Chapter 21

 

Going to one Harvester funeral had been enough for Magnus. He’d nearly died out of sheer boredom, and the idea of attending Arild’s only solidified his decision. At least with Cressida, Valkyrie’s mother, it had felt like the right thing to do. Arild, on the other hand there was no love lost there. The man had been scum, unfit for the throne he ruled with an iron fist. Besides, even if Magnus had wanted to go, he couldn’t, not without Zara, who couldn’t face another crowd that big.

So, the decision had been made by someone. He wasn’t entirely sure who. His mom, most likely, but at some point, someone had decided that he and Reggie, and Zara, would remain behind. It was a reasonable and logical decision. Gideon had no choice but to attend out of duty and love for Valkyrie, who had to attend her own father’s funeral. Liam and Kyaerin’s, as leaders of the north, attendance was mandatory. And Octavian, as Liam’s second, had to stay at their father’s side. That really only left two people, Magnus and Reggie, and two people needed to stay behind. The math added up.

Imogen and Akilah joined the party. Imogen out of curiosity and Akilah out of respect. They took the children. Magnus wasn’t sure why, but was secretly relieved. Part of him had been paralyzed with dread at the very thought of being asked to babysit. He might have considered watching Otis and Alec. They were his nephews in a sense, but Talib? He didn’t know the kid, barely liked him, and had no desire to change that.

“We won’t be long,” Kyaerin assured them for the hundredth time that morning.

She stood on the stoop, the front door open behind her. Sharp, white light spilled around her, encasing her and turning her into a dark silhouette. Her cloud of blonde hair glimmered like a golden halo around her head. She wore a somber, black dress and wool coat. The absence of color intensified the pallor of her face so she reminded him of a ghost.

The others had already piled out. Their trudging footfalls had faded to the slamming of doors, the turn of engines, but she remained, a bundle of nerves that made the back of his neck itch.

“Mom, we’ll be fine,” he reasoned.

Blue eyes sprinted from him to Reggie hovering somewhere just over Magnus’s shoulder. Her small hands twisted at her midsection, reminding him of when they were children and she’d make Octavian watch them while she ran to the village for supplies. It was half a day’s journey, but she’d act as if terrified she’d come back to a massacre. Granted, a few times, she nearly did, but they’d never told her that.

“I just … I want you boys to lock up after us, all right? Don’t let anyone in.”

“Jesus,” Magnus breathed under his breath. Then, louder, he added, “Mom, seriously. We’re fine.”

He thought he was getting to her when she started to turn away, but at the last second, she scuttled down the steps in her black pumps and engulfed Reggie in a running tackle.

Caught off guard, Reggie staggered.

“Mom?”

She sniffled loudly. “I just love you boys so much,” she croaked into his shoulder. “You’re my whole world. I’d die without you.”

Over her head, Reggie clashed gazes with Magnus. His expression questioning. Magnus kept his carefully neutral.

“You’re starting to freak me out,” Reggie teased her, but with a tension in his voice no one could mistake.

Still sniffling, Kyaerin drew back and peered up into her youngest’s face. She touched his cheek with her small hand and smoothed back a lock of hair off his brow.

“Don’t do anything stupid, okay? Promise me.”

“Uh…” Reggie exchanged another baffled glance with Magnus. “Okay, I won’t put a fork in the light socket … again.”

Kyaerin pursed her lips. “I’m serious!”

“Me too!” Reggie cried. “I learned my lesson. That shit hurt.”

She started to open her mouth when a figure stepped through the door.

Liam flicked a gaze over his sons, then down at his wife with zero expression, but patience radiated off him the way only he seemed to have mastered.

“The others are waiting, love,” was all he said gently.

Wiping at her cheeks, Kyaerin took a step back, still peering at Reggie as if terrified she might never see him again.

“I’ll take care of him,” Magnus promised.

