Page 75 of Forbidden Magic
Jessa skips closer and closer, Allie flinching under her grip.
Joy engulfs me at the sight, but I school my features into a frown.
“Got her sister.” Jessa hands her over to Flynn with a deviant grin.
Cole is behind her, and the two male Faes grab a hold of Allie and drag her to the tree next to me.
The smile on my sister’s face is completely unnatural. She laughs, tilting her head back, and the boys pause.
With a slight shimmer, Allie’s tight face melts into Olson’s, the warlock grinning from ear to ear. Flynn and Cole yank their hands away, but it’s too late. They all touched him. Our seeker.
If my hands weren’t tied up, I would applaud.
The Faes stare in horror at the red numbers written inside their palms. Jessa yelps and checks her skin too.
I burst out laughing. “Looks like I won’t be the only one on dish duty this month.”
Flynn’s hand closes around Olson’s throat. “You’re dead, Lewis.”
Olson snorts. “You’re found, Verinos. Might as well not humiliate yourself further.”
The branches secure my friend into a similar prison as my own as Flynn spits to the ground. “I heard there’s a beast roaming these woods. With some luck, we’ll find you both in pieces tomorrow morning.”
With a growl that’s more animal than man, Cole follows his friend down the trail, his sinister gaze flicking over to me for one short second.
His gaze is so drastically different from what it used to be. Before, it’d be calculating but heated—playful even. Now, it’s all thorns and resentment. The dark pits betray nothing but utter contempt. Gone is the soft edge of his touch, gone is the teasing sound of his voice. There is nothing but cold marble and a deserted emptiness where the sparks between us used to flicker.
I miss it sometimes, though I’d never admit it to anyone. Cole might have wanted me before, but now he wants me gone. Dead. Buried. I’m living proof that he’s not invincible, and he’ll always hate me for it.
All for the best. I’m a Winslow. He’s a Fae prince. We’re bound to kill each other at one point.
They leave us chained to the trees, but I can barely feel the cold wind rushing along my neck. “I can’t believe your plan worked,” I say to Olson.
“I told you it would. You just had to distract them long enough.”
We mime a high five from our precarious positions.
Turning into someone else is an incredibly advanced spell. No way Olson was able to cast that on his own.
“Who helped you?”
He presses his index finger to his mouth. “That’s a secret.”
“Is Lydia okay?”
“She’s regained consciousness, but I heard she doesn’t remember a thing.”
I bite my bottom lip hard enough to taste iron on my tongue.
Olson winks, his chest puffed out like he’s the king of the jungle. “Allie is going to come in about fifteen minutes. And then we can plan our next attack.”
“Attack?” I raise a brow.
He laughs it off. “You know what I mean.”
I do. It’s about serving the immortals their just desserts, with whipped cream and humiliation on top. The way things keep escalating, we might even set the whole thing on fire and make acrême brûlée.
30
