“Only the things that I don’t mind One knowing.”
Jo smiled in a way far too gentle for the lethal assassin she was. “As clever as always. I’m guessing you have a plan.”
She hadn’t taken her glamor down for some reason, and I was desperate to see what her true form looked like. Was her hair and eyes different, or did she maybe glow like Cash? Have a shimmery scale complexion like Lyra? Pointed ears? Fangs? Would her bite feel good, too?
But we had more pressing issues, so I kept my thoughts to myself. “I do. Sort of. I planned to use her to train me, but that was before I knew you were here,” I explained, sticking close to her. “I mean, I still might, but you seem to know more about her than Cash, so I’ll defer to your expertise.”
“Even if that rubs the mother of three in the other room wrong?” she teased.
I swallowed and blushed. “I didn’t…he and I—”
“You don’t owe anyone an explanation, least of all me, V.” Her obsidian eyes shimmered amber for a second before all the color was gone. “The Season is inescapable even to those of us who pride ourselves on control.”
Her fingers strayed down my side, out of sight from Kate’s curious eyeline. Another rush of heat swept across my skin where she touched me, and I closed my eyes, fighting a suddenurge that was both familiar and entirely different from the ones I had with Cash.
It was odd, but between her and my Fae Karen, I couldn’t seem to get enough. I found myself touching her without realizing it, and she always touched me back as if stricken with the same inexplicable desire as I was.
“V,” she whispered, her voice softened in a way it had been when she kissed and touched me in my room. “What Lyra wants to teach is something you can’t learn. Not without losing a part of yourself.”
I glanced over my shoulder, making sure Kate was still occupied with the fantasy-scape. She was. “So what can I do? I mean, I guess between the four of us, I’m sure the Nether Royals, whoever they are—”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” she interrupted with a glint in her intelligent eyes. “The Nether Royals killed my kind when no one else could. Their bonded power is too strong for even the Originals. Too strong for the Dark King, despite what he claims. What Lyra intends to do is suicide without you having access to your chaos magic even with your current ability to manipulate time and disable abilities, and she knows it. But that sort of magic is used at a great cost, V. It’s not something you should ever open yourself up to. Believe me…I’d know better than anyone. It cost me so much already.”
I wanted to ask, but her poignant expression stopped me. Whatever it cost her, it weighed on her to this day. It was the same way Phillip looked when he talked about Giselle and all the people he’d lost because of Eros. It was the look of someone who’d loved and lost, an expression I’d worn every day when I thought I’d lost Grams. When Phillip left. After I was betrayed by people I thought were friends. Since Nigel was killed.
“Then what can we do?” I was almost afraid she’d say we were fucked, but her smirk immediately calmed that worry.
“We take a page out of the Nether Royal playbook.” Leaning in, she brushed her mouth against mine, and I barely caught myself before gasping. “We become another powerful magically bonded trio.”
Confusion quickly overpowered the sudden bout of lust. “Magically bonded trio? Is that…like being married or something?”
Rolling her eyes, she pulled away and plated the eggs she’d made for us. “Thankfully, no. I’d sooner cut my throat and bleed out on this floor than do anything remotely sexual with that douche in the other room.” She made a gagging noise, and I giggled. “Thankfully, it’s the same thing as what the Nether Royals have. Rayis and Dagon found a compatible Fae between them, Aram, and tied themselves magically to him to share the power of three. Not much is known about their kind, but their bond is merely to elevate their potency. You’re already bonded to Cash. You’re tied to him both magically and in every other way a Fae can be.”
She handed me a plate and tossed her hair back, somehow making a simple hair flip sexy. Her eyes tracked back to mine, and her lips alluded to a smile but never gave me the satisfaction of one. That look of hers never failed to give me butterflies. I took the plate in a daze and waited for her to continue.
“There’s something here, too. You feel it the same way I do.” Her hand brushed mine, and my throat bobbed, assaulted by another rush of sensation. “I can tie myself magically to you and complete the trio. It'll give you access to our powers’ strength instead of relying on chaos to feed your magic.”
Finally following, I whispered back, “You mean that it’ll channel your magic for me to do what I’d normally use the chaos power for? Won’t that be dangerous for you guys?”
Jo puffed an unamused breath and brushed back the hair that had fallen into my face. “Better that than you losing yourself tochaos, believe me. That prissy Dark King might be many things, but he’s not stupid. He’d agree this was a better plan than what you’d face if you were to open yourself to your chaos magic. I suspect that’s why he’s locked your ability to use it.”
Surprised didn’t cover the feeling.
“Locked my ability to use it? Chaos magic? Cash?”
“It was the only reason I knew he cared about you. He’s a very old and powerful Hand of Death, V. He’d know better than most that chaos power is destructive but utterly tempting to those like us. He was worried about you using your chaos magic, even unintentionally, and he bound your ability to access it. Not an easy feat, I might add. Very few could’ve done it at full strength, and that asshole found a way with subdued power.” Her eyes strayed to the rune on my neck. “I guess I can’t be surprised that you’d end up with bond runes.”
I absently touched the place where the mark was. “I…I didn’t know—”
“Of course you didn’t, and honestly, this only helps us.” Despite her words, her expression was sour. “You’ll have access to the Dark King that both the Nether Royals and the Originals couldn’t defeat. And with me…” She hesitated for a second, her eyes dropping to the floor before rising again. “Daughter of Shadows, blood to the fallen Mother of Shadows, we stand a good chance of winning against them without ever touching your chaos magic. But it will require careful training and fooling Lyra. Easier said than done, but I’ll handle her. That much I can do. You’ll be rather caught up in satisfying the Season in the meantime.”
I’d nearly forgotten about the Season.
“This urge…” I started, wondering if I was the only one feeling it.
Jo was clever and picked up on my train of thought right away. “You’re a hybrid, so I’m not the least bit surprised thatyou’ve been drawn to more than one. It’s not unheard of for Fae to connect with another once they’ve already connected with someone for the Season, but it is rare.”
My gut was twisted in knots as I dropped my head in shame, annoyed with how much a burden I’d already become to both of them.
