Page 56 of Immortal Sins
Hearing them discuss myprejudiceinfuriates me, but it’s also disarming. It forces me to reconsider so much of what I thought I knew about relationships.
Fae are bad. Lust is evil. Don’t let the big bad Fae wolf bite little Red-Riding Jules, or she will follow him to his world and abandon her family. Grim fairytales served as the base of my knowledge on an entire world and its people.
I can see now how plain wrong that is.
Cole’s declaration softens my knees.
I only wish he trusted me enough to make up my own mind.
22
THE FATED WOLF
The white room at the top of the stairs in Daniel’s new office building traded Fae royalty for dust and spiders. The eight-legged, hairy creatures scatter in the cracks below the desk.
Magisterium officers ransacked the desk and tore through Cole’s belongings, leaving behind only the inconsequential. I’d hoped I could find clues in the mayhem, breadcrumbs to follow my sister’s footsteps.
The prince of Faerie used to sleep here, on the expansive bed—along with the long string of girls he seduced. On the day I arrived at Dark Falls, the Fae prince favored Brie, his life-long friend. A month later, it was a panther shifter, and the month after that, his Fae-sanctioned girlfriend, Jessa.
When he laid eyes on Jules and claimed her as his teammate, I knew that meant trouble. Trouble for Daniel and I who planned to root out the Fae from our realm and strip them from their toxic influence, but also trouble for the Winslows.
My family’s reputation will not survive another scandal.
I run my fingers along the bedspread, a thick Faerie fur the only tangible remnant of his presence here, and sigh.
Dan cracks the door open. “Are you still in there?”
“Ugh.”
He wraps me in his arms. “You can’t visit Jeremy Byers again.”
I let my head fall on his shoulder. “Why not?”
My dragon is a jealous man.
He squeezes me tight. “His fever is not a fever at all. He’s got a hollow inside him.”
“A hollow? What’s a hollow?” I spin around to face him, and the grim curve of his mouth spells out the seriousness of the situation.
The gentle kiss he places on my forehead should soothe me, but I secretly hate how he uses this particular caress to highlight my lack of knowledge. I’m eighteen—he’s not. I hate to be reminded of how much experience and skill he holds over me, how doomed our relationship is if the truth comes to light.
“Hollows are ancient creatures we thought had been sealed away for good. They can’t be killed or extracted once they’re buried in a host, and they use their prey to replicate,” he explains.
I dry my clammy hand on my skirt. “Are you implying—“
“Jeremy’s suffering is coming to an end. Tonight.”
I flee from his embrace, stunned. “There must be another way. We can’t just kill him.” Not him, too. I keep the last bit to myself, knowing how touchy my Oz becomes when I mention Miss Eillis.
His lips curl down. “There’s nothing else we can do. The thing took root inside him. If we let him live, it’ll suck part of his soul out, and that fragmented part will become a hollow, too.”
I press a hand to my mouth to suppress a horrified grimace. Jeremy. My first boyfriend at Dark Falls will not live long enough to finish his first year…We weren’t right for each other, but I hardly imagined this.
“It’s a mercy. I hope you understand.”
“I do.” I’m not dense. If Jeremy can’t be cured, letting the hollow have his soul is not an option, and yet, my skin tingles. Daniel is hiding something, I’m sure of it.
His arms fly around me again. “It could have been you, kitten. You can’t fly around in the forest alone anymore.”
