He made a sound of exasperation. “Wynn, it’s too late for lies.”
She tossed aside the bottle. “It’s not a lie. If I knew what was happening I’d make it stop.”
She sounded sincere.
“Okay then, where’s the dragon statue?”
“I genuinely don’t know.” She spread her arms, glaring at him. “Look around if you don’t believe me.”
Azh didn’t take her up on her offer. He wasn’t in the mood for a game of hide-and-seek.
“I can sense the magic,” he stubbornly insisted.
“Where?” Slowly she peeled off her coat and tossed it onto the bed.
He paused at her sharp question, forcing himself to concentrate on the hum of power. He’d assumed that it came from an object that Wynn was carrying with her. Or the residue of magic that clung to her because she’d been in close contact with a dragon relic.
Now that she’d removed her coat that was obviously layered with spells of protection, he could finally pinpoint the source of the magic.
“It’s coming from inside you.”
“Exactly.”
Azh frowned. “How?”
“It’s a long story.”
“You aren’t old enough for it to be very long,” Azh pointed out in dry tones.
“I have no idea how old I am. Honestly I don’t knowwhatI am.”
His frown deepened. “You lost your memory?”
“I guess.” She shrugged. “I woke up one day with no idea of who I was or where I came from.”
“Wait.” Azh held up a hand. He was genuinely confused. Memories could be stolen. And sometimes altered. But only humans suffered from amnesia, and this woman most certainly wasn’t a human. “Start at the beginning. What do you first remember?”
“I opened my eyes and discovered I was lying on the banks of the Thames on the outskirts of London.”
“How long ago?”
“Two centuries.” She wrinkled her nose. “Give or take a few years.”
“And you have no memories of your life before you woke up?”
“None.” Her tone was flat. Her eyes smoldered with frustration. “I managed to find shelter in London and for a while I assumed I was just another poor human woman who’d been attacked and left for dead. There was a lot of crime during that time.”
“How did you realize you were something more?”
“When I started seeing auras around some people. I thought I must have brain damage when no one else noticed them.”
His confidence that she wasn’t mortal was confirmed. Humans couldn’t detect the auras that surrounded supernatural creatures. Even mages didn’t see them until the wild magic flared through their veins, igniting their primitive powers.
“I would say you have a trace of demon blood that you couldn’t sense until you were inside a Gyre, but you don’t havethe scent of a goblin or a fey.” He studied her with a brooding intensity. “That means you have to be a mage.”
“I don’t have any magic,” she protested.
Azh stepped forward, careful to leash the heat that could singe her delicate skin. Why was she being so stubborn?