She seemed no less anxious, but she relented. Her heels clacked in the silence as she returned to her husband’s side. Liam slipped an arm around her middle and gently led her from the room, but not before she cast a final glance back over her shoulder.

“Lock the doors!” she called.

Then she was gone.

Magnus stalked up the steps and shut the doors. He slid the locks into place for good measure, and then turned to his brother.

“What the hell was that all about?” Reggie wondered aloud. “Think Mom’s starting to lose it.”

Rather than answer, Magnus started for the kitchen doors. He knew if he stayed any longer, he’d feel obligated to tell Reggie, a fact he knew he should. Reggie had a right to know, had a right to protect himself, but it was the one thing he agreed with Zara about. Knowing one’s future never ended well. Paranoia always had a way of sneaking up on a person. It made people sloppy and stupid. Knowing may only cause him to act rash and reckless. It was better if he didn’t know.

He made his way towards the back of the manor instead, searching for the woman he hadn’t seen since waking up alone hours earlier. She hadn’t been anywhere in his or her room, nor had she answered any of his telepathic calls. Not that he needed to be psychic to know why she was ignoring him, or where she was. He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he did. He sensed her with absolute clarity.

The conservatory was void of life and color. The hulking structure of glass barely resembled the radiance it once was. Panes had fallen out. Several were shattered. What remained sat like an old man’s gaping smile, yellowed with age and grimy. Looking upon it now, Magnus barely recognized his mother’s once pride and joy.

Inside, the beds and pots sat empty, abandoned to time and disuse. What hadn’t been torn from crusty soil sat shriveled and dead. The ground was littered with fallen debris, brittle twigs and crunchy petals. The air was rank with death and humidity. But he picked his way around the pottery to the center of the room and the base of the stone fountain sitting forlorn and dry amidst a cemetery of fallen plants.

Grime had begun to cover the red bricks, turning them dull and unsightly. What remained of the praying angel that used to kneel at the center lay in shattered ruins along the dusty bottom with bits of scattered leaves and a healthy amount of sand. Gideon had taken his fist to it. The solemn faced seraph hadn’t stood a chance. That was right after Valkyrie’s first marking ceremony. Magnus had never seen his brother so furious, until Tiana’s betrayal.

But the wrecked angel and the abandoned garden were the least of his concerns. It was the small figure perched on the granite bench on the other side of the fountain that had him moving forward.

She sat so still, so perfectly immobile with her chin nearly grazing her chest. Her fingers lay half curled in her lap, reminding him of delicate flower petals opening against the thick, gray wool of her skirt.

“Zara?”

She raised her chin. Her violet eyes found his, absent of everything but misery. She didn’t say anything.

“You shouldn’t be out here alone,” he told her, not sure what else to say. “It’s not safe.”

Her response was the return of her attention to her limp fingers.

Magnus didn’t know how to make it better. He wondered if he should apologize. He certainly felt like he owed her one after taking away something he couldn’t give back. In a lot of ways, he felt like he’d broken her somehow, as if by taking her innocence, he’d condemned her to the empty shell sitting before him.

“It isn’t your fault,” she said at last in his head, but continued staring at her hands. “I did this. I wanted it. I thought it would work. I was so certain.”

“What can I do?” he asked, needing a direction, a clear set of instructions on how to fix things.

“There isn’t anything you can do,” she replied dully. “It’s the one thing that can never be returned. Honestly, I don’t want it back. That isn’t the problem. The visions and voices were supposed to end. That’s what we’re told!” Her head snapped up. Her expression was no longer resigned, but furious. “That’s what they told us.”

Magnus frowned. “Who told you?”

Zara faltered. Her eyes blinked rapidly as if thrown off guard.

“What?”

“Who told you it was supposed to end?” he repeated.

She continued to look lost and confused, like he’d inexplicably started talking in another language. Finally, she shook her head and turned her face away.

“It doesn’t matter who. They just did.” She rose gracefully to her feet and stood before him. “I don’t regret what we did. It was the most I’ve felt in my life.”

