And someone behind me starts a slow clap.
Catching a gasp behind my teeth, I spin around.
Woudix leans against a river birch, still clapping, a slight curve to his lips. “You’ve been practicing.”
An exhale shudders from my lungs as I rest a hand on my chest, sinking back against the singed tree, our postures mirroring one another. “What are you doing here?”
“I told you I’d find a way to continue your training on your journey.”
“I thought you meant my lending mebooks.”
He rumbles a low laugh, and I feel like a fool. “Have you spent enough days playing at being human that you’ve forgotten we’re gods? We go where we like.”
He holds up the fae needle with a smirk.
In the fading twilight, I scrutinize the God of Death from his raven hair, pulled back now, to the tips of his black leather boots.
“Of course I haven’t forgotten. My blood won’tletme forget.” I swallow, flexing my sweaty palms, doing a quick scan of the woods.
Woudix puts away the fae needle and tuts knowingly. “Lord Basten can’t perceive us, if that’s what has you so attentive. Not even with his superior senses.”
I narrow my eyes. “How?”
“Once you’ve mastered your powers, you, too, will be able to hide anything you wish from human perception. We can walk amongst them completely undetectable, if we so desire. As for your lover, I cast a—a shield, if you will—around us.” He lifts an eyebrow. “I can lower it, if you’d prefer my visit not to be secret.”
My throat tightens, and I find myself chewing on my bottom lip.
The last thing I want is to keep secrets from Basten, but he’s made his feelings about Woudix more than clear. Besides, I can read the worry in Basten’s eyes. He fears that my transformation means I’m becoming less human.
The thing he doesn’t understand is that, like in my dream, if I want to save the world, Ihaveto embrace my fae side.
“Well, love?”
I let my hands fall. “Do it—the shield.”
He smiles in quiet triumph and draws a lazy finger through the air, as if marking an invisible wall around us.
Then, he pushes off from the tree and stalks toward me. My heartbeat kicks up, beating a steady warning. I can’t help but take a step back—but the burned tree blocks me in.
He stops a breath in front of me. For a heavy pause, he seems to study me with a perception beyond vision.
Then, he grabs my hand.
I jump, instinct telling me to pull back, but I force myself to remain still.
He runs his hands down mine until he reaches the thick ring on my fourth finger. A dark glow fills his eyes.
“So. You bound yourself to the human.”
“It’s been done before.” I snatch my hand back defensively, cradling it against my chest. “My father married a human—my mother.”
“Before he awoke to become Immortal Vale.”
I narrow my eyes. “According to the historical recordsyoushared with me, Immortal Meric wed a human mage in the Beginning, and again in the First Return.”
I ready a self-satisfied smirk, feeling I’ve won, but Woudix only laughs. “Exactly—by the Second Return, he’d learned his lesson. Yes, we fae consort with humans. We fuck them. We even bear children with them. But the only ones we bind ourselves with are our own kind.”
My face flushes as if I’ve been schooled, and I force my chin high. “I suppose that’s one more way I’m different from the other fae. Just like Immortal Solene always is. Closer to nature—to humans—than the rest of you.”
