Page 97 of A Deal with the Shadow King

I pinch his shoulder as hard as I can. “If we marry her, we might as well paint a red “x” on her forehead. She’ll never be safe again.”

Two opens his mouth in outrage. “And what about us? We can’t go on as we are. Morrigan will not be content to lurk in the shadows for much longer, so whatever happens next, your pet might not survive the fight that’s coming.”

Three groans in approval as the perfect replica of Nell finishes him off, swallowing every gulp of his seed before vanishing into thin air, leaving Two and I horny, unsatisfied, and dangerously close to blows.

This is what happens when a soul gets cleaved into four, not-so-equal parts. If you think getting along with your family is hard, try arguing with broken pieces of yourself every day for decades—it would drive any man mad.

And trust me when I say he’s even worse off for it when he’s king.

Chapter 33

Webs

The lingering taste of Three’s kiss burns my guilty lips as I run out of the tunnels to the gardens. A few tiny snowflakes blow in the wind, the red leaves of the Hawthorn blanketing the earth. The cold air soothes my shameful heart, but it does nothing to erase the touch of ecstasy running through my veins.

For a moment there I thought…

Goosebumps brand my flesh, and I wrap my arms around my frame, suddenly chilled to the bone. I had abandoned my jacket in Three’s bedroom, and the thin black t-shirt I’m wearing does little to shield me from the elements. I’m scared to double-back to my room and cross paths with the third triplet, his magnetic pull almost impossible to resist.

No matter how much I try, my body really can’t tell them apart, and the magic at work in Three’s studio even befuddled my brain.

For a moment, I really thought One was in the room with me. I recognized the familiar shape of his lips and the gruff inflections of his voice.

I push open the library’s golden doors and cower inside the heated sanctuary. My best friend’s gaze zeroes-in on me from behind the desk, and I smooth down my hair with one hand. The strands are so disheveled that Lori is bound to notice, but she doesn’t look twice at my head.

Her cheeks are rosy, and a sense of urgency shines in her gray eyes as she hurries over to me. “I found her, Nell. I found Mara.”

My brain takes a moment to catch up, still tangled in Three’s embrace. “You found Mara? Where?”

I search the room for an explanation, as though Mara might actually be hiding amongst the stacks.

Lori squeezes my hands and pulls my attention back to her. “I’ve been practicing my tracking all week in the new world, running errands for Two. I figured I could afford a quick stop in Denver. I failed at first, trying to find Mara’s magic in the sceawere, so I went to her brother’s restaurant instead. She was always going on and on about taking us there one day, and I remembered the name. She was waiting tables there like nothing happened, and when I greeted her, it was like she’d never seen me before.”

Air blows out of my lungs. “She doesn’t remember us?”

“She doesn’t remember anything. All her memories from Faerie—gone.” Lori lowers her voice, sneaking a glance behind us to make sure we’re alone. “Remember when I said that I couldn’t track her by her magic?”

I give her a quick nod.

“She’s got no magic left. No bite of power at all. The king must have taken it on Foghar. That’s what happens to the seeds who wash out,” she explains, a thick sense of relief overpowering her voice.

We both feared that Mara had been killed, so the truth seems benign in comparison, but my heart hammers. Returning home without any memories isn’t as dire as what I’d imagined, but the thought fills me with dread and rage.

I always figured that, if I got through the end of the deal and won the bet, I’d fulfill my duty to my kingdom and still…have options?

I didn’t know exactly what kind of options, but I hadn’t imagined my time here would simply…disappear. My magic, my memories.

“I don’t want to forget,” I say quickly.

Lori frowns at my sudden outburst and looks me up and down like she’s seeing me for the first time. “What happened to you? You look different.”

I ignore her question, the swirl of anxiety thickening in my blood. “I know I was forced to come here, but now… I don’t want to forget. I don’t want to go back home without a shred of understanding of how my life went up in flames. Even if I come back as a blank slate, my father will never treat me the same again. Never.”

“You won’t wash out, Nell. I’m sure?—”

The tinted glass above our heads smashes to a million pieces, and daylight blares through the library, a thick shadow perched above the hole.

A spider the size of a deer crawls inside the library. The nightmare’s edge wavers like a mirage in the sunlight, the dark blaze at its core thickening as it scurries across the ceiling.

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