Magnus tilted his head to the side, one corner of his lip turning up. “Glad to hear it. I kind of hoped we’d do it again.”

The annoyance immediately dissolved into an amused little grin that brightened her eyes.

“We might.”

“Might?” Magnus raised both eyebrows in feigned surprise. “That doesn’t exactly install confidence.”

She chuckled, teeth flashing, but no outward sound coming out. “I might be persuaded.”

Magnus pulled in a breath laced with dry soil and brittle frost. “Well then.” He snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her the rest of the way into his chest. His free hand went to her cheek and the stray wisps of hair falling over her eyes. He lightly brushed them aside. All traces of humor vanished the deeper he tumbled into the soft lines of her face, the delicate curve of her mouth. “I’ll fix this. I promise.”

Her answer was to lower her head with a gentle, regretful rock onto his chest. The satin strands at the top of her head tickled the underside of his chin, bringing to mind just how fragile she really was. It elicited his possessive, bone deep need to shield and protect. It propelled his arms around her, caging her to him, a natural, almost fluid motion that was happening before even he knew it, yet he made no move to stop it.

“You can’t,” she murmured. “There is no fixing this.”

“You don’t know…” he broke off, remembering who he was talking to.

She chuckled lightly against the front of his coat. Her shoulders trembled with the soundless gesture.

“I do know, which is why I won’t let you make that promise.” She paused a moment. “But there is something.” Her head lifted. Her wide eyes reflected her uncertainty. “The man, Devlin, he’s no longer of any use. Please, release him.”

Magnus stiffened. “I can’t—”

“Please,” she pleaded, her small hands curling into his sleeves. “He is in such pain. It’s cruel. Hearing him at night, feeling how much he’s suffered … I can’t bear it.” She captured her bottom lip beneath her teeth to still the tremor, but her eyes glistened up at him imploringly. “End his pain. Please, Magnus. It’s all I ask.”

It was true Devlin was no longer of any use to them. He’d proven to be much stronger than any of them had anticipated and for that, he almost respected the man, but the decision wasn’t his. Valkyrie would never allow it. Devlin had become her special project.

“But the child has been returned to her,” Zara protested. “She no longer has need for him.”

The truth of the matter was, Magnus wasn’t entirely certain he wanted Devlin’s suffering to end. Devlin had taken the child, regardless of whoever had hired him to do it, the act had been personal. The loss had felt as if he’d lost his own children all over again. It had been another stab of failure. The only saving grace was the knowledge that he could get the baby back, that it wasn’t lost forever. Devlin deserved everything that came to him and more. In his mind, Valkyrie hadn’t punished Devlin enough. Creatures like Devlin, monsters who hurt children, who took them from the people who loved them needed to be made to pay in every heinous way possible.

But those were things he couldn’t voice out loud. There were laws put into place for a reason and he understood that, but for cases like this, he firmly believed the family had a right to their own brand of justice.

Nevertheless, he peered down at Zara and the plea darkening her eyes.

“I will bring it up with the others,” was the best he could do.

Relief alleviated her shoulders, relaxing them. The concern in the tense lines of her face softened into a grateful smile. Her brow returned to its place resting against his chest.

“Thank you.”

He held her for several more minutes, content with the feel of her nestled in his arms. He would have remained there forever had he not remembered Reggie was alone in the house and his promise to his mother.

“We should head back,” he said, brushing the crown of her head with his lips.

Zara nodded even as she drew back. He took her hand, engulfing her small fingers in his larger ones, and guided her back.

In the back foyer, she stomped the snow off her boots and turned to him.

“I think I’ll take a short rest,” she said quietly. “I didn’t sleep very well last night.”

