White eyes stared at me through amber glass, Imani eyes. Xade tapped on the surface, and the barrier retracted, freeing me from my pallet. He smiled and said, “Elizabeth.”

Fear slid through me. I scrambled up and stood at attention before him.

“Follow.” His voice had a commanding quality that transcended race and species. Xade turned and entered the hallway, certain of my compliance.

I hurried after him, smoothing my uniform. We exited the passageway onto the open deck of a translucent airship.

Stunned, I slowed and gazed around the landscape. I’d only ever been in the labs.

The ship hovered near a mountainside, the peaks so close I saw animals scurrying in the bushes. The vessel floated in the wind, and a faint breeze blew my collar up to brush my face. Daylight beat down on the platform, which pulsed with scattered red lights. My face tilted toward the suns.

With a loud clatter, Xade tossed a blade to the floor in front of me.

I jumped and turned to look at him, body tense.

“Silly girl, you think you can kill us?” He curled his lip in contempt and laughed in that empty way, so common to his race, no real mirth in the sound.

I jerked awake. Marin walked in and closed the door behind him. His voice rasped out, “What is wrong?”

“Nothing.” I lay back and curled onto my side.

His name was Xade, the man I kept seeing, my tormentor. An Imani. I closed my eyes and saw him again.

Xade’s face pressed against the glass, distorted. I raised my hands to defend myself. His eyes crinkled at the corners, and I heard tapping.

“Elizabeth, you healed nicely.”

The tube opened and I fell to the floor.

Xade grabbed me by my hair and took me to the corner table. The surface glistened in the low light. Old blood dried on the ground. He threw me onto the surface. I’d learned not to fight. He liked it when we fought back, and it wouldn’t do any good. As soon as I lay back, he strapped my hands down and the table rose from the floor.

He grinned and a scalpel flashed in his hand. He pressed the flat of blade against my stomach. I couldn’t help a gasp at the chill of the blade. My eyes screwed shut.

The blade slashed against my stomach. Agony filled my head. I arched and screamed and screamed.

I screamed and screamed. It was happening all over again. My skin burned. My insides writhed. Hard hands gripped my arms, shaking me.

“No, please, not again.”

“Wake up, lands sake. Wake up. Please, Elizabeth.” Marin shook me until my eyes opened and met his. His were fierce. The guards streamed into the room. Jace raced to the middle of the room while Bob remained near the door and checked under the bed. I moaned in Marin’s arms and tried to pull away.

“No,” he said, nestling me closer. “No.” His hands smoothed down my face. I looked at him, unseeing. All I saw were those eyes—Xade’s eyes. Nausea rose and I dove for the corner, throwing Marin off. With only a few seconds to spare, I made it to the pot and emptied my stomach.

Marin came up behind me, placed his hand on my shoulder, and hunkered down next to me. “Are you well?”

“No,” I whispered and let my head hit the wall beside me.

The guards milled around us. Marin cut them a look. They left the room. He sank next to me on the floor. His hand stroked along my back.

After a few minutes, I climbed onto his lap for comfort, nothing more. Shivers racked me and he held me close, resting his head on top of mine.

“I thought I told you, no more dreaming,” Marin teased, hands keeping up a soothing rhythm on my back.

I snorted into his neck. “I tried not to. I don’t think I want to remember anymore.”

“Shh, it will be all right. I will make it all right. For you, anything.”

I nodded into his neck, crawling deeper into his arms.

A little while later, I rose and dusted off my clothes, hands still shaking. Marin stood up and stretched. I went to the basin and splashed my face, rinsed out my mouth.

Marin nuzzled me from behind and tears burned. I turned and cupped his face, my thumbs smoothed over his cheeks.

There was a knock somewhere in the house. Marin cursed and pressed his forehead to mine.

Sure enough, he got called away a minute later.

The morning passed in a blur of reading. I knew knowledge was important, but I felt numb. A stroll in the gardens was just what I needed. Maybe I could try out the maze, play with my magic.

I loved having the gardens nearby. The plants looked different, but I could pretend I was home for a little while. I still had these odd moments where everything seemed so normal, I thought I was home, then bam, it hit me. I wasn’t home. I never would be.

Being here in Marin’s house was hard. I knew he was limiting his movements because of me. The guards were assigned to him. So if he left, people would expect the guards to follow.

He also lingered because of me, personally. I knew he wanted me. We hadn’t discussed it again since we sparred, but his actions reflected his desire. I didn’t know how things operated here, but Marin made me feel like his entire world revolved around me.

I couldn’t trust it. I shouldn’t trust anything here, or get attached, but I couldn’t help myself. I felt so much more, wanted so much more, needed so much more. The uncertainty of my past made the comfort these men offered me much more desirable. I didn’t know what do with it all. I shouldn’t do anything at all, to be honest. Sighing, I continued through the kitchen and out into the garden.

Marin sat in the same spot as yesterday. Somehow, I knew he’d be here. He patted the seat beside him in invitation.

“There you are.” I walked up to him. Seeing him sitting all alone made nerves flutter in my belly. I raised my hand and ran the back of my fingers down his cheek. Marin rested his hands on my waist. I leaned down and kissed him.

This was the first time I’d initiated anything with him; he responded eagerly. Eyes sparkling, his mouth caressed mine. He wrapped his arms around me and yanked me onto his lap.

Lightning shot through me, heating my blood. My simple kiss hello spiraled into a hell of a lot more than I intended. It scared the shit out of me. I pulled my mouth away.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Want to spar?” I threw my arms around his neck.

“After Midday. Did you eat?” He pointed to what looked like several sandwiches on the bench beside him.

“Did you just have this waiting here for me?” I asked as I wiggled off his lap, sat next to him, and wolfed down the food.

