Page 20 of Twisted By Darkness

“It’s alright,” he replies, his eyes on Ren. He flares his nostrils, and Ren does the same. Are they on a sniffing contest? “I knew there was a wolf in the group. So that’s you.”

Ren nods, his face empty, but the hold of his hand on mine tightens. “Name’s Ren.”

“Trevor,” the other man immediately replies. “And the Shadow Mage, Cassandra.” He takes another sniff of the place. “You smell like ashes and wet earth. I guess that’s the scent of darkness.”

His words send a shiver down my back. I smell like darkness? That will be hard to conceal.

“We don’t have many books on Shadow Mages,” he says, turning his back to us. He walks around with long, slow strides, comfortable in his own skin. “They were looted many years ago.” A snicker. “By a fae, of all creatures.”

The words click a memory inside me. Prince. Prince and his books, his endless books on Shadow Mage history and politics, many of them in languages I couldn’t understand. He mentioned they were in ancient fae, and I would need a dictionary to maybe one day understand them.

I swallow hard. “I know who stole them.”

Trevor whirls around, his face colored in shock. “You do?”

I nod. “A fae... Rescued-slash-kidnapped me from the Collector.” He did rescue me, but he also wouldn’t let me leave his house. “He had all these books on Shadow Mage history and politics. He wanted me to study them so I would know what to do when we crossed into the Cursed Realm.”

Trevor’s jaw works. “Do you know where his house is?”

I look at Ren, but he gives me no clue into his thoughts. So I nod. “Maybe. More or less.” Maybe if Trevor’s interested in rescuing the books, we might use the chance, the help, to go there and find a portal stone into the Collector’s house. That would make things easier.

Trevor chews on his inner cheek. “That’s interesting. Very interesting...” He looks into the distance for a second, then back at Ren. “Where’s your pack? You sure you want to put them in danger for a Shadow Mage?”

A knot tightens in my throat. Wow. And here I was, wanting to help, to create an alliance with him. The next second, he wants to convince Ren of leaving me. I hold his hand even tighter, pressing our arms together.

Ren sighs. “My pack’s dead. Witches killed everyone but my sister and I when I was twelve.”

“Where’s your sister?”

Ren’s jaw works. “Killed by witches a couple of years ago.”

Trevor cocks his head. “I’m a lone wolf too. My pack was also killed by witches, but I was a little older. Sixteen. Left for dead in a forest infested by all sorts of creatures. I was lucky Alicia found me.”

My stomach flips with dread. What a horrible life. To have a family and to lose it. It would have driven me insane. And yet, both Trevor and Ren have lived through this. Why is it so common for witches to kill others like this?

“Yet, you live with a witch,” Ren points out, his voice soft and without judgment.

Trevor shrugs. “She’s my mate. Our mate. I mean...” He smiles, looking down. “Alicia and I are her mates. Giulia’s our sun, and we’re her planets. That’s common with witches.”

Ren releases my hand and I almost fumble for it, but his arm drapes around my shoulder protectively. I press a hand to his chest, feeling his heart beating in time with mine. “She’s our mate too,” he says, voice steady. It melts me a little. Okay, it melts me a lot.

Trevor looks between us, then slowly nods. “I see. That explains a lot. Mages are not known for having multiple mates, but it happens. More often if they’re royalty or something.”

The possibility makes bile rise in my throat. Gods, I can’t be royalty. The idea of being a lost princess nauseates me. Princesses host parties and events. I can’t be a host. Can’t pretend I’m nice and enjoy listening to people doing small talk. The idea of leading isn’t hateful to me, but no small talk, for gods’ sake. No full dresses and balls and whatnot. That’s not me.

“Anyway,” Trevor goes on, pushing himself off the shelves. “I’m going to find Giulia and let her know of the books. She might be aware of the location, but some things get lost in the ocean of knowledge she has.” He shoots us another look. “You guys are welcome anywhere. Explore, read the books, do whatever.”

“Thanks.” I’m glad to have Ren’s warm presence next to me. There’s something about Trevor and Alicia. They look perfectly human, but there’s that supernatural edge and I don’t like not knowing. Now I’m aware he’s a wolf shifter, and though I can handle myself pretty well now, I still don’t want to try running from a wolf.

Mental note: figure out what Alicia is. She feels strangely like Don, but she walked into the sun in our room without another reaction but squinting. I’ll ask Apollo about it later. Don definitely knows, but I haven’t seen him since we arrived. Even being in the same house as he is, there’s a tiny hole in my chest because of his absence.

Trevor starts to leave, then halts at the end of the bookshelf and turns to us. “One last thing.” The corner of his lip tilts with a small smile. “Just to make sure you know the dangers fully,” he goes on, looking at Ren. “Her vampire mate is still bound to his maker. The only way to break that bond is by death, and Kayn is ancient and powerful. You’ll have to deal with the possibility of Donatello changing sides just because his maker ordered. That’s a thing.”

I want to fight and tell him we’re aware of that. That I’ll think of plans, that I’ll keep Donatello safe, that he won’t ever have to obey that man anymore. I want to tell him I’ll kill Kayn, but that would probably make him laugh.

Instead, my entire focus is on one word. One four-letter word that stops me in my tracks and prevents me from thinking of anything else.

“My mate?” I voice it as steady as I can, like it’s an offhand remark, like it doesn’t mean much.

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