Going entirely on instinct, Magnus bowed his head and skimmed his mouth over hers, needing a taste of her to tide him over until she returned. Her lips lifted to his with barely suppressed eagerness. Her arms looped around his shoulders. It was the most natural melding of two people he’d ever experienced. Every motion was effortless and precise, like a dance perfectly choreographed. They aligned down the front, each curve locking seamlessly into place with the accuracy of a well-maintained clock gear.

She felt perfect. She smelled even better. The combined effect had his blood burning hot and his cock stirring against the soft tissues of her belly through layers of clothing. His fingers delved into her hair, restraining the strands in a fist and tugging until her neck was properly arched and her mouth was fully at his mercy.

“God, you taste good,” he groaned in between deep drags of her.

She pulled away first, gasping. She made a breathy little sound between a whimper and a moan. Her fingers bunched once in the back collar of his coat before smoothing out and curling along the warm skin of his neck.

“How does anyone survive this?”

She was still so close, he could feel every tremor in her words whispering along his lips in the form of a shaky breath.

“Kissing?”

She nodded. “I can’t breathe. I can barely think. My entire body is hot and … aching.”

Magnus sucked in a breath. “Christ.”

The return of his mouth on hers hummed with violence. It vibrated with unchecked hunger. It tore through him as he tore through her, through her clothes, ripping fabric in search of skin, needing to feel it beneath his hands. He bunched up her skirt, twisting the heavy material around her hips and delving between her thighs with one hand. The other forced her into the wall, forbidding any and all escape.

No panties. Bare, smooth flesh settled perfectly in the palm of his hand. Heat radiated off her burning flesh the deeper his fingers searched for the pool at the heart of everything.

Hot, liquid arousal spilled along the two digits he pumped inside her. Her soft, spongy channel welcomed every steady drag of his fingertips along her walls with convulsing clenches that mirrored her erratic sobs.

Somehow, with no recollection from him, no memory at all of reaching into his back pocket for his wallet, or unearthing the solitary condom inside, he found himself replacing his fingers with his cock. He found himself buried deep inside her pulsating core right there in the foyer.

“Shit!”

But stopping was out of the question. There was no going back and no way in hell he’d make it to his room.

Fuck it.

He tucked his hands beneath her knees and lifted her to him, using the wall as leverage to keep her in place as he impaled her again and again, driving harder and deeper with every plunge.

Zara whined and dropped her head back. The crack of it striking the wall barely registered to either of them. Her fingers tightened in his hair, matching the tension rolling down her body to surround him.

“Coming … Reggie…”

Lost in the contraction of her pussy, Magnus wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly, but almost certain she’d just moaned his brother’s name.

“What?”

She gasped a little, the air coming out in a choked, desperate wheeze. “Reggie’s coming…”

So was she, he realized a split second later when she shattered around him. Her body bowed in his arms. Her hips bucked wildly against his, grinding fitfully in time to her climax.

Magnus had just enough sense to pull his head back and yell, “Fuck off!” before taking a firm hold of her hips and pounding into her.

Her cries escalated, rising in volume as he assaulted her sensitive core and rode out her orgasm to the very end. It was only when she’d slumped forward in his arms that he finally allowed himself release. The rubber caught his sperm, trapping it from spilling into her welcoming heat.

Neither moved. They remained firmly wedged in the corner where the door met the bend in the wall. His cock, now flaccid and no longer twitching stayed tucked inside her, happy with its location. But the bulk of their coats and layers of clothing trapping the heat wafting off their sated bodies finally coaxed them apart. He set her down gently and kissed her.

“Okay?”

Face flushed, eyes glittering, she nodded.

He kept a grip on her until she was steady enough to stand on her own. Then he released her to peel off the condom. He felt her eyes on him as he tied the top.

“What is that?” she asked.

“Contraception. Condom,” he added at her bemused expression. “It keeps from making babies.”

He didn’t go into the protecting from diseases. That just seemed like a whole bucket of questions he wasn’t sure he felt up to answering. Not that it mattered. His answer, what had seemed simple and reasonable enough, had pulled an odd look across her face.

