The next day, Nicole woke with the sun. She stretched out her arms and legs before opening her eyes. Then she tucked herself up tight and enjoyed the sensation of sinking deeper into the soft plush mattress beneath her.

She deserved to lie here a little longer. Her body wasn’t sore exactly, but did feel spent.

No surprise. She and Shay hadn’t just made love once yesterday. Or twice.

It was a wonder that she was able to move her limbs at all.

The thought brought a smile to her face, and she turned over to spy him sleeping next to her. It was criminal how good the man looked, even when he was asleep.

There wasn’t a speck of tension in his body. His expression was peaceful. For a second she thought about reaching out and shaking him awake, just so that she could stare into the beauty of his eyes, but she stopped herself.

That wouldn’t be fair.

He was asleep. Probably dreaming. Maybe of Elysium.

That’s where she’d gone last night when she’d drifted off to sleep. This time she’d had no doubt that she’d actually gone there. At least, to the memory that lived in Shay’s mind. She’d felt time pass, not in a dream-like way, but in a very real cadence.

That wasn’t the only change. Everything about the trip was brighter this time. Crisper. Even more real than the last. She’d felt the grass brushing against her legs as she walked through the open fields. The rays of the sun high above her had warmed her skin. The exotic scent of the flowers that dotted the field intoxicated her sense.

Nicole lifted a finger and gently brushed it down the stubbly, chiseled line of Shay’s jaw. A slight tingle traveled up from her fingertip to the center of her chest.

She didn’t fully understand the magic that wove them together, but she was grateful for it. Even if Marrow came and made good on his promise to kill her this very moment, she’d have experienced more joy and wonder in the last few days than most people did in their entire lives.

Not that she wouldn’t like more. Much more. More days with Shay. More happiness. More love.

But it wasn’t very likely with Marrow’s shadow hovering over them.

Which meant if she was wanted more mornings like this one, she was going to have to stop him. Unfortunately, that didn’t leave much time for lounging in bed.

Doing her best not to disturb Shay, Nicole rose and crept from the room. Her clothes were still strewn all over the living room. So, she plucked her shirt and jeans off the back of the couch, her bra off the window seat, and her panties out of a corner.

After she was dressed, she found a slip of paper and wrote a note saying where she’d gone. She stuck it to the back of the door on her way out into the hallway.

She knew Shay didn’t like her messing with the grimoire, but that was only because he didn’t understand it the way she did. Besides, what other choice did they have? It wasn’t like she had a spare wish to send Marrow away. The book was the best chance they had.

Hell, it was their only chance.

Yesterday, she’d felt she was close to figuring out what it was trying to tell her. Okay, so, she couldn’t read the words. She wasn’t even familiar with the alphabet it was written in, but somehow she had the feeling that she didn’t need to. She was connected to the book. It would let her know what to do.

Just like her grandfather had always told her.

She knew that it was impossible for someone like Shay to understand, but somehow she knew the answer was in the book.

Now she just had to find it.

Nicole started when she opened the side door and saw the silhouettes of two shadows already standing inside the shop. Instinct forced her to jump back even as a familiar voice carried across the room.

“Nicole, it’s okay,” the voice said. “It’s just me.”

Emily’s voice.

Nicole let out a sigh of relief. Her heartbeat quickly came back under control, though her brows pulled together.

“Emily,” she said as her friend stepped into the light. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to check up on you,” she said. “I hadn’t heard from you in a few days, and I needed to see how you were doing.”

Of course Emily did. If Nicole had been in her shoes, she would’ve been worried too. But that didn’t answer all of Nicole’s questions.

“But how did you get in here?”

“Simple locks don’t pose much of a challenge to us,” a deep voice said.

Nicole looked over at the hulking figure at Emily’s side. She didn’t need him to step fully into the light to know who he was.

Fenrir.

“No, I guess not.” Nicole flipped on the light switch and started toward the counter. “So, you two have just been down here waiting for me to get up?”

