He was watching me so closely. I found it harder to breathe when he was like this.
“Are you sure the darkness is completely gone?” I pressed. I was pretty sure, but pretty sure wasn’t enough in situations like this.
Louis seemed to consider his answer for a moment. “It’s gone, but part of my energy has been changed. It’s almost restless now. My power has a different edge to it.” His fists clenched. “But as long as you remain in this world, I will remain in the light.”
I understood what he was saying about the restlessness. There was a feral sort of energy about his magic now. “So no pressure, hey?” I tried to lighten the mood. “I’ll do my best not to die, because dark Louis wasn’t my favorite.”
He didn’t smile. His face shut down and more black swirled in his eyes. “Losing control of myself will never be something I’m proud of,” he admitted, lowering his gaze to the side of the bed. “And I managed to create a bit of a problem that looks to be more difficult than I expected to clean up.”
I remembered then. “The spell!” I blurted. “What happened with the spell?”
His expression remained blank. “Once I knew you were fine, I reversed the spell itself, and for the most part the humans were unharmed and ended up back in their normal lives….”
“But…” I pressed, because I sensed a huge but in that statement.
“But some supes, elders, and council leaders around the world decided that my plan was a solid one.”
“They exposed us to the humans?” I whispered, understanding exactly what he was saying.
Louis nodded, and his jaw clenched hard. “Yes, they finished what I started and broadcast our world on live television.”
“Fuck,” I breathed, and for a brief moment amusement lit up Louis’s face. He’d always loved it when I cursed, because he said it was so unexpected.
“Can you reverse what they’ve done?” I asked, wondering what the next plan of action was.
Louis leaned back in his chair, his broad shoulders spilling over the sides as he lifted both hands. “It’s out of my hands. The only way is a mass vote agreeing to let me stop this. It was a decision by the elders and chiefs, and only a worldwide vote by all leaders can reverse it.”
“Shouldn’t something like that have had to be agreed on by all supes in the first place?”
There were laws about this sort of thing, about exposing us to the human world.
Louis nodded. “Yes, but I broke that law when I set the initial spell in motion. I opened up the opportunity for the others, and they took it.”
Louis was lucky he wasn’t in prison right now. Speaking of… “How are you not in prison?”
That amusement was back. “Who could they send to put me in there?”
Right.
“There’s always me,” I suggested in a dry tone.
A smile spread across his face, the first true one I’d seen from him. “You’re literally the only one with the power.” His husky voice sent shivers down my spine, and I fought against the urge to throw myself into his arms.
No.No, this was not happening. Sometimes fate was not enough to overcome the past.
“Are we going to talk about it?” Louis must have been reading my facial expression, because he brought up the very thing I was thinking. “About our bond.”
Swallowing roughly, I shook my head. “What’s there to talk about? We’re true mates, it’s a shock for sure, but … we have too much history, Louis. There’s no way we can just ignore all of that and fall into….” I waved my hand between us. “Fall into whatever between us.”
“You don’t even want to give it a shot?” His tone held curiosity, and I wished I knew what he was thinking. He seemed to be so calm, while I was a total mess inside, emotions churning through me with so much force I felt sick.
“Do you want to give it a shot?” I turned the question back on him. “You loved my sister. You mourned her for decades. You … left me. How the hell do we get past all of that?”
Annoyance crashed through me when I realized my throat was scratchy and my eyes burned. I was almost shouting. I was not allowed to cry, no godsdamn way.
Louis looked like he was going to reach for me, but at the last moment pulled back. “I didn’t just mourn her,” he said, glittering eyes locking me in place. “I mourned you both. You disappeared when Regina died. There was that moment in Faerie, and then I never saw you again.You left me, Tee. After everything we’d been through, I needed you in my life more than ever.”
In some ways he did speak the truth. I’d been filled with guilt because part of me had despised my sister for what she had and I didn’t. Then when she died, I’d basically lost my mind, shutting myself off from the world, angry and heartbroken. Then my isolation grew into a habit. I found it more and more difficult to leave my house. Outside of my friends in the mountains, I was basically a hermit. Part of me though, and this was a stupid part of me, had expected Louis to come and find me. Only he never had.
