my soul to the key.”
The words came out rushed, as if saying it quickly would somehow make it seem not so bad.
Kael leaned back. “You what?”
I couldn’t read his expression. Was he angry?
“I was trying to bind the mage. Our powers sort of collided. We went down, he disappeared, and then—” I held up the key as if he could see my soul nestled inside. “―I guess I bound my soul instead.” I neglected to tell him the whole story, choosing to keep to myself, for now, the part where I had chosen to sacrifice my own life. “I’m sorry, Kael. I didn’t mean to.” I took a deep breath and ground my teeth. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I just—”
“Stop.” Kael got to his knees and brought his hands up to frame my face. His stare was intense, and I became acutely aware of just how close he was to me. “It’s okay.”
He wasn’t angry. If anything, his expression was pale and pinched with worry. Or maybe he was just in pain from his wound. I would have glanced at it again, but he had my gaze trapped on his, my face caged in his firm grasp.
I hated what I had done to myself. It gave me an itch between the shoulder blades of my soul, one that I couldn’t scratch. “What am I supposed to do?”
Kael sighed deeply and dropped his hands. “Well, first thing we need to do is get out of here. I don’t know where the mage has gone, but he could be back, and I don’t think either of us are in a state to confront him again.”
He got to his feet and reached down to pull me up. I stifled a groan as my muscles protested. As soon as I straightened, everything around me seemed to dip and spin. A whooshing filled my ears. I could scarcely make sense of anything—not the ground beneath me, or the crisp touch of cool air, or even Kael.
Desperately, I reached for my magic. The familiar energy swirled within me, but something else was present as well.
Something dark and powerful.
I didn’t like it.
My stomach curled at whatever this new thing was within me. What had happened? Was this part of the mage’s power? Did he do it, or did I?
Kael’s strained voice cut through the loud rushing, but I couldn’t break my thoughts from this power. My heart was racing. What if it consumed me? What if it made me do things I didn’t want to do? What if it—
“Olivia!”
I startled at the loud voice and blinked to find Kael frowning at me.
His gaze was wide, anxious. “What’s the matter?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it again. I couldn’t tell him about the strange magic coalescing with my own. I didn’t even know what it was.
Kael’s gaze dropped to the key still clenched in my fist. “Maybe I should hold onto the relic for a while.”
He reached down and placed his hand over mine. I didn’t release the relic. Then, he started to pry my fingers loose.
My pulse quickened. Every instinct screamed at me to keep the key close.
“No!” I reached out with my other hand and pushed on his chest to ease him back. Or, at least, that was what I had intended to do.
Instead, Kael yelled and went flying backward across the grass-carpeted ground. He landed hard with a grunt several yards away.
Magic seared through my veins and bristled beneath my skin like static shock. I couldn’t make sense of it, couldn’t decipher if it was mine, the mage’s, or something new entirely. All I knew was that I wanted it to stop—needed it to stop—before I burned myself to a cinder and got scattered on the wind.
I sucked in deep breaths. I shifted my feet, feeling the ground beneath the soles of my boots and using that reality as an anchor. I stretched my senses farther, to the feel of a slight breeze, the scent of damp earth. Slowly, the magic coiled back to the depths of myself. I opened my eyes and found Kael moaning on the ground.
My blood ran cold.
I had to force myself to move, will myself to wrestle through the horror of what I had done and move forward to see if Kael was all right. I ran over to him as he rolled to his back. He sat up with a wince, and guilt lanced through me.
My hand pressed to my mouth, if anything to shove back down the burning in my throat. I took a few unsteady breaths as I got a hold on the magic rampaging through me. Wild, unfettered…deadly.
“I’m…I’m sorry, Kael. I didn’t mean to.” I started to reach for him, then hesitated and drew my hand back. Perhaps it wasn’t safe. Perhaps I wasn’t safe.
I hung the key around my neck with trembling fingers. I felt a little better with it out of my hand.
Kael tilted his head back to fix me with a calculating stare. I waited for the disgust and the fear. I waited for the hatred toward this horrid being I seemed to be becoming.
Instead, a small smile touched his lips. “You’re not the first woman to knock me on my ass.”
He got to his feet and stepped toward me. I retreated with a shake of my head. The last thing I wanted to do was accidentally hurt him again. He stayed where he was, though he looked like he wanted to draw closer.
“We need to find someone who can help figure out what’s going on with you.” Kael paused for a moment, and when he spoke again, his words came out slow, careful. “I think I know who we can ask first.”
“Who?”
Kael’s face twisted with annoyance. “Renathe.”
