I couldn’t help but grin.
“Hard not to be, with a mom like you,” I replied, meaning every word. Emma was a force to be reckoned with. Alek would clearly inherit every ounce of that fire, of that strength.
“Do you think he’ll be fine?” She kept the question vague, but I knew exactly what she was asking.
“I’m sure of it,” I said, trying to reassure her, even though I knew no one could predict what was coming. Still, I had to believe Alek—her son, maybe even our son—would be fine, no matter how impossible the future seemed.
She sighed softly, her breath shaky. “Untraceable translation… How did I get so lucky to be the only one in the world with it?” Bitterness flickered beneath the surface, as if the very thing that made her unique also made her feel isolated.
I shrugged. “You also have the power of the Elder. Focus on that.” But the moment the words left my mouth, I felt her stiffen in my arms, her body tensing at the mention of the Elder.
“You okay there?” I asked, pulling her a bit closer, trying to soothe whatever nightmare was bothering her.
She relaxed into me, though I could still feel the tautness lingering. After a moment, she hesitated before speaking again. “Do you feel…” she trailed off, uncertainty threading through the silence. “Can I tell you something?”
“Of course.” Whatever was on her mind, it was clearly something that had been eating away at her for a while now.
“I don’t feel like a real maga sometimes,” she admitted, her voice so quiet I almost missed it. But the magnitude of her statement was undeniable.
“What? Why the fuck not?” I asked, taken aback. Emma was one of the most powerful magi I’d ever known—the mostpowerful, really—and the idea she didn’t feel like she belonged in that category was utterly insane to me.
“Because I’m not natural,” she breathed, as though the confession itself was something shameful.
I frowned, confusion and frustration swirling in my chest. “What kind of utter crap are you sprouting?”
She sighed. “I’m man-made, Caden. I’m not a biological maga. I was created… I’m not real.”
My eyes widened in disbelief. After everything we’d been through, after all the power she’d shown, this was what haunted her?
“That’swhat you’re worried about?” I asked, incredulous. “My gods, Emma, you are the most powerful maga in the world. You can fucking heal yourself without knowing anything about it! Who the fuck cares where all that power comes from?”
She didn’t respond right away, her gaze distant, as though she was still wrestling with the truth she’d just revealed. I could feel the depth of her doubt, the insecurity that had been gnawing at her, and it pissed me off she felt this way.
“Emma,” I said gently, reaching up to tilt her chin with my fingers, guiding her face toward mine. “It doesn’t matter how you got your power. What matters is what you do with it. And you—you’re a fucking force. Your interface is below the second after only one year of training. Your fighting skills? Lethal. And you wield a Skindo like it’s an extension of you. You’re everything that defines a maga. Don’t let anyone—or anything—make you feel otherwise.”
She blinked slowly, her eyes locking with mine—and for a moment, all I saw was raw vulnerability. But then, inch by inch, she nodded. Her body softened slightly, pressing a little more into mine.
“I just… I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to accept it,” she murmured.
I tightened my hold on her, pressing my forehead against hers. “You don’t have to accept it all at once,” I said quietly. “But know this—you are real. And you’re powerful as hell, Emma. No one can take that from you.”
I stared down at her as she smiled faintly, a soft, tired smile, but it was there. And in that moment, I realized I would do anything—everything within my power—to keep that smile where it belonged.
“Alek is proof of your natural abilities,” I crooned, trying to reassure her, to ground her in the truth. “If it weren’t natural, you wouldn’t be able to pass it on to him. And we know for a fact you did.”
When she didn’t respond, a chill of dread crept up my spine. The silence between us stretched too long, too heavy. Something was wrong.
“Emma?” Instant fear set in my bones as I shook her. Her head lolled against my ribcage; her skin so cold it felt unnatural. My heart began to pound as panic surged through me again. I glanced down at her, my breath catching in my throat when I saw her complexion—her normally warm skin now turning alarmingly pale, almost ashen.
“Emma!” Her name tore from me, full of rising fear. I shook her a little harder, trying to rouse her, desperate to keep her from slipping further away.
Then, to my relief, she began to mutter—her words soft but slurred, confused.
“I wish you would’ve nexed me though,” she mumbled, her lids fluttering open, but her voice sounded faint and distant, like she wasn’t fully with me anymore.
I frowned, leaning in closer, trying to make sense of what she was saying. “When?” I asked, hoping to understand her words.
“When do you think?” she snapped, suddenly cutting through the icy air with a bitterness that didn’t make sense. "Youthink it’s okay to lie to me for our entire relationship and then ghost me?”
