A hard, blunt object slammed against my ribs.

Grunting, I rolled to the side, the contact breaking. Breathless, I blinked blurrily at the dark ceiling, lying on my back next to Ezra and hearing the flying debris inside the room fall in a clatter to the floor. An odd silence attacked my ears.

Until Bindi screamed, “What the hell were you doing?”

My head fell to the side in the direction of her voice. Even though she was out of focus, her tall, beautiful form fuzzy, I could see she was the one that had hit me. She was clutching a long candlestick in one hand and, I blinked, Bonnie’s limp form was cradled in her other arm. Her lips were trembling on her furious face. Blood was drying on her arms, where there were thin scratches that were now only pink marks, almost healed.

My eyelids drooped on a shaky exhale. “Helping.” My body shuddered, my muscles relaxing to the point that I knew I could no longer move.

She shrieked, “Helping? I’ve never seen magic like that before! Are you insane?”

A muffled laugh croaked from my chest, my breathing beginning to falter. “Maybe.”

“Sweetheart?” Ezra’s voice was soft and hoarse.

The sound entirely captivating, my breath wavered completely.

Bindi gasped, her mouth gaping wide. The candlestick fell from her fingers, and she dumped Bonnie’s limp form on my stomach and bent over Ezra, clutching his face. “King Zeller? Can you hear me?”

Bonnie didn’t move on top of me any more than I could, but I heard a soft growl from under the bed even as Ezra rumbled softly, “What? Bindi? Did I hear Lily?”

Bindi’s answer was to stare wide-eyed, then her hands started glowing, roving over his head.

Ezra blinked bewildered eyes. “Bindi, what are you doing?” His voice was growing stronger. He even lifted a quick hand, grabbing her shoulder just as Clyde jumped onto the bed, and grunting, he raised his other hand to catch the lion cub, but Clyde wasn’t aiming toward Bindi. Instead, he darted around Ezra’s reaching grasp and raced to me, or more precisely, to Bonnie.

Ezra’s gaze darted to the side, leaving Bindi’s shocked one and following Clyde. His eyes met mine. And it was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. Green light so perfect they should never close again, bright and full of life. I felt my lips tilt slightly, the small movement all my body would allow, my own eyes tearing.

Slowly, he blinked. “Lily, what’s going on?”

I swallowed, the effort hard, and whispered between unmoving lips. “You’ll live.”

Again, another slow blink, then his eyebrows slammed together. Suddenly, he blurred, pushing Bindi away and rolling to his side, rising on an elbow over me. “Your heartbeat’s not normal.” He pressed his hand between my breasts, his breathing faltering as his power surged. “Something’s not right. Your power’s off.” Eyes scanning the room, his gaze quickly slated to Bindi, and he asked on a hiss, “Did you hurt her?”

“King Zeller, please lie back down,” Bindi babbled, eyes still wide. “You shouldn’t be moving.”

Ezra’s gaze narrowed dangerously, even as Clyde made a whimpering noise next to me and thumped his head against Bonnie’s limp paw, and Ezra yelled, “Tell me what you did? There’s something wrong with her!”

“Nothing. She was doing damage to you. A spell.” She shook her head, trying to push him back on the bed, only to have her hands slapped away by an increasingly infuriated Ezra. “You’re sick, King Zeller. Silver poisoning. You need to rest.”

Ezra’s eyes slammed wide, and his breath hitched. “The battle.” A blink. “There was an arrow…I was shot three times.” Bindi nodded vigorously and tried to push him back again but received the same aggravated brush-off. “I’m fine. Leave me the hell alone.” His gaze slammed to mine. “What is she talking about? What spell?”

I swallowed again, a shudder racking my body, and managed to whisper, “You’ll live.”

He froze. Two panting breaths. “Sweetheart, what the hell have you done?”

Gazing into his eyes, my lips tilted in the barest smile. “Worth it.”

Stunning green eyes slowly enlarged, and again I felt his power surge. His gaze darted to his hand on my chest. His breathing faltered, and then he shouted, “What the fuck have you done?” Frantic eyes found my drooping gaze. “Oh, Jesus Christ. No, no, no, no.” A beat later, he was standing next to the bed, tugging a sheet around his bare waist.

His body looked strong. Healthy. It was so worth it.

Tying the sheet around his waist, his eyes began glowing, and harshly he ordered Bindi, “I don’t think this is anything you can fix. Call my dad. Tell him we need help now and to bring Elder Farrar.”

Bindi blinked, appearing as if she was going to faint instead of the strong physician she was, but she nodded dazedly and quickly raced from the room.