“I don’t understand,” she said at last.

He should have just told her about the diseases, he thought.

“You know how babies are made, right?”

He prayed to God he didn’t have to have the birds and bees talk with her. It would be too weird, too much like he’d fucked a child.

“Yes.”

He released a sigh of relief. “This stops that from happening.”

She didn’t say anything, not while he did up his pants and tugged his clothes down around him. He waited for the next question, or even a hint of what she was thinking, but whatever it was, he wasn’t sure he liked it.

Rather than say anything, she started past him and headed for the stairs.

“Zara?”

She was halfway up before she answered. “I’d like to rest now.”

He wasn’t sure what had changed or why it felt like a whole continent had materialized between them, but the further away she got, the bigger the chasm seemed to grow. He debated chasing after her, but he had no idea what he’d done wrong.

Reggie was already in the diner when Magnus joined him with half the knives from his closet. The weapons made a noisy clattering sound hitting the table top where his brother sat, bent over a stack of application forms.

Reggie raised his head and eyed the small arsenal with a raised eyebrow. “Are we going into battle?”

Magnus fished out the sharpening stone from his pocket and smacked it down. He dropped into the vacant seat much harder than he’d intended.

“You’re looking mighty sour for someone who just got laid,” Reggie observed.

Magnus rocked his head stiffly side to side, but said nothing, too wrapped up in his own building annoyance to deal with his brother.

What had happened? was all he kept wondering. Everything had been fine. He hadn’t hurt her, he knew that much. Then why did it feel as if he’d monumentally fucked up somehow?

“You okay?” Reggie pressed.

Magnus fully intended to ignore the man, hoping it would end the unrelenting badgering, but the words just came spilling out with a mind of their own.

“I don’t fucking get women.”

Reggie never batted an eyelash, but his expression was dry. “I think you just had one.”

Magnus shot him a glower. “I mean, I don’t understand them.”

The pen in Reggie’s hand was set down on the papers. “Yeah, they’re confusing as fuck.”

Magnus ignored him, too lost in his own fury to listen. “Everything was fine.”

“Everything certainly sounded fine.” Reggie snickered, then quickly stopped when Magnus narrowed his eyes. “Sorry. Continue.”

“I don’t know where to continue,” Magnus retorted. “Everything was fine!”

“So, what changed?”

Magnus shrugged. “I have no fucking idea. She said she was okay. She wasn’t … I didn’t hurt her…”

But he suddenly wasn’t so sure. What if he had?

No, he hadn’t. She’d been fine, until the whole condom situation.

“She asked what a condom was,” he told his brother.

“What did you tell her?” Reggie prompted.

Magnus lifted a shoulder. “The truth. That it stopped babies from happening.”

“Aw, Jesus, Mag!” Reggie face planted into his palm. “You don’t tell a woman that.”

“Well, what the hell are you supposed to tell them?” he cried. “It’s not like this is a normal conversation. The majority of all women know what a bloody condom is for.”

“Okay, first of all, please don’t ever use bloody and condom in the same sentence. It conjures weird and disturbing visuals. Secondly, Zara isn’t the majority of all women. She’s basically a baby.”

“Shut up!”

Reggie put up a hand. “Let me finish.” He waited until Magnus had mashed his lips reluctantly together before continuing. “Yeah, she’s all grown up and whatever, but in this world, she’s a baby. She doesn’t know anything. It doesn’t help that you hate her—”

“I don’t hate her!” he faltered, then added quieter, “anymore…”

“But you did and I’m pretty sure your thoughts weren’t all about unicorns and puppies.” Reggie smirked when Magnus winced and lowered his gaze. “Yeah, so take that and add the fact that you just told her you’re actively trying to stop having babies with her.”

“Jesus Christ!” Magnus exploded, his fury tangling with his helplessness. “That wasn’t what I fucking meant! We’re in the middle of a fucking war for Christ sakes. No sane person would bring a baby into this pile of shit.”

