Page 15 of Midwinter Night's Prince

They all seemed to doubt Blair's presence. After seeing her in Japan, they'd memorized her scent, and it hadn't hit their nostrils for days. Seth couldn't afford to keep them in Toronto for long. A shame. He liked the penthouse suite he'd borrowed from Knox. The sleek modern decor wasn't to his usual taste, but the vast black and white rooms beat the sort of hovels they normally stayed in.

Axia—what sort of a name was that? It made him think of deodorant—drew all the eyes to her as she stalked to a sofa, and she liked it. She sat, throwing her long legs on the soft leather. Seth winced as her heels marred the smooth white fabric.

"How did Blair get you kicked out?"

Axia frowned. She didn't like talking about it—no doubt the tale wasn't to her benefit. Watching her wet her lips, Seth prepared for a heavily edited account of the events.

"She was my mentor freshman year. She was only supposed to tell me about classes and teachers, but she kept spying on me and my friends. We met up for some spells—the kind of stuff the teachers don't want us to practice. Too advanced. Blair followed us, and tried to stop the spell while we were in the middle of it. It backfired on us. I was badly hurt. Then, she also snitched on us. We were all expelled."

In short, they'd been dabbling in dark, forbidden magic. Seth wasn't about to blame her—he'd done plenty of forbidden craft at the New York Academy of Magic. The difference was, he wasn't dumb enough to have been caught.

Seth smirked, adding one piece to the puzzle that was his little witch. Beyond the bright hair and combat boots, Blair was a goody two-shoes.

A smile tugged at his lips.

"So, what? She got you kicked out of school, and now you want your revenge?" He didn't hide his contempt. Seth was all for holding grudges, but he had to concede the witch in front of him was particularly pathetic.

"She ruined my life. When I got home, my mother sealed my powers. I can only use a tenth of the magic inside me, all because Ms. Perfect wanted attention." Axia sat up, folding her legs underneath her. "She deserves everything coming her way. And I want to be there when she gets it."

Seth nodded slowly. "Fair enough. And what do you have to bring to the table, if you're magicless? Other than boobs and bitterness, that is."

Burg guffawed as though he'd never heard a better joke. Seth hadn't known the brute knew how to laugh. He supposed boobs helped him find his sense of humor.

"As I said, I know her. Blair was trying to be my friend. She told me things. The things she hides. I know, for example, that she never uses her core magic. The natural magic she has scares her."

"Why?" Seth frowned, displeased. He hadn't meant to ask the question. It had slipped out of his lips unbidden.

He didn't like to let anything slip.

"I'm not sure," Axia admitted.

Now he snorted. "Fat lot of help, you are."

"Well, what Idoknow is that the magic we learn is a lot more taxing that the magic we are naturally given. Trust me on this—my own natural magic's blocked, remember?" She smirked. "That's why she's obsessed with training in combat and fitness. She can't use her magic for long, and it exhausts her."

Seth had underestimated Axia's usefulness. What she said made sense, fitting another piece in the fascinating puzzle.

He sighed."None of that's even remotely helpful." It was. He just couldn't let the others figure it out. "It doesn't tell us where she is."

"It tells you she'll need plenty of rest every time she has to use magic. And guess what?" She lifted a flask that seemed empty at first.

Focusing, Seth saw one single string of hair inside. A black thread fading to a pink wave.

"I took a few strands of her hair on my way out. I like to keep tabs on my enemies. I know a witch who can cast a location spell. We can corner her, then all we'll have to do is wait for her to use her magic and follow. She'll be down for the count shortly after."

Seth shouldn't have let the witch's appearance, or her lack of power, color his perception. What she lacked in power, she made up for in spite. "We'd have to be fairly close already for this to work. If you only have one hair—"

"I have a full hairbrush. We can get the general location, and once we're in position, do another spell to know exactly where she is."

Dammit.

They had Blair cornered.

9

SMOKE AND MIRRORS

In her years in Oldcrest, Blair had studied hundreds of tales that had started right here on this soil. Legends of heroes and monsters, dancing to the tunes of the gods of Olympus.

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