Ezra scooped me into his arms, Bonnie going along for the ride on my stomach, her eyes blinking as slowly as mine. His grip was bruising he held me so hard, his brightly glowing gaze intent on the doorway to wherever Bindi was outside this room.

Only a few moments later, she raced back inside. “He’s coming. I’ve explained that you’re awake and there’s a situation.”

A second later, there was a bright flash from beyond the doorway in the living room. Cahal blurred into the bedroom, stopping directly inside with assessing eyes. Antonio, Elder Jacobs, and Elder Merrick raced into the room after him, doing exactly the same.

Breath wheezing, I tried to keep my eyes open as Ezra stated instantly, “Bindi said I had silver poisoning.”

Cahal’s gaze was intent on his son. “Yes.”

In fact, everyone was moving categorically slow, watching him.

“I don’t anymore.” He jostled me a little in his arms and his voice trembled. “Lily did some kind of spell and now something’s wrong with her.”

Antonio stiffened, his gaze crashing to mine. “Lil?”

Voice only the barest sound, I wheezed, “He’ll live.”

“She keeps saying that,” Ezra shouted, his gaze slamming to mine. “What did you do?”

Antonio began approaching with slow motions even as Cahal began moving forward, each with their hands out, walking side by side. Their eyes were intent on Ezra, and Antonio murmured softly, “If she used a spell, I need to touch her to see what’s wrong.”

Ezra stiffened, lifting me higher in his grip. “Don’t you already know what she did? You see the future and it was,” a Vampire hiss vibrated throughout his body against my side, “a fucking spell. Where else would she get it from?”

Antonio shook his head, both he and Cahal stopping in front of us. “I didn’t give it to her. I may see the future for certain issues, but not everything. I don’t know what she’s done.” He paused, and then whispered, “I love her as my own daughter, Ezra.”

Ezra was visibly trembling, but after a silent moment he nodded jerkily, sitting on the bed. Readjusting me on his lap and placing Bonnie’s limp body on a pillow — Clyde instantly nuzzling against her — he turned his glowing eyes on Antonio. “If I find out you’re lying, I’ll strangle you.”

I blinked up at him, breathing, “Not nice.”

He growled. A Vampire one. Directly at Antonio. “No, I’m not fucking nice.”

Antonio cleared his throat, and fluidly and — very — slowly got to his knees in front of Ezra. He lifted a hand while Cahal hovered directly next to him, watching Ezra. His hand gently rested between my breasts and began to glow. Antonio jerked instantly, his breathing rasping. His eyes on mine, his voice shook. “Oh, Lil.”

“What?” Ezra asked rapidly. “She doesn’t feel right. I know that much. Her heartbeat’s faltering. She can hardly breathe. Can’t move. And her Core power’s off.” A pause. “What’s wrong with her?”

“Her Core power’s off?” Elder Jacobs asked, sounding like he was talking to himself.

Antonio’s gaze never left mine, even as he lifted his other hand, murmuring absently, “This can’t be right.” Placing his other hand on my forehead, he began to glow, whispering, “Retrieve.” Immediately, he began to visibly shake and sweat dotted his brow, his body glowing even brighter.

I felt nothing odd, but the brightness bothered me so I turned my head away. My eyes met Ezra’s. His green gaze was still glowing bright, piercing through Antonio’s radiance. His didn’t bother me so much, even if his gaze was furious. Feeling sleepy, I started to shut my eyes, but that wasn’t to be, since Ezra jiggled me repeatedly, making me keep my eyes open.

Brusquely, Antonio shouted, “Fucking retrieve, goddamn it!” And he blasted us all with a brilliant light, so bright it had to rival the sun’s.

I heard Ezra grunt, but his grip only tightened on me in the golden glow.

It was suddenly gone and Antonio teetered to the side, hands sliding off me, his golden head of hair falling forward as his head dipped. Cahal grabbed his shoulders, catching him, but Antonio jerked at the contact. He pushed Cahal’s arms away almost drunkenly, muttering, “I’m fine.” He didn’t look fine, and coming from me that was saying something, since I was close to being dead, my vision faltering only to spurt to life with each catching breath.

Cahal snorted but didn’t try to help any further.

“I got it,” Antonio mumbled, his back hitting the wall where he sat on the ground and staying there, his head listing to the side. But his eyes glowed again as he brushed hair off his perspiring face. He waved a lazy finger, and suddenly, a transparent image appeared directly in front of him.

It was of the beach. I blinked — my breath faltering again — realizing that it was a memory. My memory. Because every once in a while, the moving landscape would alter when I had glanced down, looking at Bonnie. There was even the sound of my breathing and the ocean waves and the seagulls. It was from earlier today.

