Page 139 of Obsession

Well, if it won’t be Aris, and it won’t be Sem, that only leaves…

“You guys want me to confront Jaegen on my own?” I say, gawking.

Sem shakes her head. “Not for long,” she says.

I glance at Aris to see what he thinks of this, noting his feathering jaw. His body is tenser, too, the way it is when he resigns himself.

With a sigh, I turn back to Sem. “Right, then. Bait it is.”

Chapter thirty-four

What a way to start a final battle: a conversation with your sort of ex-boyfriend who was never really your boyfriend because he was pretending just to appease an evil god in his head.

Simon, Henry, and I stand awkwardly side-by-side. It’s good to see Simon; we haven’t talked since London, and so much has changed since then. The bags are gone from his eyes, and his shirt is ironed and tucked in. His hair has been combed back. He is doing better, and though I didn’t expect his appearance, it’s a welcome sight.

It’s nice to see that he’s doing better, but I don’t rejoice at his presence; guilt holds me back. I told him that I would fix everything. I told him that I would kill Aris. And in the end, I couldn’t.

Simon stands here now and kindly does not tell me that I was wrong, the proof of which being the flirty, evil god standing beside Sem. It can’t be easy for Simon to see Aris after what he did to the Institute, and to the world. I’ll admit, it isn’t easy seeing Simon next to Henry, either. It takes me back to a different time.

What’s next for the two of them?

Henry glances at me, and I suddenly take great interest in our surroundings. The four of us are in one of the smaller rooms the castle. It’s a room I haven’t been in before, and it smells like old buildings do, like dampness and earth. Above us, Aris’ followers walk about, packing and readying themselves for the adventure of a lifetime, unaware of the melodrama playing out beneath them. Their stomps penetrate the tense air, a reminder of our purpose.

My attention switches, and I turn to see Sem walking toward us humans, her focus on me. “You know your part?” asks Sem.

“Keep him talking.”

“Yes, and lead him into the circle.” She nods at the complex spiral of chalk runes on the ground. Soon, we’ll cover them with a rug. “Once he’s inside, the magic will leave him and he will be bound to the circle. It won’t last long, so we must act quickly.”

She has told us the plan several times before, but I nod along. I will go through it as many times as she wants; I don’t blame her for being thorough. Everything rests on me. The slightest misstep on my part, and disaster falls.

She turns to the mages. “Do you agree to bear witness?”

Henry and Simon nod. They are taller than her, Henry bulkier, but I am fascinated to note how they bend toward Sem, as if they are just as affected by her presence as I am. Hypnotised, spellbound.

Jaegen and Aris change the temperature of the air; they change its weight and make it pulse and pound until merely standing next to them feels like a marathon has been run. Sem, on the other hand, changes nothing of her surroundings. What she does, instead, is make the world around her more comfortable and desirable.

Sem gestures to a dimly lit corner. “Stay over there, and do not interfere. I will keep you invisible to Jaegen’s perception.”

“I can cloak us,” protests Henry, who promptly balks, realizing he talked back to a goddess—the goddess of magic, at that.

But Sem only smiles—not charmed, but patient. “I would prefer it if I did it myself. Do not worry; it will not fail.”

Before he can say anything else, Simon grabs Henry by the arm and drags him to the corner of the room, muttering something under his breath. I watch them for a moment, seeing an echo of myself following after them. I blink and that apparition is gone.

Sem returns her attention to me. “Keep your thoughts simple,” she says softly, though this is one of the most crucial elements. “Do not allow him to suspect the ambush.”

I nod. “Of course.”

I’ve had some practice shielding my thoughts by now, though there’s always room for improvement. I glance at Aris to get his take, but he’s turned away, crouching to suspect the magic chalked into the ground. Checking Sem’s work.

Sem gives me an amused glance before stepping aside, pretending to care about a bookshelf, idly picking up a small, green book. Giving us privacy.

I walk to Aris and pop a squat a few inches from the circle. “It’s not like you to have second thoughts,” I comment.

“I’m not having second thoughts.” He doesn’t look away from the runes, eyes narrowed, fixed on every minuscule detail. Leaving nothing to chance. “I’m only thinking.”

“About what?”

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