I had completely forgotten about the fae man who had given us our first clue. Though now that I remembered, I also recalled that I still owed him a date. Looks like I could crack two stones with one chisel.
“Okay,” I said. “I guess I’ll be able to fulfill that ridiculous promise for a date.”
The shifter grew silent as I gathered up my bag. The handle
for my knife was nearby, and I stooped to pick it up. I ran a finger over the handle. It was charred a bit on the end where the blade had disintegrated. I sighed, a sense of loss weighing on my shoulders at the ruined gift from my father.
It was as if the last anchor to my past had been eaten away.
I dropped it into my bag. All I had now were the two relics hanging on my chest, one key from the Amazon and one from the ruins in Scotland, a surly shifter companion, and a future that seemed to be dragging me deeper into someplace and someone I didn’t want to be.
I shuffled my bag across my shoulders. Together, Kael and I left the crumbling abbey, once again on a search for answers.
Chapter 29
I grimaced at myself in the mirror, or rather at the dark blue dress that hugged my figure. I hated dresses, was barely tolerable toward anything that was impractical for getting dirty, but I supposed appropriate attire for my date with Renathe was called for.
I felt…strange. It wasn’t the dress, though. After everything that had happened, a date felt so…mundane. It shouldn’t be. I rarely had time to go out. It should be something exciting, especially with an exotic male fae, but it wasn’t. Exhaustion weighed me down. I would have rather crawled into bed.
I blew out a sharp sigh and tucked the pair of keys around my neck into the front of my dress. With a final glance in the mirror, I headed out of my room.
Kael’s eyebrows shot up when I clicked off the landing in the heels I was certain would twist my ankles before the evening was through.
“Wow, Livvie, you look…”
“Awkward?” I suggested.
He smiled, his eyes darting between my face and the floor. “I was going to say beautiful.”
My face went hot, all the way to my ears. “Oh. Well, thanks.”
I tugged on the end of my hair, which I had opted to leave down. The get-up was fancy enough without spending an hour or two on my hair, as well.
“You ready?” he asked.
I grabbed a small, black purse from the kitchen table. “Yep, let’s go.”
Kael opened the driver’s door to my father’s Bristol. “Everything will be all right.”
I gave him a nod and shuffled awkwardly into the seat. Stupid dress. He shut the door and climbed into my own car.
I wasn’t only fulfilling the date side of my bargain with Renathe. I was handing over my father’s prized 1951 Bristol, too. Kael would follow behind me in my car so I had a ride back home.
As I headed into town with my phone giving out directions to the restaurant Renathe had chosen, my chest tightened. My father’s car. After losing my knife, I couldn’t help but regret my decision to promise Ren the car. It was going to be harder to release than I had realized.
Did the fae man know how much I would want to keep it in my possession? I sighed. No use lingering on it now. I should be worrying about other things, like the magical mishap I had managed to get myself into.
I finally made it to the restaurant. I couldn’t recall the name of it, but it was scrawled across the front in golden, looping letters in what I assumed was French. I parked in front and brushed my fingers along the pale green paint of the car in a silent goodbye. Kael had found a spot farther down, and he jogged up to meet me.
“I’ll be nearby,” he said. “I don’t trust fae.”
“You don’t trust mages, either,” I teased.
He grinned. “Only one.”
I gave him a little wave as I headed toward the door. After I told the man inside the name of my date, he led me to the table. Though it was a small restaurant, it was fancy with white tablecloths, golden chandeliers, and burgundy cushioned seats. Suddenly, I felt underdressed.
Renathe’s gaze fell on me with a bright smile from a table tucked into a private corner. He looked resplendent in a crisp, black suit, though he still had a playboy air about him. Perhaps it was his blond hair, not quite styled or messy. I had forgotten how beautiful he actually was, especially in a sea of humans. How had no one noticed his tapered ears? Maybe they thought it was a cosmetic oddity, as I had first assumed.
He stood and rounded the table. “Olivia, you look lovely.”
I shrugged one of my shoulders. “I feel underdressed.”
“Nonsense.” Ren took my hand and laid a quick kiss on the back of it, but his fingers lingered on mine. He held my gaze with his dancing teal eyes. “My, my. You have been busy, haven’t you, darling?”
His thumb brushed the back of my hand, and I knew he could sense the magic within me.
“Yes, I have.”
I was unsure of what exactly Ren expected this date to entail, but I was certain he didn’t want to be hammered with questions right off the bat, so I didn’t launch into that discussion just yet. I would play it out until the time was right.
After the waiter took Renathe’s drink order—wine for the both of us—I turned to him. “I have something for you.”