“Did you tell her that?”

His absolute silence answered in volumes.

Reggie splayed his hands as if to say, there you have it, and leaned back in his seat.

“I couldn’t tell her,” Magnus muttered. “How could I? She never said what the matter was. How am I supposed to know what she’s thinking if she doesn’t tell me?”

Reggie hissed through his teeth. “That’s the beauty of being in a relationship.”

Magnus snatched up the sharpening stone and a dagger. He slapped one over the other and swiped violently. The hissing sound of metal scrapping across stone filled the room.

“Ridiculous,” he mumbled under his breath. “She’s the mind reader. She should have known what I meant.”

Reggie snorted and picked up his pen once more. He rapped it a couple of times on the pages, grin vanishing.

“Was Mom acting really weird earlier?” he asked.

“You’re acting weird,” Magnus muttered, carefully raking the edge of his favorite dagger over the sharpening stone.

“I’m serious.” The other man sat back. “I swear, she told me not to leave the manor at least eight times. I felt like I was five and she was warning me away from the hearth.”

“That’s crazy,” Magnus replied in the same even tone.

“Or she’s finally lost it.” Reggie mumbled, but returned to his sorting. His furrowed brows scrunched and unscrunched several times as he peered over their options. “A ryker demon or a slythen demon? What’s the difference again?”

Magnus paused in his steady sweeping to peer down the razor-sharp edge of the blade. “One eats children whole in their beds.” He blew at the metallic shavings. “The other hangs children upside down, takes out their innards while they’re still alive, then eats them.”

Reggie grimaced. “Ryker demon it is.”

“Lesser of two evils,” Magnus mumbled to himself.

“You know what I would like?” Reggie slapped the pages down on the table, making it rattle, making Magnus’s row of knives shiver. “Not to do this. Why do we have to decide which is the lesser evil? Why do we have to live with the fact that these demons,” he waved the two pages, crinkling them, “will go out and eat children, either whole or in pieces? Why is one better than the other? Because the child won’t feel one and we’re somehow saving them and their families from torture?”

Magnus stopped his sharpening and peered at his brother. He glanced from one page to the other. Then reached over and cut both perfectly in half.

“There.” He dropped back in his chair. “Now you don’t have to pick either.”

“That wasn’t the point.” Reggie lowered his hands. “I’m tired of letting demons in. We’re supposed to save humanity and yet, here we are, unleashing the very things they need to be saved from. Doesn’t that sound a bit contradictory, not to mention fucking insane?”

“You signed the treaty,” Magnus reminded him. “We all did. That was part of the conditions.”

“It’s bullshit.” Reggie dropped his face into one hand and scrubbed. “I’m just so tired of it all. Centuries of this reminds me of Sisyphus and that fucking boulder.”

Magnus raised both eyebrows in feigned horror. “I don’t recall a fucking boulder in that story.”

Reggie frowned at the sarcasm. “Not a literal … never mind.”

Magnus chuckled. “Lighten up. You’re beginning to sound like … well, like me. It’s creepy.”

Reggie went back to his papers and Magnus concentrated on getting his weapons ready. There were no words spoken for several minutes, then an hour. It was creeping towards an hour and a half when the kitchen doors swung open and Zara stepped through still clad in her long, wool skirt and a soft, cream colored top with long sleeves. She’d twisted her hair into a braid over one shoulder, leaving her face exposed.

“It’s so quiet,” she said.

“Did you rest?” Magnus asked.

She nodded with the three steps she took deeper into the room. “Yes, thank you.”

Her politeness and the aversion of her gaze, which had yet to even touch on him, had Magnus setting his blade and stone down and focusing entirely on her.

“I didn’t mean what I said earlier the way it was said,” he said telepathically. “I didn’t explain it properly.”

She shook her head again, still refusing to meet his eye. “I heard your conversation with Reggie. I wasn’t listening,” she added quickly, but with a sharp edge. “You were yelling. It was impossible not to hear it.”

