Page 64 of Wicked Heirs

“I let you control and dominate everything! But not this! You don’t get to controlthis!Not when it comes to my parents, Orpheus!”

“I can’t hold this much longer,” Xavier called to us, his foot slipping a little, his hands shaking against the violence of phoenix fire slamming against his shield.

“You’re going to hurt him!” Alena called out to Talon. “One of your best friends!”

“You don’t speak to me!” he yelled back at her. Looking at Xavier, he said, “Drop the shield before youdoget hurt. How are you even doing this at all? It’s phoenix fire.”

“Angel blood.”

Shock infiltrated Talon’s features. “You… what? You fed from her?”

“He needed help,” Alena told him.

He scoffed. “And you just offered it up? Just like that?”

“Yes.” She pulled herself out of the pool. “Now, we’re done with this.”

As soon as she was out and standing upright, she shot her palm out, her gold magic streaming forth right at him and forming a dome around him. The moment it was erected, it snuffed out his flames.

I watched, awestruck, as he went to call them again, but nothing but sputters happened.

“Argh!” he cried, slamming against the dome trapping him.

Xavier blew out a breath of relief and dropped his power.

With a snap of her fingers and a brief spark of gold, Alena was wrapped in the turquoise and gold satin robe she had been when we’d first woken up earlier and come down here, before I’d conjured her a bikini. In the next beat, I had my purple long-sleeve tee covering my bare chest, along with a pair of leather pants. And we were both bone dry.

Then she swept a stream of gold over my illusion, collapsing it in moments and returning it to a clearing in the woods at the edge of campus.

“Are you okay?” she asked Xavier, walking to him and looking him over worriedly.

“I’ll be fine, beautiful.” He looked between us. “As I can seeyouare, even in Orpheus’ presence now.”

“It was an unexpected development,” she told him.

Unexpectedwas one way to put it and not the word I would have used.

Inevitablewas more like it.

And that was really saying something seeing as though I didn’t believe in fate or that sort of thing in the least. I was all about carving out my own life using my own well-determined and strategized actions, and making my own choices.

Hence why I was here at Electi Academy and not back in the Dark Fae Realm learning under my father’s tutelage.

Well, one of the reasons why I was here.

Alena spun to face me. “Show Talon the truth.”

I walked to her. “You want me to go inside your head? It’s more invasive than entering your dream like I did last night.”

“You did what?” Xavier bit out.

“It’s fine, it worked out,” Alena told him.

“No, it certainly isn’tfine. The fact he’s got you thinking that is beyond.” He eyed me, basically seething at what he viewed as a major violation.

He really was so innocent sometimes.

There was no perfect in our world.

---