I wasn’t an idiot. I knew he had way better control over what he let through that strange magical link than I did.
Now, sensing his need to cross the room and pull me into his arms, I held up a hand to hold him at bay. His scent and his irresistible heat had a way of clouding my thoughts.
“We don’t know that for sure,” he offered, keeping his distance.
It was a weak argument, so I shot him a skeptical look. “Do you have a better explanation?”
Leo and Hook exchanged glances but said nothing.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Iwasthe problem, and if things were this bad here…
Fuck me sideways.
“How bad are things in the human world? What if it’s worse there? Jesus.” I paced across the small space. “What if this,” I waved an arm, encompassing the recent chaos, “is all just bleeding through from my world?”
Hook had told me what Nerebis said to him when they had their little tete-a-tete months earlier. My existence didn’t just upset the natural order of things, it was a threat to my world. But that had seemed far-fetched at the time. I was one person, and not even an important one. I was just a big sister who’d done everything in her power to save her brother.
And I would do it again, dammit.
“I thought I had more time,” I said quietly. From the way Hook explained things, it should have been decades before my world was in any real danger.
Apparently, that wasn’t the case.
My moral compass was telling me the right thing to do was to throw myself on the mercy of the universe and find a way back to the Alius. My heart, on the other hand, was torn between staying in the Nassa with Hook and finding a way back to my world. Not that the last one was even an option.
We’d searched and researched for a way to get me home. Not permanently. The real plan was to return to my world, find my brother, and bring him back to the Nassa. With Petra neutralized at the bottom of the eddy, I wouldn’t have to worry about her getting her claws in him again. And over time, the magic of the realm would seep into his bones. Then I wouldn’thave to worry about his innocent soul being shuffled off to the Alius when his mortal body expired.
He would be safe.
But no one knew how to get me out of the Nassa. I’d tried picturing my world and flashing home. Hundreds of times. Nothing ever happened. There was no flicker of hope. No gentle give in the invisible force trapping me here. I was stuck, just like Hook.
If I couldn’t find my way home, that only left me one option. “I have to turn myself over to the fates.” I didn’t know if that would fix whatever damage had already been done, but I assumed it would at least stop things from getting worse. And who knew, maybe I could talk them into letting me sneak a peek at my brother on the way. You know, to make sure he was okay.
A girl could hope.
“No.” The single syllable came at me in chorus—with Leo’s alarmed voice echoing the emotional shockwave that crashed through the link.
Holy shit.No wonder my broody pirate kept his emotions under wraps. That one blast was like getting hit by a bus.
Leo shot to his feet, clearly ready to argue, but Hook just stood there, with his eyes burning, his jaw set, and his arms crossed over his chest like his pose alone would be enough to end the conversation.
“It’s not like I want to,” I admitted. “But I don’t see another way. We’ve already tried everything at least twice.”
The only real upside to my plan, besides not being single-handedly responsible for fucking up the future of humanity, was that I would see Matty again. Eventually.
In hell.
Now that’s a cheery thought.
“I can go to Luther,” Leo offered. “He might...” His words faded with the slow shake of Hook’s head.
“I tried that when the shadow followed Never back. Unfortunately, her inability to leave this realm is tied directly to my magic and my curse. It would require the help of someone powerful enough to pull her from this realm from the outside.” He said it all with his gaze on me. “I am sorry for that, but not sorry enough to let you slip away again.”
“That’s why I need to summon Nerebis,” I countered.
The argument that ensued was brutal, and it felt like it went on for hours. At some point, Leo stepped out, leaving Hook and I to yell at each other.
I stormed out of the war room and to our quarters, throwing my boots in the corner as I went. Hook followed, slamming the door behind us with enough force to make the wall tremble.
