I frowned as the model of our castle blurred under the weight of my thoughts.
Her gaze burned for me, not him. The memory seared like truth I had no right to claim. He didn’t push. I would have pulled her into myarms and contained her excitement with my lips. But the spark Quinn and I had wasn’t there for my lover.
A knot tightened between my shoulders. Part of me couldn’t wait to see her new hair at the gym, rainbow prisms of magic around her.
They were incredible.
She took my breath away.
However, I shouldn’t want that if Xan didn’t. The three of us could have something special, but only if all three of us were on the same page.
As far as I could tell, he either didn’t want her or didn’t want to admit what he truly felt.
Free will. Choice. Forging the future mattered most to Xan. He saved her life, but he also bound her.
I didn’t know what I’d do in her situation if I found out. Fortunately, I wasn’t prone to contemplation, and I wasn’t in her situation. The ball was in their court now. After the mess I’d made, I needed to stay far away until the game played out.
Professor Holiday stepped into my office. My lover’s less-than-savory monster knew his home had been violated.
“I heard the rumors of new magic in the library, so soon after the incident at my home,” the professor said.
I grunted. “Your door’s already fixed.”
“This isn’t about the door,” he snapped. “Someone was in my space. I heard a woman whoop. I saw figures running in the dark.”
Quinn couldn’t have just run, and my lover had to laugh. They were two peas in a pod.
“I have men investigating,” I answered.
“Don’t bother,” he said, eyes gleaming with feral delight. “We both know it was Quinn in my lab. And it was my creation thatgave her magic.”
I kept my face neutral, though in my mind, I was throttling him. “Even if she were, your logic is flawed.”
Professor Holiday’s skeletal grin split his face. Dead flesh peeled from his cracked lips. “My creation will save this world. Quinn was drawn to it. Twice, I saw her follow my magic to my door. And now she has power, too much power. Something you must have known when you pulled her from my placement.” He tsked. “I’m watching you. Her. Everyone. My masterpiece will be complete. My dying body won’t be a problem much longer.”
His certainty made my skin crawl. Not a theory. A promise. For the first time, fear for Quinn outweighed my hatred for him.
He chuckled, as if the joke was his alone, and hobbled out.
I burned the conversation into memory for Xan to watch later. Quinn hadn’t found her object amongst Professor Holiday’s possessions. She had been drawn to his magic, but not to him. We needed to keep her safe now more than ever.
I waited until the lopsided thumps of Professor Holiday and his walking staff were a long-gone memory before addressing the final loose end from last night.
Our holding area—two cells—was rarely used.
Brody, the olive-haired trainee who’d informed me of Quinn’s exit from the castle over a week ago, sat miserably in a corner. A bruise molted his left ear from my fist. My knuckles still ached; leadership shouldn’t. He’d been following Quinn; I was sure of it. But he insisted it was a coincidence.
Unless I asked Xan to use his mind magic, I had to trust our people. That was the point of our family. Brody was just a kid, possibly as angry and lost as I had been.
I unlocked his cell door. “You’re lucky I have bigger fish to fry.”
Quinn, always Quinn.
I went to grab his bound wrists, only to find his hands covered in green ooze. Unwilling to touch the mystery substance, I grabbed the back of his shirt instead.
“If I find you following another trainee,” I said, anger making my voice hard as iron. “Man or woman, that will be the end of your time in our family.”
Brody shrank and focused on the ground. “Understood.”
