Spring

The words die a quick death on my tongue the moment I see the hurt flash across her face. She focuses on the tiny jeweled half-moons on her nails, composing herself.

When her eyes meet mine, there’s a practiced callousness there. “Hellebore was a mistake.”

“What happened?” I ask softly.

“Most Evermore wouldn’t talk about that part of my past and live, Summer. Understand?”

I nod, but the veiled threat in her voice doesn’t scare me. I know what hurt looks like. Whatever Hellebore did to Eclipsa, it really messed her up.

A splash draws my eyes to the middle of the pool just as Asher and Valerian land. They’re both breathing hard. Blood drips from Asher’s nose and Valerian’s bottom lip, and deep scratches rake their flesh.

Valerian claps his hand on Asher’s massive shoulder, and they chuckle over something I can’t hear.

“You totally gave up your flank, Prince,” Asher is saying as they swim over.

“Only because you tried to incinerate me,” Valerian growls. “Next time, I’m shredding one of your wings, you overstuffed lizard.”

“Have fun?” Eclipsa calls.

“Not as much as if you were there, Eclipsa.” Valerian’s tone is teasing, but his eyes are serious—and totally focused on me.

“Oh, so you enjoy being embarrassed in front of your girlfriend?” Eclipsa grins slyly. “Noted.”

His eyes never leave mine as he shakes his hair out like a wet dog, water droplets sprinkling the air.

But Eclipsa was right. Before, Valerian’s attention was filled with raw, masculine power.

Now, the pull between us is intense, but manageable. Ish.

Unless he comes any closer—

Oh, hell. Goose bumps ripple over my arms and legs as he stalks toward me. I let out a breath as he takes a seat two stools down, leaving just enough space between us that I can breathe.

My senses are hyper alert, taking in his every move, every sound. I nearly flinch as he orders two elderberry cocktails.

And then I do flinch as music fills the air. The others look in horror as my ringtone for Mack—the Bohemian Rhapsody—blares from my cell on the counter.

“Crap,” I hiss, grabbing my phone. “What time is it?”

“Dusk,” Asher answers. Most Fae don’t give specific times—it’s considered mortal and rude to do so—but rather, generic terms for whatever part of the day it is.

Dawn. Mid-afternoon.

But I very much care about the specifics, and my heart sinks when I make out the true time: 7:30 PM.

“Oh, no.” I check my messages to see several missed texts from Mack. “We were supposed to study tonight with some of the other shadows.”

How did I forget? I text where I am with a quick apology, my stomach in knots as I wait to see if she’s pissed. I know keeping Mack out of this whole business is for her own good, but I feel terrible not telling her the entire truth.

Relief pours through me as I read her reply. You lucky bitch. I’d totally ditch studying to chill poolside at the Instant Lady Boner’s exclusive pad.

Another text pops up almost immediately. Jace doesn’t believe me. He said no one gets invited to the Ice Prince’s Evernell pad. Send a picture stat or you’re dead to me. I might have just bet on Fred’s life.

Grinning, I say, You’re cruel. Fred deserves better. What do you get if you’re right?

Ten boxes of tampons.

Whoa. The best we can buy at the commons are pads, and they’re so cheap that toilet paper works better.

I type, I get half.

Two boxes, she amends.

Done.

Lifting my phone, I snap a selfie of myself with the pool in the background.

A few seconds later, she responds. Holy orc balls, you’re hawt. Is Instant Lady Boner a walking hard on right now?

“What does Instant Lady Boner mean?” Eclipsa drawls over my shoulder, knowing exactly what it means.

Against my wishes, my chest turns blotchy red, and I slam my phone facedown on the marble counter so hard it nearly cracks. “Nothing. So, I have to meet Mack back at the academy. Can we get back to the earlier conversation?”

The levity in the air disappears, any traces of humor gone from their faces, and I mentally prepare myself for whatever comes next.

Valerian tips the last of his drink back and then turns to face me. “The extent of most Evermore’s powers don’t show up for thousands of years, which is why we wait to enter the academy until typically around the middle of our third millennium of life. But we’re tested every five hundred years.”

“Okay.” I twirl my straw nervously inside my empty glass.

“You were a mystery to all of us,” Eclipsa says. “The only true power you ever consistently showed was an affinity for creatures.”

“That explains the griffin,” I mutter.

“Most Fae claim two or three major powers not reliant on spells or outside magic, and perhaps one shifter form. But you . . . every new testing you showed something different.”

