A suspicion had been growing in the back of my mind. There was something I wasn’t remembering. A hole where something important should be. Every time I tried to figure it out, my thoughts scattered in a thousand directions.
Three times I forgot what I was doing as I looked myself over.
I got lucky on my last attempt because I happened to be staring right at the tiny speck of magic when it activated.
I felt it this time when a foreign power attempted to interfere with my thoughts.
Nothing was wrong, it whispered. I was simply tired and imagining things. I should go back to bed and rest.
Now aware of its presence, my magic quickly smothered it.
Suddenly I could think again. My thoughts crystal clear and my own.
“What is this?” I whispered, leaning closer to the mirror for a better look.
There on my shoulder was a scrap of magic. It clung to my skin with gossamer thin strands, looking like it might flit away at any moment.
It shimmered. Iridescent. Greens and yellows intertwined.
I recognized the flavor of that magic. I should, since she’d shot me with pixie dust infused with it enough times.
“What did you do, Inara?” I whispered, meeting my gaze in the mirror with a sick horror.
This was the source of the nagging feeling I’d gotten when I’d been talking to Liam. The reason I’d felt like I was forgetting something.
Because I was. Because myfriendhad put a spell on me to make me forget about her and Baran’s visit.
Half an hour later, I left my room to head downstairs.
The house Thomas had rented—at least I assumed he’d rented and not bought it—was a two-story palatial mansion. Windows were everywhere. Mercifully tinted to keep out the harmful rays of the sun.
We were well outside the city. The view offering nothing but vistas of rolling hills and desert landscape. The yard around the house was filled with cacti and other desert plants. Directlybehind the house, a long, narrow pool, the sun glittering off its waters, beckoned.
There was a person in that pool. Dressed in a bikini, sunglasses covering half her face and floating on a blow-up swan.
Deborah.
“I guess you got your wish about that pool.”
Good for her.
I left the window and headed downstairs.
If opulence was a style, this place was its defining triumph.
Tall ceilings made everything seem more massive than it already was. Black was the dominant accent throughout, working well with the creams and whites that made up the rest of the house. Expensive gold lighting fixtures hung from the high ceilings.
I’d just reached the open concept main floor when I stumbled to a halt at the sight of a very familiar vampire seated in one of the armchairs by the window with a view of the backyard and hills behind the house.
“Ahrun.”
Son of a bitch.
Feeling a little betrayed, my gaze landed on the vampire seated next to him. “This was why you were acting so weird earlier.”
Liam smirked at me as he sipped from the wine glass in his hand, letting me put together all the pieces on my own.
His hair was a little wet at the ends, showing that he’d taken a shower sometime since leaving me.