They were going to see the deal I had struck.

Ezra’s grip tightened on me when he saw the door appear in the vision.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Lil,” Antonio muttered. “Tell me you didn’t…” He trailed off, watching as I opened the door and stepped through the opening. “Oh…shit.” Glancing sharply at Elder Merrick, he stated in a cold voice, “Get Elder Harcourt in here. Now.”

Ezra growled, watching as I moved through the forest, even as Elder Merrick left the room. “What the hell is that place?”

“A restricted Mage space,” Antonio whispered, standing to his feet and moving around the image to position himself on steady legs next to us and Cahal. “She never should have been there. It’s forbidden.”

Antonio flicked his finger, and the image began fast-forwarding. And then went blank. Black, nothing there. He grunted and flicked his finger again, and the image came alive, but in reverse. Another flick and the scene became me running through the silent forest again at regular speed. Only to have the image go blank again.

“Shit,” Antonio muttered, eyes still on the empty image.

“What’s happening?” Ezra rumbled, his voice turning Vampire.

“Wherever she entered, I couldn’t access it by memory,” Antonio growled in irritation. He glanced at me. “Who was the Mage you met with?”

I swallowed, my heart and breathing faltering again, and Ezra jerked me hard when my eyes started to close. Eyes fluttering open, I whispered, “Knocker. No name.” That was the truth. I had never asked. I couldn’t help Antonio.

“Christ, Lil,” he muttered, jerking his finger again in irritation.

Ezra was growling lightly as he stared at the black image, and he pressed his hand to my chest. I felt instant peace. My heart no longer hurt, and though my breathing was still labored and I couldn’t move, I no longer sensed it. A soft groan of contentment reverberated from my throat, and Ezra’s head tilted, resting on top of mine even as he trembled and growled, his eyes still glowing fiercely.

“There,” Cahal murmured, the image back on the beach, but in fast-forward.

Antonio tilted his head, and the image slowed, but still not to regular speed. They watched silently until I had pulled my phone out, hiding in the shadows while watching Cahal’s suite door, and Antonio lifted his head, the image going to normal speed. They heard my conversation with Jack, heard me say that I loved him and Pearl. And what I had asked of them.

Elder Jacobs made an odd noise, then muttered, “Now we know who created that damn mess.”

They all leaned forward, watching my actions intently as I snuck into the room. Saw me break Ezra’s door, creep inside, and ask Bindi to leave. Ezra blinked slowly, seeing himself as he had been. He looked as good as new, now. His skin was back to normal, flush with life, no lingering effects of his poisoning. His lips even looked plump and soft again.

No, I didn’t regret it at all.

They watched as I straddled him. And as soon as I brought the vial out of my pocket, Antonio flicked a finger, and the image stilled. He leaned forward further, studying the image, and then glanced over his shoulder, growling, “Do you know what type of potion that is?”

“No.” I blinked when I heard Elder Harcourt’s voice behind me somewhere.

“Fuck,” Antonio muttered, turning his face back to the image, staring at the potion. “Did you give her the knocker?”

Elder Harcourt cleared his throat. “I didn’t physically hand it to her.”

Antonio straightened. Swung an arm back. Golden light erupted from his palm, arching over our heads. I heard Elder Harcourt grunt and Bindi gasp. Antonio turned slowly, and never before had I seen him look so pissed. He moved his hand, and Elder Harcourt came into my line of sight, caught in Antonio’s web of Mage magic a few feet off the ground.

“He was telling the truth,” Elder Merrick stated slowly from somewhere behind us.

“Did. You. Give. It. To. Her?” Antonio hissed, eyes steadfast on Elder Harcourt.

Elder Harcourt grunted again, his wrinkled face contorting in discomfort. “I touched her when she was a babe.” A pause. “I left the knocker for her to find.”

I blinked. I had no clue what that — being touched as a babe — really meant, although, I didn’t believe it was meant in a corrupt way. I also hadn’t known he had met me as a child.

Antonio’s gaze swung over our heads, and Elder Merrick voiced quietly, “Truth.”

Elder Harcourt gasped. “You saw some of this, Antonio.”

“I saw her choice to save him!” Antonio shouted. “Not how! It was a damn blackness. I didn’t see her hurt!”

“You saw it correctly,” Elder Harcourt whispered, his own eyes beginning to glow.

Antonio stiffened then sluggishly lowered Elder Harcourt to the ground. “You had better not have fucked with her future. You know how the last time played out when someone screwed with time.” He dropped the golden web holding Elder Harcourt.

It seemed all of the Elders stiffened at that comment.