“Yep,” Emily said quickly.

“No.” Fenrir spoke right on top of her. “First we went to Shay’s apartment, but when we saw all your discarded clothes hanging from the furniture, Emily demanded we come down here and wait.”

Emily’s cheeks turned a bright pink. She swiveled around and smacked Fenrir on his brawny arm. Hard.

“You weren’t supposed to say anything,” she chastised him.

The wolf’s brows pulled together. “Why not?”

Nicole didn’t think it was possible, but somehow Emily’s blush grew even redder.

“Because.” The single word hung in the air.

“That makes no sense,” Fenrir said. “Why shouldn’t I mention it? There is nothing shameful about sex.”

Nicole figured this was as good a time as any to duck down behind the counter and open the safe.

“Is that why you’re afraid to admit to your desire for me?” he asked after a pause. “Because you’re ashamed?”

“Oh, my God, no.” Emily hit every syllable.

Fenrir continued on as though she hadn’t said a word. “Because I would be honored to be the one to show you how natural and fulfilling passion can—”

“Fenrir,” Emily cut him off with a shout. “We are not having this conversation. Not here. Not now.”

Nicole swallowed down her laughter as she stood back up with the book in her hands. She kept her head down as she placed it on the counter, but she did sneak a peek at the pair.

Sure, she felt a little bad that Emily was stuck in such an awkward conversation, but she was a hell of a lot more relieved that the focus had shifted away from her and her discarded clothing.

“I understand.” Fenrir gave a solemn nod. “You’d rather discuss this privately.”

Emily rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. “What have I done to deserve this?”

Nicole offered her friend an amused smile. Emily returned the gesture with a long-suffering grimace, but then she caught sight of the book and she broke away from Fenrir’s side.

“What the hell are you doing with that?”

“Looking for answers,” Nicole said.

“I don’t think you’re going to find them in there,” Fenrir said. “Grimoires only hold spells.”

“That’s what I told her,” a rich voice filled the store. A voice that instantly filled her with warmth. “But I don’t think that’s what she wants to hear.”

“Shay,” Fenrir boomed at the sight of the other exile. “Congratulations.”

Shay cocked his head to the side. “For what?”

“Nothing,” Emily cut in. She gave the wolf a stern look that was filled with warning and not even a sliver of fear. “Absolutely nothing at all.”

Fenrir didn’t pay any attention. “For finding a mate.”

“Okay,” Shay said, stretching out the word.

Nicole gave him the once-over as he moved her way. He was wearing his wrinkled clothes from yesterday too.

“You should have woken me up before coming down here,” he said.

“I thought you could use the sleep.”

“No. You thought I would stop you,” he countered. And it was true. That was exactly what she’d thought. He soothed her worries away, though, by wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “But it’s fine. I know this is something you just have to do.”

“Thank you,” she said before opening the book and looking down at the pages. She cocked her head to the side at what she saw.

Or rather what she didn’t see.

Yesterday, when she’d studied the first page, there had been a sigil on the first page—a tall triangle with strange symbols in each corner. But today it was gone.

She flipped a few pages, just to make sure she wasn’t remembering it wrong, but it wasn’t there. It wasn’t anywhere.

But there was something else in its place. Words. At least she assumed that’s what they were. This wasn’t her language or her alphabet so it could have been anything, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that the symbols on the page were words.

Words that she could almost understand.

Nicole put her fingers out and traced them over the letters. An electric tingle ran up her arm.

“Everything all right?” Shay asked when she tensed.

“Yeah,” she said. The strange thing was it was true. She was fine. Now when she looked down at the page a voice filled her head.

There’s a way out.

All the breath left Nicole’s lungs in a rush.

“What is it?” Shay asked.

“I know what that says.” She pointed to the markings on the page.

“She can read the magician’s ancient language?” Fenrir asked.

