“I am,” I mumble. “Did I kill them?”
“Almost.” He sounds furious. “If you had, that would have ended very differently. As is it, you’ve put a target on your back. They thought you were something whimsical. Something from a story. Now they know better. They think you’re dangerous, and this game just became ten times harder for you.”
I vaguely feel him kick my door in. “I was so angry.”
“I know.” He settles me down on the bed. “I was, too. I still am, with you. You put yourself at risk and fornothing, because those people will act no differently when the sun rises tomorrow.”
His anger surrounds us, but his hands are gentle as he strokes my hair. The anger softens to something softer. “I wanted to dance with you tonight. Our games will need to wait, it seems.”
“For what?”
But if he says something else, I don’t remember.
Chapter thirty-two
Callan
When I open Selene’s door and reenter the hall, Matthias, Esme and Sol stare back at me. “She’s fine.”
Esme speaks first. “Is it true? Her shadows turnedsolid?”
I nod, frowning. “She’s sleeping. It was as if the maegis sucked the energy from her.”
Their expressions turn contemplative. Matthias ducks around me. “I’ll check her over.”
I turn to follow as he slips inside the bedroom, but Sol stops me.
“I never heard of a faeyte who could wield Hala’s maegis like she does, Callan. Like it’s a weapon.”
“She had no idea.” The shock on her face wasn’t feigned, that much I know. Nor was the darkness in her eyes—as though a shroud had fallen, blanking out the stars. “We’ll be down at the dock tomorrow.”
“I’ll stay with her tonight,” Esme murmurs. When she sees my face, she grimaces. “You can’t be with her all of the time. Betterto be fresh for tomorrow. You’re exhausted, Cal. I don’t even understand how you’re still upright, let alone coherent.”
The rejection hovers on my tongue, but I bite it back. She’s right. “You’ll call me if she wakes up. If there’s anything.”
Her smile deepens. “Obviously.”
Sol says nothing when I settle on the floor in Matthias’s vacated spot. He only sinks down beside me, both of us pulling up our knees like the children we used to be, waiting one by one to explain a prank gone wrong to Merrick.
“She’s not a normal faeyte,” he says.
I shoot him a look. “So you’ve told me.”
The pause stretches out for longer this time. “She doesn’t look at you like a faeyte should.”
My heart thumps unsteadily. “I don’t think so, either.”
“Tread carefully, Cal.” Sol’s warning is discomfiting. “Don’t dally with her.”
I swing my head to his, my eyebrows flying up almost to my hairline. “You’ve changed your tune. No longer is she a big, scary faeyte?”
He shakes his head. “She’s not scary. She’sscared, Callan. Terrified of whatever lingers inside her. And she’s no fool. If she’s worried, we should be too. And the two of you should be careful, with Petyr tracking you. He always had a habit of breaking his toys. And from memory, he used to enjoy breaking yours, too.”
My gut clenches as I stare at that door. “She’s strong.”
“She is.” Sol’s fingers tap a restless rhythm against the smooth stone floor, refreshingly cool beneath us. “But is she strong enough?”
I force out a breath. “To fix the Never? I don’t know. She’s the best chance we have.”