Ezra smiled at Elder Harcourt. With fang. “And I will personally kill you if she even flinches in pain.”

Elder Harcourt wiped his brow and smiled cheerily. “Ah, Ezra. I’ve touched you, too.” I saw Cahal freeze next to us even as Elder Harcourt stated happily, “I know your path as well as hers. I know how to stay off your hit list.”

Ah, it meant he knew our future. Wonderful.

There was a tense silence, then Antonio muttered, “Oh, fuck off, Richard. I need to figure this out.” He turned back to the image of me freeze-framed: me straddling Ezra, vial in my hand. “What the hell is the black?” His head cocked, studying the image.

Elder Harcourt moved forward, his wrinkled hand rubbing his chin. He pointed at Ezra’s ashen image. “Death.” His finger swung to the vial. “Life.” He blinked, his hand falling to his side. “Oh.”

“What?” Antonio asked instantly.

“Someone else I once touched,” his gaze fell to the floor, “I remember…” He sighed, glancing back to the liquid. “That’s the individual’s willingly-given life.”

“Black magic?” Antonio asked, but immediately shook his head. “No. Willingly given. And otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to get it in here.” He worked his shoulders, and I noticed through my blinking that the action looked remarkably like what I did to remove tension, noticing it only for the first time. “Who the hell is the Mage that went with that knocker?”

Elder Harcourt slightly hesitated, then whispered, “Clarice.”

Everyone in the room stiffened, including Ezra under me. As my eyes fluttered open and shut, I had the insane thought that I should probably pick up a history book and study. Ezra actually started to remove me from his lap, shouting, “Tell me again why I shouldn’t kill you right now?”

“No, no.” Elder Harcourt waved a quick hand. “Clarice didn’t harm her.” He blinked, and a funny smile painted his lips before he turned back to the image, oblivious to how Cahal had to slam a hand down on Ezra’s shoulder to keep him seated. “Play the rest, Antonio. There has to be more.”

“I cannot believe you sent her to Clarice,” Antonio muttered, rubbing his forehead before flicking a finger. “I’m thinking Ezra’s got the right of it, and you should be dead.”

Elder Harcourt only shrugged his shoulders.

Ezra stilled as the image came to life again, quickly holding me close and resting his head on mine. He saw me chug the vial, barely keeping the liquid down, then murmur the words. He stiffened as Antonio cursed. Watching my hand glow and hold him down, the image actually getting blurry as my vision dimmed, his breathing faltered just as heavily as mine.

“Let go,” Antonio whispered to the image. “Break it, Lil.”

But I didn’t break it. I hadn’t wanted to. They watched as I continued to give more of myself, giving everything I could to Ezra. The image only cut off when Bindi hit me with the candlestick, her infuriated face the last the image showed.

Silence descended on the room.

Antonio’s chest rose, fell heavily. He glanced at me once before he started pacing the room’s littered floor. “Ezra, search her. See if she has the knocker on her.”

Ezra’s palm moved from my chest, and instantly, I once more felt the rattle of death inside me. Oddly, it didn’t hurt. It was just a bizarre sensation, knowing what it was. I had knocked on death’s door, and death was knocking back. Kind of fitting for how this all started.

“You can’t be serious,” Cahal stated, even as Ezra laid me on the bed and began searching me.

Antonio shot him a special look. “And if it was Ezra in this situation?”

Cahal’s lips thinned, his eyes finding his son. He didn’t speak again.

“Don’t,” I wheezed, “have it.”

Ezra stilled over my boots. “What?”

“She,” I sucked air, “took it.”

He braced his hands on either side of my legs, his glowing green gaze slamming to Antonio. “What now?” He paused. “Can’t I give some of,” his fist rubbed against the middle of his bare muscular chest, “this back?” I wheezed, and he blurred, rapidly lying beside me, his hand back on the center of my chest and giving me peace.

Antonio’s jaw clenched, and he glanced at Elder Harcourt. “I don’t know a spell against death.”

Elder Harcourt blinked. “That’s why I gave her the knocker.”

Antonio’s nostrils flared. “Being obtuse isn’t an attractive trait. She’s on fucking death’s bed. Tell me what the hell to do!”

“Why, Antonio, you do the only thing you can,” Elder Harcourt said softly.

Antonio sighed in aggravated frustration and began pacing again.

Silently, Elder Harcourt stared after him, rubbing his chin.

“You know how to fix this,” Ezra rumbled, staring hard at the older Mage. “You already said that you know her path. Just tell him what to do.”

