Going to visit Mom this morning. Meet for coffee beforehand? 10:00.

I beamed, reading the text again and again. He wanted to see me.

Holden hadn’t completely scared him off.

Of course. See you then.

I kissed the screen before tossing it aside to get ready and laughed in spite of myself. If Old Me had been asked to get up and be presentable by ten in the morning, she would’ve thrown a fit and gone back to bed just on principal.

But Old Me didn’t know Gentry, either.

Then again, neither did New Me. But I wanted to. And if he looked for excuses to meet up with me, he felt the same way.

Holden was dressed and waiting when I got out of the shower.

“Coffee again?” he called out as I passed by, clutching my towel closed.

Not that I knew why I felt so self-conscious. He was nothing. He might as well have been a Ken doll, just molded plastic below the belt.

“Yes. Coffee again. And you’ll be on your best behavior.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he growled, but at least he went back to the other side of the penthouse so I could have a little privacy while I got ready.

I wondered if I could trade him in for another model. One a little less opinionated. And a little less pissy.

It was another beautiful day. Maybe it seemed more beautiful than it was because I was on my way to meet Gentry. Even the Halloween décor didn’t bother me the way it had less than a week earlier. What a shame he hadn’t shown up sooner.

He was already waiting for me when we got there, and I noticed how he pointedly ignored Holden.

“I’m glad you could make it over on such short notice,” he smiled as he leaned in to brush his lips against my cheek.

I shivered a little and hoped he didn’t think I was a fool for blushing.

“I had to clear my calendar,” I joked as we got in line.

Holden waited by the door, looking for all the world like a bouncer.

“Does he even have eyes?” Gentry muttered with a grin.

“Shh. Please. Don’t talk about him.”

Because he can hear you and he already wants to tear your throat out and throw you in the river. How do I know? Because I can feel his feelings and they’re pretty nasty.

“Oh. You’re right. It’s not my place. He’s your brother.”

“I didn’t mean it that way—but I guess you have a point,” I added. “He’s only trying to help me.”

“Understood.”

Our hands brushed against each other, and he wound his fingers around mine. I didn’t stop him. Nothing had ever felt so right. We chatted about nothing in particular as we waited for our drinks. I wanted to ask about his mother but held back, telling myself we didn’t know each other well enough yet. He would tell me about her when he was ready.

He checked the time when our drinks arrived and winced. “I’m already running a little late. I promised my brother I’d be over there at 10:30. Would it be too much if I asked you to walk to Mt. Sinai with me?”

“No, not at all.” I was glad I hadn’t worn heels, though the hospital was only two blocks away.

Holden fell in step behind us as we left and was discreet enough to stay a few feet away.

“He didn’t ask where we’re going,” Gentry observed under his breath once we were outside.

I chewed my lip and hoped he didn’t make a big deal of it—I should’ve said something instead of relying on Holden’s hearing. I had gotten so used to treating him like my shadow, something not to think too much about.

“You’re meeting your brother at the hospital?” I asked in an attempt to change the subject. “Does he live nearby?”

“Dominic? Oh, yes. Over on Beekman.”

“Well, well,” I grinned. “Your family did pretty well for itself.”

“You could say that.” Only his voice was tight, and he spoke through clenched teeth.

Sore spot.

“Is he your older or younger brother?”

“Older by three minutes.”

“Twins! Wow. Is it true that you have a connection, the way twins are supposed to?”

“In a way, yes. We’re much closer than most siblings, I suppose.” He looked at me. “What about you? Brothers or sisters?”

“One sister.” I looked away, ahead of us. “She’s… not here anymore.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“I’m sure she’s better off now.” That wasn’t a lie, at least.

She was happy with Elias. It didn’t matter where they were—I had seen enough of the two of them together to know location wouldn’t make a difference.

“That’s a fairly dark perspective,” he murmured.

“That doesn’t mean it isn’t the truth,” I replied, and he left it there.

I wondered if we would ever get to know each other when we both held so much back. I could never tell him the truth about Mariya, even though I knew there was nothing he could do to hurt her. He was just a human. It wasn’t as if he had connections to my world.

What was I doing with a human? It was almost beyond belief.

“I wonder if I’ll feel the same about my mother when she passes on,” he mused.

“I didn’t mean to come off as insensitive.”

Getting to know a man was exhausting, especially with such a complicated life as mine. Always afraid to tell the entire truth, always hoping I didn’t say the wrong thing. No wonder I had avoided it for so long.

“You didn’t. Trust me. I was only thinking out loud. She’s in a lot of pain. It’s difficult to visit her, seeing her like that. She was always the liveliest person in the room, no matter how full the room was. The sort of person who draws the eye. Spellbinding.”

I smiled to myself at his choice of words. If he only knew how familiar I was with spells.

“She sounds wonderful. I’m sorry she’s going through this—and you, too.” I let my hand brush against his again, and he took it as he did in line.

A wave of all-consuming fury hit me from behind, but I made it a point not to react when I felt it.

I was too busy glowing inside to bother with Holden just then. He had to learn to deal with Gentry, sooner rather than later. I had the distinct feeling that Gentry wasn’t going anywhere.