“Do you?” The silver streaks in his teal eyes seemed to sparkle.
I pulled the set of keys for the Bristol out of my purse and set them beside his hand resting on the table. “My father’s Bristol, as promised.”
“Two gifts in one day. Lucky me.” He winked, and I couldn’t help but smile. My presence was a gift, was it? He quickly pocketed the keys. “I have something for you, as well.”
My shoulders stiffened, and I couldn’t help but hear Kael’s grumbling voice in my head, which told me fae never give anything to anyone without expecting something in return.
I must have been wearing my uncertainty on my sleeve, because Ren chuckled. “No strings attached. I promise.”
He slid a dark blue, velvet-covered box toward me. I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously, then flipped the lid open. Inside was a crystal charm in the shape of a snowflake. I touched one of the delicate points. It was beautiful, and small enough that it wouldn’t be flashy on anything I put it on.
“Do you always give women jewelry on first dates?”
He grinned. “Not usually, but there are exceptions, especially with someone such as yourself.”
“What do you mean?”
Renathe merely smiled and opened his menu.
We fell into small talk over dinner, though I hardly touched my food or wine. I didn’t think I could stomach it with the way my insides were churning with nerves. All I wanted were answers, and I despised being patient.
Finally, Renathe threw his arm over the back of his chair. He shook some stray hairs away that had fallen over his face. “So tell me, Olivia, why were you so insistent on this date? Is it my irresistible good looks?”
I smiled. “Not that you aren’t a fine specimen, but…”
Ren laughed. “I understand. As I recall, I am not your type.” A knowing smile crept onto his face.
A brief thought of Kael flashed through my mind as the waiter stopped by to see if everything was fine. I gave a nod. After Renathe assured him the food was perfect, the fae turned his attention back to me.
“You wish to discuss something with me. I have watched you squirm on it all throughout dinner.” He didn’t seem angry. Rather, quite amused. “What is it?”
I picked at the edge of a cloth napkin, then looked over my shoulder. If people overheard me, they’d think I was nuts.
“Don’t worry, darling. No human will hear a word you say.”
I didn’t like how he said that. Did he mean some of the other patrons, or staff, were not human?
“Well, we visited the witch you told us about…” I gave an entire account of our journey, from Cordelia’s, to Scotland, the traitorous shifters in England, and finally to the showdown with the mage in the hidden and ancient abbey. “Then, I tried to bind the mage, but instead of binding him, I bound my soul to the first key. Not only that, but I feel…different. More powerful. And not in a good way.”
Ren nodded slowly and tapped the table. “You attempted to sacrifice yourself to bind the mage, didn’t you?”
“What?”
I
jolted so violently I nearly fell out of my seat. Kael rounded a corner. When he’d said he would be nearby, I didn’t think he’d meant within eavesdropping distance. He stalked up to the table, leaned onto his knuckles, and stared down at me. Looming.
“Did he just say you attempted to sacrifice yourself?” Kael’s words were stiff and clipped. “Please tell me he’s wrong.”
“This is rather rude, you know,” Renathe interjected mildly. He took a sip of his wine and watched our interaction with a calculated expression.
I could nearly feel the heat of Kael’s anger pressing on me. I tilted my chin up and turned toward him. His nostrils were flared and his brows low.
“In order to stop the mage, I had to provide a sacrifice.”
“Where did you learn that?”
“In Scotland, when I was with the druids.”
Kael’s jaw was granite. “You have known that long, and you didn’t tell me?”
I crossed my arms and considered standing so he wasn’t hovering over me so much, but we were probably making a big enough scene as it was. “I didn’t owe you any kind of explanation.”
Hurt flashed quickly over his face. It had been the wrong thing to say. I shouldn’t have snapped, and my throat tightened with guilt.
I continued with a softer tone. “Kael, it was either you...or me. What else could you expect?”
He leaned toward me, but I didn’t shrink away. Kael was so close I could catch his peculiar citrus-and-rain scent. “What else do I expect? I expect you not to try to get yourself killed, Livvie.”
“There was no other way. I didn’t want to hurt you.” I held his gaze. “I had to stop him. I tried to do what was necessary to save thousands of lives.”
The shifter fell silent. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t argue with my logic; if he had been in my position, he would have done the exact same thing, and he knew it.
“Well, this is certainly the most interesting date I have been on.” Ren smirked at me. “Aren’t we supposed to be the ones with the romantic tension?”
I sniffed, though heat crawled up my neck. Kael and I did not have ‘romantic tension.’ I glanced at my glass of wine and really wished I had something a bit stronger.
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