Page 80 of An Empress of Air & Chaos

Had she gotten enough sleep last night? She refocused and the aura was still present, translucent around Kellen’s full body.

As if knowing eyes were glaring into his soul, Kellen stood stationary. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’re looking at me like you have seen a ghost.” He walked towards her.

Her mouth struggled to say the words in disbelief, “Kellen, you are glowing.”

The colour in his eyes faded, but he seemed to keep his face straight. The way he had been trained too.

“Have you hit your head recently?” he said, putting down his spear. “I saw you go over that vault pretty damn hard yesterday. Maybe we should get a healer to look at you.”

“I am fine, thank you,” she said, flustered. “I think I will just lie down for a bit. Bathe, maybe. I probably haven’t eaten enough, or something.”

His soft, adolescent features warmed into a smile. “I will tell Gideon he has been working you too hard.”

She offered him a polite smile back, still noticing the glow, and then hurried from the room.

Emara palmed off her odd behaviour with Kellen as she opened the door to the infirmary room, putting it down to hardly obtaining any sleep last night.

“Where have you been?” Cally questioned, sitting up in the bed with her hair wild around her shoulders.

“I could ask you the same question, Miss Greymore, but I fear the answer,” Emara joked, removing her training boots and sitting them neatly in the corner.

Cally’s face lit up, her smeared-with-lipstick mouth ready to spill all her secrets of the night, “Wait until you hear what I have to say.”

She very much doubted that Callyn’s secrets would weigh more than her own.

Our dirty little secret.

“You are never going to believe it. Well, you might now that there are demons and the likes running around Mossgrave.”

“Oh, Gods, where is this going?” Emara bounced on to the bed, overly eager to hear anything but Torin’s self-loving voice in her mind.

“So, get this. La Luna guy, is actually Shifter guy!” Cally opened her mouth and placed her hands up to her cheeks for dramatic effect. Her eyebrows dropped as she took in Emara’s face. “Why aren’t you as shocked as I want you to be? Why has your jaw not hit the floor?” Cally’s eyes narrowed as disappointment screwed into her features.

Emara took a deep breath and decided that, for her best friend, she would act surprised.

Just for her.

“Oh my—what? I was just processing it in my mind.” She tried to line her words with incredulity. “A Shifter?”

“I know, right? I couldn’t believe it. And he told me all about the other kind of creatures that walk amongst us in Caledorna. I mean, I don’t want to use the word creature in case they totally get offended, but you know what I mean—people that are not human. I found out so much information last night, you would have been proud.” She laughed as her shoulder popped up in delight. “I actually got to know him.”

“I am enormously proud of you,” Emara giggled back. “What other stuff did you find out?” she probed. Emara wondered what information a Shifter would be giving to a pretty blonde at a party.

Shifter…

She wondered if he was part of Breighly’s pack or something else entirely. Was he another kind of Shifter? What other kinds of Shifters were out there? How dangerous could they be?

She shut the thoughts down before more anxiety tightened in her chest.

“He told me about all different kinds. Wolves, panthers, mountain lions, hawks—I was speechless. And it takes a lot for me to be speechless.” Emara nodded in agreement at Cally’s words. “He informed me that there are magical Houses of Witches. One of the Houses is basically a house of mermaids.” She opened her mouth again and her eyes were wild with knowledge. “Can you believe it, Em? A fucking house of mermaids, is that not mad?!”

They weren’t quite mermaids, but Emara wasn’t going to burst her magical bubble.

Well, at least Callyn was all caught up. Now, all she had to do was tell her that she, too, was a part of that crazy world and her ex-boyfriend wanted to ruin her life. Her stomach flipped.

Tackle one at a time.

“And this is the best part: Shifter guy is going to be at this annual party that the Hunters throw to court the mermaids.” She tucked a blonde strand of hair behind her ear—formally, like she hadn’t just referred to the House of Water witches as mermaids. “And all the other witchy people will be there too. He asked me to go with him!” she squealed.

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