“Not exactly,” Nicole said, shaking her head. “I don’t know how to read it. I don’t know how to say it out loud. But I understand it. I know what it means.”

She looked up to find everyone staring at her with confused expressions. She couldn’t blame them. It wasn’t like she understood what was going on herself.

“So, what does it say?” Emily asked.

“There’s a way out,” she said.

“That’s great,” Emily said. “Does it happen to say what way that is?”

“Not yet.”

“Yet?” Shay said.

“Yeah,” she said. “I mean, this writing wasn’t here yesterday. So, who knows what it might say later.”

Shay glanced over at Fenrir, and they shared a look. One that told her that what she’d just said was far more important than she thought.

Shay’s gaze was serious when he looked back at her. “You mean the book is changing?”

“Is that a big deal?”

For any other book it would have been a ridiculous question. But the grimoire wasn’t ordinary. It was magic, and Nicole just figured magic things could change.

“Do you think her connection with the book is growing because she survived using its magic?” Fenrir asked.

Shay shook his head. “Blood magic is quickly spent. Banishing the fae would have drained its power, not strengthened it.”

“But your friend Hook already ruled out blood magic,” she said.

“Well, he must have been wrong,” Fenrir said. “Because there’s no other kind that binds.”

Except that wasn’t true. Nicole had firsthand knowledge of that.

And so did Shay.

“What about soul magic,” she said.

“Only jinn can work soul magic,” Fenrir said dismissively.

“True.” She nodded. “But what if Asphodel wasn’t a magician?”

“What do mean?” Shay looked down at her.

“Think about it,” she said. “There’s no blood bond. But somehow I can still protect the most powerful grimoire that ever was. A book that was written by a magician with a fake name. But what if it wasn’t just the name that was fake. What if Asphodel was also pretending to be magician. What if he was really a jinni hiding from his past.”

“But why would he bother?” Shay asked. “There was no reason to hide if he was already exiled.”

“But what if he wasn’t exiled?” Nicole asked. Her head spun with possibility. All the stories about the Realm she’d ever heard—from her grandfather, from her pops, from Shay—all came together in her mind. For the first time it all made perfect sense. “What if he came here on his own?”

Fenrir let out a laugh. “No one would come here willingly.”

Nicole glanced down at the floor. She had a pretty good idea why.

“They might if they knew the king was targeting jinn,” she said. “If he knew that one had already been taken prisoner and was being used for his power. Especially if the power inside him was far too strong and dangerous to risk Oberon getting his hands on.”

Shay’s features fell. Nicole shivered as she felt the first real rush of shame run through him. Tying himself to her soul might have given him crazy power, but it had also given him a taste of morality.

“So, instead he came to Earth and put that power in a book,” he said. All traces of doubt had disappeared from his voice. “Then he bound that book to the soul of family. And years later, one of their descendants bound themselves to me to keep it out of the hands of the tyrant he’d tried to escape.”

Nicole reached down and took his hand. A part of her wanted to assure him everything was going to be okay, but she knew he would know it was a lie. So, instead she told him the truth…even though it was a hard one.

“I know it sucks,” she said. “Nobody likes finding out that there were terrible consequences to something we did. But it’s done, and now you have a choice. You can either run from the consequences of your actions, or you can help make things right.”

“I don’t know if I can make this right.” For the first time, the look in his eyes was far from certain.

“Maybe if you were alone, you couldn’t,” she said. “But you’re not alone, Shay. The book is my responsibility too, remember. You’re my responsibility. Even if my soul wasn’t tied up with yours I’d still help you carry the burden of it.”

He reached out and cupped her cheek. “You don’t have to.”

“I know,” she said. “But this is what love is, choosing to help another when you could just as easily walk away.”

Shay smiled at her, pulled her close, and kissed her with an intensity and tenderness that made her knees go weak.

“See,” Fenrir said, his deep voice breaking the magic of the moment. “There’s no shame in the physical act of love.”