“Then you know—”

“You will never have children with me.”

Magnus blinked. “Was that a vision…?”

“No, it’s fact. You would never breed with someone who has my tainted demon blood. You’ve said as much.”

“Goddamn it, Zara,” he said out loud, voice tired and resigned. “You don’t…”

He wasn’t sure what he was going to say. He honestly had nothing. She was right, but she wasn’t.

“Bedding me can’t have changed your mind so easily,” she remarked coolly. “Being inside me can’t have made you love demons overnight, nor did it change what I am.”

“Demons, no, but…”

“But you would make an exception for me, because … why? You don’t believe in the mark. You don’t consider me your mate. You don’t love me, but you want me. You want my body, not to bear your children, but to satisfy your own needs. That is my purpose to you.”

“You guys should go out,” Reggie interjected, saving Magnus from digging himself deeper in a hole. “Take her to the movies, or something.”

“What is a movie?” Zara sounded exhausted, but indulged Reggie.

Magnus studied her while Reggie explained the process. He even drew a rough sketch of a movie theater on the back of an application to help her better understand, and Magnus realized how right his brother was about Zara being a baby in their world. It never failed to amaze him how new it all was for her, yet it filled him with a deep desire to show her everything, to teach her and watch her absorb it all. He wanted her to be happy, which was a first for him.

Happiness had never been something he thought anyone really needed. Survival, strategy, preparation, but never happiness, yet it was all he wanted for her. He wanted her to want to be there … with him. He wanted her to understand that he didn’t do well with emotions. He didn’t know how to properly comfort her, or understand when he’d done something wrong. His brain wasn’t wired like that.

But he would protect her. He would keep her safe. He would do his damnedest to make her happy, even if maybe that wasn’t enough. It certainly didn’t feel like it was. She deserved more, deserved better. She needed someone who would treat her the way Octavian treated Riley, or Gideon treated Valkyrie. Even Reggie, the way his every thought seemed to be filled with Daphne. She needed someone who showed her she was loved and wanted. He wasn’t sure he was capable of it, and he sure as shit didn’t want her looking at his sisters-in-law and wishing she had what they had. He didn’t want her feeling less or undeserving.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

What was someone like him doing with someone like her anyway? It was selfish and wrong. Anyone could see it.

“I think you’d like it,” Reggie was saying when Magnus focused once more.

Zara was watching Magnus when he glanced at her. Her expression was thoughtful and a little sad. He didn’t need her to tell him she’d been listening to his churning thoughts, nor could he find the energy to care. What was the point?

“I would like that,” she murmured, although he wasn’t sure who she was talking to.

“Might have to go during the day, though,” Reggie continued. “There won’t be as many people. I usually go during the weekend. You can come with me.”

Zara’s gaze flicked to Reggie. A small smile widened across her face, softening the curves of her cheeks and brightening her eyes. There was nothing sexual about the gesture, and yet Magnus felt it in a tingle all the way down to his toes.

“That’s thoughtful of you.”

“If that’s okay with you?”

It took Magnus a second to realize Reggie was asking his permission.

He frowned. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

Reggie said nothing, but turned back to Zara. “Maybe we can go this weekend.”

Zara nodded. “That would be nice.”

Reggie beamed. “Great. It’s been a while since I’ve seen anything. I honestly can’t even remember what I saw last.” He huh’d as if something just occurred to him. “You know what? I think the last movie I saw was the afternoon I met Daphne.”

Zara’s head dipped to one side, the gesture of a small bird, but Magnus knew she was sifting through Reggie’s thoughts, trying to place the name.

“Your mate,” she deduced at last.

Magnus scowled at her. “That’s cheating,” he said telepathically.

She shot him a quick flick of her eyes rolling to the corners then back. “Hardly. He was already thinking it.”