That warm, glowing, all’s-right-with-the-world feeling didn’t last long.

When we approached the hospital, he dropped my hand. It was so obvious, so abrupt, that I couldn’t help but notice the change in him. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing. Uh. I think I should make the rest of the trip by myself.”

I looked at the entrance, a half-block away. “Only if you’re not afraid to walk all that way all alone,” I joked.

He didn’t find the humor in it.

“What happened? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, not you. Not at all.” He kept looking off toward the entrance instead of looking at me.

I followed his gaze and noticed a tall, dark-haired man who bore a jaw-dropping resemblance to him.

A man with a deep red aura.

I took a step back, away from him.

It was his turn to be alarmed. “What’s wrong?”

I shook my head and took another step. “He’s… he’s…”

“My brother?” he asked.

By then, the stranger had noticed me. And he stopped looking like his brother in favor of looking like an angry sorcerer.

I pried my eyes from him and looked at Gentry. My heart crashed and shattered.

“He’s a sorcerer?” I whispered.

It couldn’t be true. That would make Gentry… no, there was no aura around him. Nothing magical. But how was that possible, when his twin was obviously a sorcerer—and a very dark one, judging from the shade of the energy surrounding him?

Holden caught up to us and saw what I saw. “You need to get out of here. Now.”

His hand closed over my arm, and I hated how relieved I was to feel it. I didn’t want him to be right. I didn’t want to need him. How could I have been so wrong?

“I don’t understand what’s happening right now. Just hold on a second!” Gentry shoved Holden, or tried to. It was pointless, like shoving a brick wall. “What’s this all about? You can’t manhandle her like that or tell her what to do. She’s a grown woman!”

“You don’t know the first fucking thing about her,” Holden snarled. So much for the pretense of being a nice, normal if somewhat overprotective brother.

The sorcerer reached us and pulled Gentry aside. “What the hell do you think you’re doing with her?” he hissed, shooting me a look so full of disgust it made my blood run cold.

“Dominic, relax. She’s just a girl—”

“She is not just a girl!” he snapped, then looked around like he wanted to be sure he hadn’t attracted attention. “She’s a High Sorceress! And he’s her Nightwarden!”

Gentry’s face went dead white as he turned to me. “No. That’s not possible.”

“I told you,” Holden hissed in my ear.

“No one told you to speak, Nightwarden,” Dominic spat.

Holden growled. “I know who you are now. Dominic. Brother Gentry. Twin sorcerers. It all makes sense now.”

The truth of his words hit me like a ton of bricks. “That club in Los Angeles,” I whispered, feeling sick and distraught. “The vampire club. You killed all those vampires.”

“And the humans who were visiting the club that night,” Holden snarled, glaring at Gentry. “And they stripped you of your power when you admitted to causing the explosion. Filthy, pathetic monster.” In a flash, he had Gentry backed against the wall. Only we could see his fangs descend. “I might kill you now for that. Let you see how it feels when someone carelessly ends your life.”

“Do not touch my brother, you worthless animal,” Dominic warned. “I could make you drop dead on the spot, and no one on the sidewalk would be the wiser. Don’t test me.”

“Holden,” I whispered with my heart in my throat. “Please, don’t do this. It’s not worth it.”

I wasn’t sure whether I wanted Gentry to live or die just then, but I knew my Nightwarden wouldn’t be able to get away with anything he did.

Holden snapped at Gentry’s throat, snarling once more. “You’re not even worth the effort,” he decided.

“Look who’s talking,” Dominic sneered.

“I wasn’t talking to you, but I can if you’d like.” He took a step toward the sorcerer, who cringed. “That’s what I thought. Just try to throw a spell at me right now, out in the open. I could gut you quicker than you can blink and be out of here before anybody knew what happened. You’re just as pathetic as your miserable excuse for a brother.”

“Holden, stop,” I warned.

Dominic’s aura went deeper red than ever. Blood red. That couldn’t be a good thing.

I tried again. “You can’t do this, especially not in public.”

“You’re right,” he decided, stepping back but still shielding me. “Come on. We have to get out of here, now.”

I looked at Gentry—how could it be true? But it had to be. He hadn’t denied it.

Holden slid his steel band of an arm around my waist and pulled me to the street, where he hailed a cab and bundled me into it before I had time to think.

There was no thinking when my thoughts swirled around as they did. How could I have been so wrong? It wasn’t like me to take chances like that. I was always smarter. Wasn’t I?

“Do you see now why you should’ve listened to me all along?” Holden asked when we were more than a block away. His voice was tight with fury. His hands shook from the effort it took to keep his claws retracted.

“Please. I can’t do this right now.” My voice was a weak whisper. Almost a whimper.

I had just been through the biggest shock since the Kristoff situation. In many ways, it was like reliving the whole nightmare again.

The feeling that I couldn’t trust anything, that nothing good would ever happen again.

The pain. The deep, ardent wish that if I was about to die, I would just die and get it over with.

Because I didn’t know how long I could survive pain like that.