Antonio shook his head. “He obviously can’t.” He rolled his hands in front of him, his feet still eating up the floor as he appeared like he was having an internal debate, even though he said nothing more verbally.

“It alters time if he wasn’t supposed to give the advice in the first place,” Cahal said offhandedly when Ezra began growling quietly, his son’s attention stuck on the older Mage.

“She needs life,” Antonio muttered to himself.

Elder Harcourt hummed in his throat, the sound neither good nor bad.

I turned my eyes completely from them as they began debating, and stared up at Ezra. He must have felt it because he looked down at me. He blinked and his eyes stopped glowing, just staring at me with his striking gaze and searching mine as he whispered, “You shouldn’t have done this.”

My lips tilted. Oh yes, I should have. “What would,” a sharp inhale, “you have done?”

His own lips tilted, his chest hitching. “Nothing different.”

“See,” I breathed, as everyone began arguing around us, then mouthed, “I love you, husband.”

“I love you, too, wife,” he mouthed, his lips thinning and his nostrils flaring as he swept his free hand over my forehead into my hair. His eyes instantly glistened, gleaming even brighter. Unshed tears. He cleared his throat, glancing away, up to his petting hand and his fingers threading through my hair.

My heart swelled for him. I wanted to comfort but was unable to move. “Ezra.”

“Shh,” he whispered. “You’re not going to die.” His chin trembled for the barest moment before he clenched it hard with an clicking noise. His nostrils flared again, harshly inhaling. His eyes met mine and I saw resolve there, a hardness that was all inner strength, all Ezra. “You’re not.” Green eyes slated to Antonio, who was arguing with Elder Merrick. “Blood, Elder Farrar. Blood is life.”

Everyone went silent enough to hear Elder Harcourt as he hummed, and this time, it was a hum of approval.

“I know this,” Antonio stated, eyebrows puckering as he glanced at Elder Harcourt. He stared at the Elder, deep in thought. He blinked. A pause. Another blink. “But her Core is almost empty.”

Elder Jacobs snorted. “Everyone knows that a parent can give their blood and a portion of their Core power to their child, healing their child’s body against anything mystical.” He paused. “I actually knew a parent that did it. It was rough going for a while for the parent and child, but they gained everything back.”

Elder Harcourt held Antonio’s gaze.

Bindi shook her head. “I remember her medical file saying her mother has passed on.”

“What about her father?” Elder Merrick asked. “Is he still alive?”

“Yes,” Elder Harcourt said softly. “He can handle the Core loss since he’s the most powerful of his four.”

Antonio stiffened.

Ezra stiffened.

Hell, even I stiffened, which hurt like a son of a bitch.

He knew who my biological dad was?

Cahal glanced at the three of us, his eyes piercing. “The most powerful of his four?” His voice could cut like a deadly blade, it was so sharp. “He’s an Elder?”

I was pretty sure the three of us didn’t breathe at all.

Elder Jacobs’s eyes danced between us. “I’m not sure what I’m missing here, but the important thing would be to find him. If he’s an Elder, he may already be here at King Cave, right?”

Elder Harcourt’s shaggy, golden eyebrows rose at Antonio’s regard, and he harmlessly placed his hands in his pockets.

After he had dropped that bomb on us.

Cahal asked crisply, “Antonio, what the fuck is going on? Your heart rate, and my son’s, are both going crazy, not to mention that Lily’s actually sped up.” He paused. “And now it’s faltering again.”

My breathing hitched, my eyes fluttering. He was right. Elder Harcourt’s pronouncement hadn’t helped my predicament any.

Antonio licked his lips, his golden gaze turning to me, and he whispered, “It’s the only way.”

“No,” Ezra demanded. “There has to be another option.”

Antonio blinked. “There’s not.” He disappeared.

Ezra’s breath caught, his heart rate galloping into a wild frenzy. “He wouldn’t.”

I stared where Antonio used to stand and breathed, “He did.”

Ezra’s gaze darted around the room, and I felt his power surge to epic levels, his eyes glowing bright. Command full force in his tone, he shouted, “Get the fuck out. Now!”

No one moved.

Ezra sucked in a harsh breath, eyebrows slamming together, and again his power surged, and he ordered, “Get the fuck out!”

No one moved.

Cahal’s own eyebrows were pinched together, but he stated evenly, “This suite is spelled for only my command.”

Ezra froze, breath hitching, his eyes on his dad. “Order them to leave.”

Cahal’s gaze was searching, confusion clear on his normally stoic face.

“You’d better not try any Vampire shit on me,” Elder Merrick growled quietly.

It was too late.

Antonio had reappeared with his hand firmly planted on Elder Venclaire’s shoulder.