Page 7 of Cursed

I frown at that. I thought only Arden and I could see her sparkle. And I worry… What if Shayla has some big quest to accomplish, like the legends of old? Why do the little ones mention the Fae Queen’s and Shayla’s similar energy? I fear it’s an omen of more dark times ahead.

From what our history books tell us, the Fae Queen almost lost her life to become what she did—a savior of faekind. She saved us all with her willingness to sacrifice. Will Shayla risk herself to fix what’s wrong with the realms now?

My heart beats wildly in my chest, the anxiety coming to a peak. I fear the answer is yes. She is hunted by the evil assholes who are draining supes. And now they know that she possesses a strange and powerful magic.

If only we knew what she was, then maybe we could figure out how to help her use it to rid the world of the threat we all face. Then maybe Shayla will finally be safe.

Arden wipes his handsome brow with the back of his forearm and walks over to me. “You okay?”

The damn empath… He’s as good as I am.

I check in with my own body. I’m not okay. It feels like half of me is missing. “Nah, not really,” I answer truthfully. “It fucking hurts to have her separated from me. The damned dragon’s magic blocks my shadows. I can’t reach out to her. And I’m worried.”

“I’m worried too. How long do you think they will wait to come here?”

“But what happens after the next hurdle of them getting here safely? What’s our future? I sense dark times are ahead.”

Arden sighs. His gaze seems to be inspecting his latest modifications to the house, but I know he feels the same foreboding that I do. “And where the fuck is Hollis?”

I’ve been so concerned about Hollis that I’ve been trying to forget he exists, not that my heart would allow that to happen. I remind myself that Quade wasn’t in danger last time I saw him. So that gives me hope. But worry takes me again. “Do you think Drake got to him? Or my father?”

Shit. Wheredoesmy father stand in all of this? Is he really the incubus-mage who attacked Shay? My gut says yes.

“I don’t know.” Arden grits his teeth and pulls his hands through his long locks, tugging at them in frustration. “We can’t go find out. We need to wait here for Shayla to show. Be here to protect her. If we run off, she might come here and just run off to find us… Then we all get caught.”

“Damn. I really wish we had cell phones like humans have.”

“Yeah, and the magic mirrors aren’t reliable and don’t work long distances anymore,” Arden reminds me.

“Have you ever wondered why magic is failing? Why are the assholes in control stealing it?”

“The little ones have a theory,” Arden says and looks around for one of them to be listening in on our conversation. “They say there are new vibrations in the realms. Energy is changing—it’s different now.”

I try to see the energy in the air, but I’m not like Arden with his ability to see energy connections in nature, just people and creatures. “Do you see what they are talking about?”

“No. Maybe it’s too subtle for my abilities? And that’s if they are correct.”

“Hmm,” I acknowledge noncommittally. I know most supes underestimate the little ones, but neither of us is that sort. There’s something to their theory. We just don’t know what to make of it.

Arden pats my knee and stands. “I’m going to work out my nervous energy by getting the place ready forsixpeople.”

4

ACADEMY

QUADE

After I send Branden, Arden, and Landis off to gather Shayla and prepare our safe house for her arrival, I sneak back onto campus.

It grates my nerves to hand over the safety of my beloved to Branden and that fucking flying lizard, Rourke, but there’s nothing I can do about it… not yet.

Everything points to his actions being a sign that the dragon shifter has accepted Shayla. Why else would he fight his father and escape with her?

Part of me was hoping he would sever their tentative bond, even if it would have been excruciating for her soul to endure. She deserves better than to be with a male who first rejected, then mostly ignored or badgered her. And not to mention, it appears that his father is behind the missing supes.

The ballroom is completely empty now, and it’s a shame I never got to dance with my mate during the damned thing. But such is the forbidden relationship that we have. I suppose I should have risked it and danced with Shayla as her advisor.

However, we had already drawn too much attention, and all eyes were on her tonight. Whether she knows it or not. Likely not. That girl doesn’t even realize what a beauty she is. But it’s more than that. She glows—radiates. And as she comes into her own and feels more comfortable in her own skin, she does so even more.

---