“Maybe…you do not eat enough.”

He took my hand, kissed the palm, and pressed me to his side. He slid his fingers down the bare skin of my arm; I rested my hand on his thigh.

“We used to have a garden at home. Nothing as grand as this, but my mom grew roses,” I said.

“You are welcome to do what you want here. I do not know much. I just know it makes me happy. I close my eyes and see my mother tinkering around.” He placed his cheek against my hair.

When he left, I lingered outside, enjoying the weather. Fear kept me seated and not examining the flowers. The last one bit me. I’d have to ask Zanth to show me the gardens and introduce me to the non-carnivorous plants.

I took a deep breath. My hands still shook every now and then from my dreams and memories.

Deliberately, I straightened my spine. What would my daddy say to my bellyaching? Get over it, little girl. That was what he would say.

I watched a speck float in the breeze, hanging midair. Sunlight glistened off it; motes of dust danced in the air. I wanted to practice my magic. Upstairs was not the best location. Here would be better.

Every time I used the magic, it got easier. Most of what I did was instinctual. I felt things. My body healed. The haze came when I asked. But I couldn’t defend myself with any of those skills.

When I pulled power, I felt heat and sparks rolling in my tummy. Most of the time, I didn’t even realize I called power to me. That wasn’t too smart. I could inadvertently hurt someone. I wished there was a text that explained how to use magic, but after all my reading, I’d found nothing. The Fost wrote about the characterization and the abilities present with certain types of magic. Their history with the Imani precluded them asking the how’s and why’s behind it. I was on my own, learning this stuff.

I imagined a breeze. The heat pooled, and my hair blew in the resulting wind. I imagined a gentle rain, and mist formed beads on my face.

I tested the limits of my power. The magic bent to my will. I broke out in a light sweat. The more I concentrated, the more it twisted the way I wanted it to. Wind, rain, heat.

The magic was heady stuff, addictive. I opened my eyes and saw a cloud drifting in the air in front of me. I didn’t change the weather everywhere, but I did in my little corner. It was enough. One day, I’d be the storm that washed this world clean.

I tried to call the glowy butterflies like Marin did, but that was a bust. So far, nothing negative happened with the power. I called and it answered, but what fed it? Was it part of me or the land? Was it a gift I tapped or intrinsic to me? All I knew was that it tuckered me out.

Yesterday, Finn sought me out at Midday. He came to my room. I contemplated going to see if he’d snuck up to see me again. After last night, I didn’t think the possibility of that was high. Finn had refused to look at me. He’d shut down and insisted on talking to Marin alone, excluding me. Plus, if he was about to be mated to Lara, that was a big deal. She didn’t mention it, nor did he. To them it might not matter, but to me, it did.

I believed in love and monogamy. I wasn’t sure Finn even understood the concept. Getting involved further with Finn or starting anything with Marin was just asking for heartache. What I’d done already pushed me far past my usual boundaries. I wasn’t even sure why I did half the things I’d done.

At home, I’d dated a little, but I wasn’t what one would call a social butterfly. I had one serious relationship in high school that fizzled after he went into the military. I was attracted to the air of command, I guessed. And other than Billy and his back seat, there was no one else. I wondered what became of him. I wondered what became of my mom. Stomach twisting, I got up and paced back to the pool, staring at the water.

I shouldn’t be thinking about this now. What I should do was concentrate on my abilities and remembering what happened to me. Figure out why they were still after me. Maybe if I gave them what they wanted, no more children would have to die.

Marin found me in the same spot an hour later.

“No sign of the murderer,” he said. “He was spotted prowling around the guard gate. He has been spotted all over. He does not appear to be trying to hide anymore, and there have been no more deaths.”

His hair was messy and lines bracketed his mouth. He had on dark gray leather. His vest and pants were laced partway. When his gaze met mine, his honey eyes glowed. He moved his hand down his chest to hook on his pants.

“Ready to spar?” The words were meant as a tease, a dare.

Embracing the distraction, I sauntered toward him, adding a sway to my hips that I watched him admire. Stopping in front of him, I ran my hands down that chest. “Think you can keep up?”

His pupils expanded, and then narrowed on me. “Oh, I will definitely be able to keep up.”

I snickered and trekked upstairs to the training room. The flirting helped break my funk even though it was wrong.

“You ready?”

Marin took it easy on me today. I found my center and practiced kicking and punching, warming up. We went through throws as we’d done yesterday. He transitioned to wrestling moves, and I knew he did it with less than honorable intentions.

His body braced mine on the ground. His lower body trapped me. I slid my left leg between his and twined it around his leg. He pressed harder, and I tugged on his leg and pushed on his shoulder at the same time. He flipped and I ended up on top. Nice.

Then he immediately flipped us back and sniggered. “That was fun. Want to try again? I like it.”

I punched his stomach. “Ass.”

He shuddered as my hands trailed down his sides. Oh my god. Marin was ticklish. Screw fighting. It was time to tickle.

My heart swelled each time I wrung a laugh out of him.

Eventually, we started actually training again. He showed me ways to get out of the prone and supine position. I focused and forced myself to learn. I slipped one of Marin’s holds and jumped on his back, tickling him in a sensitive spot under his armpit.

He wheezed in laughter. “Stop, please stop.”

“Oh, honey, I’m going to need so much more begging to stop.” I ruthlessly dug my hands in when Zanth walked in. My fingers stilled, and I fluttered my eyelashes at him. Zanth backed up, holding up his hands.

“I do not want to know.” He turned and exited the room as we exploded in mirth.

The laughter felt good. I was still in hiding, and we were in a holding pattern until something happened. That something didn’t take long.