Reggie didn’t notice, too lost in his own thoughts. “Yeah, it was a while ago. I didn’t even stay to watch anything. She scared the shit out of me and I booked it out of there.”

“She’s very pretty,” Zara said.

Reggie blinked and raised his head. “How…?”

Zara grinned a bit sheepishly. “The version of her in your head, she’s beautiful.”

His brother returned the grin. “You have no idea. She’s … stunning.”

“I would like to meet her.”

The smile on Reggie’s face vanished. “I’d rather she didn’t come around here. She’s safer where she is.”

She started to say something. Her mouth opened and her hand went up as if she were about to make a point, but she froze. Light shone over her unfocused gaze, illuminating the purple as she stared off at something into the distance. Color trickled out of her cheeks, leaving them ashen and drawn.

“Zara?” Magnus started to push to his feet.

The hand still hovering in the air trembled once before plummeting back down to her side. She licked her lips and faced them.

“I’m sorry.” It was said to Reggie.

Reggie shot a quick glance towards Magnus, then back at Zara. “What for?”

Magnus dropped back into his seat, suddenly exhausted beyond reasoning. He didn’t ask what she’d seen, but whatever it was, it once again had to do with Reggie, and possibly even Daphne.

“Did I miss something?”

Knowing his brother would fly off the handle and grab the first flight to Connecticut to see the girl, Magnus only shook his head. He immediately felt terrible about it. He’d want to know. He knew his brothers would too if something was about to happen to their mates. Who wouldn’t? It was wrong not to tell Reggie, but what could he say? Zara wouldn’t tell them what she saw and he couldn’t risk Reggie leaving the country and getting killed. Maybe that made him selfish.

“She isn’t going to die,” Zara said quietly.

But there were worse things than death, Magnus thought miserably.

“Is it about Daphne?” Reggie prodded, looking from one to the other again. “If it is, I want to know. Is she okay?”

To Magnus’s surprise, Zara nodded.

Reggie relaxed slightly. “I hate that she’s over there. I feel like I can’t protect her properly, but at the same time, she’s probably safer. At least she’s far enough away from me that she won’t be cursed. That’s what happens the moment you’re one of us, you lose everything. Your freedom, your family, your future, possibly your life, because Christ that hasn’t happened enough.”

Magnus eyed his brother, concern stitching itself into his chest at the bitterness tinging his brother’s every word.

“Let me read him,” he told Zara quietly.

She shook her head. “No, his thoughts are personal.”

“I know, that’s why I want to hear them.” He ignored how that sounded and tried again. “Is he all right?”

Zara frowned thoughtfully. “He’s thinking of the girl, Daphne.”

“Of course he is,” Magnus muttered out loud without thinking.

Reggie looked up. “What?”

Magnus shook his head. “Look, call her.”

“I’m not calling her.”

“He’s worried she’s forgotten him and moved on,” Zara translated Reggie’s inner thoughts.

“Stop being a little bitch. Call her.”

“That wasn’t very nice,” Zara scolded him. “Be encouraging.”

“That was encouraging.”

Zara huffed and rolled her eyes. “If you … call her,” she stressed to Reggie, pronouncing call her as if trying out a new word. “I can listen for you.”

Magnus stared at her. “How is that different than letting me listen on him?”

Reggie blinked. “You were listening in my head?”

“Clearly not, because she thought that would be wrong.” Magnus sat back. “Apparently, she doesn’t listen to her own morality.”

Zara pursed her lips at him. “I am helping Reggie.”

“So was I!”

“Guys!” Reggie put his hands up. “This just took a really fucked up turn. Thank you,” he said to Zara. “But I’m not sure I want to hear what’s in Daphne’s head. And you,” he pointed a finger at Magnus. “Stay out of my head, you pervert.”

Magnus sputtered. “How am I a pervert? She’s in all our heads all the time. She’s the pervert.”

“What’s a pervert?” Zara asked.

Reggie and Magnus exchanged glances, and simultaneously replied, “Gideon.”