He still looked like he wanted to rip someone’s head off with his bare hands, but he was managing to keep his temper under control, which I knew had to be hard for him. “If Black Ember had so much as touched you…”
“He didn’t. I’ve never even seen him. He wasn’t in LA.”
Severn still looked full of rage at the prospect, but then a bark stole our attention. A furry little ball of black-and-white energy shot out of the door, tail wagging frantically.
I broke away from Severn in joyful surprise. “Puck!”
I dropped to my knees as the puppy assaulted me with dog kisses, his tongue leaving smelly marks all over my face as I laughed and hugged him close.
“Henry and May wanted to come,” Severn explained in a more regulated tone, “Naturally, I forbid it. There is no place in hostage negotiations for children. But they insisted I bring Puck. They said you’d need him. Something about humans being comforted by dogs… I can’t say I entirely understood.”
“Iunderstand. And they’re absolutely right.” I squeezed Puck tightly. Leave it to kids to know how healing a dog’s love could be. Severn might be my heart’s desire, might stir my deepest passions, but sometimes what a girl needed most was a puppy.
I scratched Puck on the ears as I asked him in a silly voice, “You flew in an airplane, huh, boy?”
I was still smiling goofily when a shadow filled the doorway behind Severn. I felt tension ripple through the air among the members of the Sun Court and werewolf pack alike. A chill descended over the estate driveway as though clouds had covered the sun.
Confused, I glanced behind Severn to find a fae standing in the doorway.
Though he wasn’t quite as tall as Severn, he was just as muscular. He wasn’t glamoured, nor was he dressed in traditional fae clothes. He wore dark trousers and a black button-up shirt with no tie. A braided metal bracelet circled his wrist, with another strange few necklaces around his neck and a piercing in one ear. The whole look made for a peculiar mix of fae and human styles. The jewelry might have created a softening effect on another man, but on him, it only gave him a hard, metallic edge. Despite his human clothes, he was so clearly fae that a sense of magic practically rolled off of him. His unruly hair, his gray eyes.
In that instant, I knew two things:
Thiswas Black Ember.
Andhiswas the face from my dreams.
The instant my gaze fell on Black Ember, my dreams returned to me like I was still caught up in that half-asleep world.
His face was both beautiful and terrifying in its intensity. With his silver hair and gray cloak, Severn’s beauty shone like the moon, but Black Ember was like a moonless night. Dressed in dark human clothes with those gleams of metal jewelry, not surrounded by the finery I was used to seeing among the New Court fae. There was something about him that called to mind midnight itself: I’d always felt that one could only truly be oneself alone at midnight, gazing at the stars.
That’s how it felt to be in Black Ember’s presence—he shone a light that exposed you for who you really were. I found myself staring, unable to tear my eyes off him. What did it mean that I’d dreamed of his face? How was it even possible? I was sure I’d never seen him before in real life or even in a photograph.
But somehow, I know him.
His cold eyes took me in with a cryptic kind of curiosity, and I got the uncanny sense that he recognized me, too—but he acted as though everything was normal.
“This must be your little wife, Severn,” he said in a deep voice, made all the more terrifying by how quietly he spoke.
Severn’s hand locked around my waist with the strength of a ball and chain. His gaze cut coldly to the rival fae, but Black Ember only chuckled darkly.
Black Ember wagged a finger and said, “May I remind you, she’smine.” His gray eyes snapped to me as he emphasized the word, and I felt a bolt of panic. Then, after a second’s pause, he added, “Until we reach a deal on our negotiations, she is still my prisoner. You should be grateful I even allow you to touch her.” He signaled to Coral and the other Sun Court fae, who moved toward me with a hint of malice.
Severn’s hand pulled me closer, a deep scowl on his face as he faced Black Ember.
“Severn…” I said, suddenly very concerned that he wasn’t contradicting Black Ember. “Tell him he’s wrong.”
“He isn’t wrong, unfortunately,” Severn said through a clenched jaw. “For this meeting to take place, I had to come alone. No New Court fae, not even Kell. And I had to agree to wear this.” He slid back his cuff to show an iron chain around his wrist. The skin beneath it was red and irritated.
“Iron,” he explained. “It prevents me from using magic.”
I suddenly realized that our troubles weren’t over just because Severn was here and we were reunited. This was only the beginning of the negotiations. I was still Black Ember’s prisoner and pawn against Severn to get what he wanted. Even worse, he had stripped Severn of his powers to ensure Severn didn’t simply strike them all down with a bolt of magic and take me back to New York by force.
“In fact, I think I’ll take her.” Black Ember strode forward and held out a waiting hand to me. His words were meant to needle Severn, but his eyes were locked on me. “You see that she is unharmed. Now, return her to me.”
My fingers latched onto Severn’s arm. I shook my head as I whispered, “No.”
A mix of anger and fear crossed Severn’s face, but he slowly released his hold on me. Before he let me go completely, he whispered, “I’ll do whatever it takes to get you back, Willow. Do not fear.”
