I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach. Vincent goteverythingin the settlement. My house, all our belongings, our entire collection of art…
“We were wondering where it went,” Seraphina went on in her beautiful, lyrical accent. “We were worried it had been stolen.”
The Marlanique was my favorite piece. And ithadbeen stolen. I’d stolen it when the police escort took me through my house to get my clothes. My whole house had been filled with carefully curated, beautiful things, and that little sculpture was the only thing I had left.
A vision bloomed in my head; me picking up the bronze and smashing it into Seraphina’s face.
She had to leave now, before I hurt her. “Take it,” I bit out, my voice ice-cold.
She flinched, like a beautiful doe in a meadow startled by a loud noise, enormous eyes staring at me, horrified. She made me feel like a monster. “Susan… Iamsorry. You knowthat Vincent and I didn’t want you to be hurt. We only want you to get better.”
I plucked the statue off the table and held it out in front of her. “Take it, and leave.”
She stumbled back as if I’d slapped her. Tentatively, her hands shaking, she reached out and took the Marlanique in her thin, tiny hands. “Susan, please. Don’t be like this. I’m sorry for how things turned out, I really am. I know it all started when you went through menopause, and you couldn’t give him a baby, but you have to understand?—”
Heat flooded me. The voice that came out of my mouth wasn’t human. “Get out of my house. Now.”
Seraphina jolted. Her eyes flew wide in an expression I’d never seen on her face before—true, horrified shock. Moving strangely, her natural grace gone, she shifted bolt upright, swiveled left, swung her arms, and marched out of the apartment like a robot.
The door slammed behind her.
“That’s right!” Cecil’s voice called out, muffled behind the wall. “Fuck off and don’t come back, you slimy little paddy bitch!”
Chapter
Fifteen
My tiny apartment walls melted away immediately, leaving me back in my luxurious drawing room, face to face with Donovan. Or face-to-chest anyway. The man was so tall.
After the horror of sharing a tiny space with Seraphina and the memories of the darkest time in my life, the sight of Donovan was such a relief, like a cloud of cool mist on a blistering hot day. I had to fight the urge to sink to my knees.
He was real. Magic was real, my sentient House was real, my bitchy miniature duocorn personal stylist was real.
But if everything that was happening to menowwas real, then that meant?—
Donovan stared at me, those blazing dark-emerald eyes boring into me, like I was a puzzle that he couldn’t quite figure out. “So, itdidhappen.”
“What happened?”
“The siren stone gifted you some of its magic. It emanated right before you closed it.”
I frowned. The sea witch had asked me if it had, too,and at the time, I’d said no. I didn’t feel any different. “No, I don’t think so.”
“It did. You sank magic into your voice and used it to command, just like a siren. When you faced the sea witch, you ordered her to stop, and she froze.”
He was right. I hadn’t spent much time thinking about it, because I assumed it wasn’t real to start with.
“And just now, you ordered that… that…girl—” He sank so much derision into his tone, I almost melted with gratitude. “You told her to get out, and she left.”
“Oh. Oh, no. I think she realized I was about to punch her.”
“Nope,” Cecil snorted. He clomped over and shoved a fresh passionfruit margarita into my hand. “You did siren magic. I heard it loud and clear. That was what Connor was after, you know. That’s why he’s trying to devour all the stones.” He chuckled. “You’re getting the power he wants, and you don’t even have to eat them. The stone gifted you the magic of the merpeople.”
I stared up at the fae prince. “That’s why your brother wanted the stones? So, he’d have the power to order people around?”
Donovan’s eyes iced over. “Yes.” I waited for him to say more, but he turned away, and took up his spot by the window, glaring out at the city. The tension returned to his shoulders.
Bart saluted me with his cocktail glass. “It’s your power now, Sue, honey.”