“What does that mean?” I’ve given up pretending I’m not nervous and am chewing the crap out of my poor straw.

“The final time you were tested, I was there. You performed the most remarkable soulmancer spell I’ve ever witnessed—and I hated you for it. Afterward, your father pulled strings to keep you from testing publicly ever again.”

“So my powers are soulmancy and talking to animals?” My mind is spinning, sweat from my palms coating my smoothie glass.

Valerian shakes his head. “No. We don’t think your major power is soulmancy. We think it’s something else, something so rare that it’s either never been recorded or been lost to time. An ability to somehow . . . borrow magical abilities from other Evermore. That would explain how you continuously showed different powers. We think you accidentally took Eclipsa’s soulmancy powers during your last test, but amplified it somehow.”

I’m nodding. Just nodding and nodding like I’m not freaking the eff out. “Makes sense . . . uh, huh. Totally. And now the big D wants me because I can channel a soulmancer’s powers, but stronger somehow?”

Eclipsa shifts on her stool. “Soulmancers have been going missing recently. A lot of them. We think whoever took the soulstone is responsible. If someone could act as a conduit for all those powers, could merge them somehow—they could break through the wards on the Darken’s soulstone and . . .”

“Bring him back to life,” I whisper. My heart is racing, clammy sweat wetting my palms.

“They would need all the pieces of the axe, first,” Eclipsa adds.

Valerian frowns. “Summer, do you need a break?”

Realizing that they’re all staring at me, and that I’ve nearly chewed my straw in half, I stop attacking the poor disposable utensil and force out a shaky breath. “I’m fine. I need to know the truth. So the public SOS call I sent out somehow during the Wild Hunt? What power is that?”

“It could be part of your ability to talk to animals. Perhaps that power to mentally communicate isn’t limited to animals, but Fae also. We don’t know yet.”

Yet. My mind is spinning with everything they’ve just told me. I have magic. Strange, rare magic that I mainly steal from other Fae. Magic that could bring back the mad ruler who nearly broke our world.

Steadying my voice, I ask, “Does the Darken or his collaborator know about me?”

They share another grim look. “We don’t think they know who you are yet,” Valerian admits. “But they may still be looking for you. Last year, we believe someone paid the orc to kidnap you because they suspected, but didn’t know for sure. That person could be the Darken’s collaborator or simply someone who was hoping to sell you to them. With a bounty as high as yours, hundreds of mortals and Fae have been kidnapped over the years and passed off as you.”

Oh, God. The thought makes me sick. “But the basilisk . . . it tried to kill me,” I remind them.

Valerian’s eyes darken with barely veiled rage. “We now think the basilisk was compelled to kill you and retrieve your soulstone. Whoever has that controls your soul.”

“And could put me into a new, compliant body.” I shiver at the thought of being owned by the Darken, body and soul.

“If they knew for sure,” Valerian says, his voice soft, “they would already have you. But they don’t know . . . yet.”

Yet. There’s that dang word again.

My fingers flutter over my chest as I work to drag air into my lungs. My body is both hot and cold. My belly twists. I have no idea why, after everything that’s happened recently, this is what’s sending me into a full-blown panic attack.

But the one thing I know for sure is that I would die before I brought the Darken back. Even without my memories, something inside me must still remember him, and icy dread slithers through my insides at the thought of him returning.

I clutch my neck as bile slams into my throat.

Valerian growls, the sound a low warning rattle . . . and also an order to leave seeing how everyone flees at once. Even poor banana hammock Gaius.

Valerian is suddenly in front of my stool, calling my name. I try to meet his worried face but darkness swirls around my vision.

I can’t breathe. The air—it’s so thin. My heart pounding into my skull.

“Summer.” His voice warbles in my ears from the end of a tunnel. I feel his cool hand press into my chest, just above my heart. The other slips under my chin and lifts my face to his. “Summer, look at me.”

The second our eyes meet, a surge of crisp white stillness spears through my core, driving back the mindless fear, the sticky black cloud of desperation. The brilliant light grows brighter. Clearing my spirit of darkness and hopelessness.

A delicious warmth blossoms, filling my limbs, my torso, my toes with a hollow, throbbing ache.

Just as that ache begins to center between my thighs, he jerks his hands away and steps back until we’re no longer touching.

The light vanishes, sending me crashing back to reality. I fight the stab of disappointment, grateful that my panic is gone. “What was that?”