Page 4 of Clarity

“I… don’t really have anyone to teach me anymore.” I moved from where I’d been, trying to escape the weight of their attention, even a little. It was suffocating. “Like I said… a lot of power has been lost over the years, to the point of it just being… a trickle.”

A fate I could change, if I were willing.

I swallowed hard, shaking my head a bit to clear thoughts of the prescription laid out on the worn pages of the grimoire. Although, it reminded me of what I was supposed to be doing.

“I still need to find my necklace,” I announced, hoping they would take the hint. “Weren’t you guys on your way out?”

“No,” Celeste countered, stepping in front of me. “And we’re not finished talking. We’refriends,remember?”

I sighed. “Of course I remember.”

“Okay then,friend,” Ambrosia said, moving to get beside Celeste. “Tell me, did you know about the Blacks already? What they were?”

I met her gaze and shook my head. “That’s not what you actually want to know.” She frowned, and started to offer a rebuttal, but I cut her off. “You want to know if I knew whatyouwere. Before you even met Cassius Black,” I said and her expression softened with my accuracy. “And the answer is no, I didn’t. My best guess is because you were dormant, it wasn’t potent enough for me to feel it.”

“Okay, but still,what about the Blacks?” Celeste asked. “Did you know?”

Here we go.

“Yes,” I admitted, because it made little sense to tell anything but the truth, even though it made Celeste’s face crumple in disillusionment.

“Seriously, Riv?” she said. “You let me go to that house, go on dates, youjoked with me about the man being a vampire,I?—”

“Would you have even believed me?!” I asked, tossing up my hands. “Either of you,would you have believed me? The answer is no,” I laughed. “And even then… vampires, witches, sirens, lycans, djinn, fae—they walk around every day doing regular shit with everybody else, all the time. I didn’t know you were going to buss it wide open and end up that man’s goddamn vampire queen,” I snapped.

For a moment after that, the room was silent.

And then all three of us burst out laughing.

“Bitch?!” Celeste giggled, eyes wide. “Why would you?—”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorry.I’m justreally stressed.” I scrubbed a hand over my face as my mirth died, dragged my fingers through my hair. “I cannot even articulate how important this necklace is. Ihaveto find it.”

“It’s notjusta necklace, is it?” Brosia asked. “It’s some type of… protection?”

“Uh… I guess it could be considered that,” I agreed.

“Why do you need protection? Is someone after you?” Celeste grabbed my hand, linking her fingers through mine and squeezing. “Do you need help? I can ask El?—”

“No!” I shrieked, snatching away from her. “Seriously,no,” I insisted. “I don’t need help from them. As a matter of fact… I need y’all to go, before they start looking for you.”

“What?” Brosia frowned. “Is there like… beef between vampires and witches or something?”

“It’s not that,” I replied. “I just… I need to be alone, to think, and process some information I just found. And figure out what I’m going to do if I can’t find this necklace.”

Celeste nodded. “Okay. But are yousureyou don’t want some extra hands? We could?—”

“I’m sure,” I insisted, already moving toward my front door, hoping they’d take the hint, and they did. Just a bit more hemming and hawing then I finally had them out the door.

As soon as they were over the threshold, I set to work, using ink from a certain box at my bedside to draw a little symbol at each entry point to my home, warding offanyvisitors, not just those of the blood-sucking type.

I’d just put the finishing touches on the final rune when a cold draft raised the hairs on my arms. I whipped around, looking for the source, even though on some level I already knew.

I wouldn’t find one.

What Iwouldfind was a tall, broad-shouldered, wickedly handsome vampire standing in the middle of my living room, fangs glistening as he grinned at me.

My heart fell into my ass as he raised a hand, showcasing my amulet dangling between his fingers.

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