Asmo stiffens. “There is a cost to using dark magic,” he says gravely. “You can’t just use it whenever you want. It chips away at you.”
Luca storms from the kitchen. “Might I remind you, Your Highness, that the last time you ventured somewhere, a group of witches found us?”
I understand the risk I’m taking, but if I can’t provide this one small thing for the only person who has been beside me for years, who was captured, thrown in a dungeon, and is now literally on the edge of death, because of me, then what good am I? All I’ve managed to do is endanger everyone around me.
At least this way, I’m only endangering myself.
“I need to do this,” I admit.
Asmo watches me, dark eyes unblinking, jaw working. “Okay,” he says. “We change our appearance and go get the extract. Princess, which House was friendliest to the High Crown?”
I can feel Luca’s gaze burning a hole in my profile.
“Canis,” I answer.
“You’re sure?”
I nod. Canis will be the safest. August is a good male.
You thought Marik was, too,I chide myself.Look how that turned out.
“Okay then. Let’s go.” He stands abruptly and holds his hand out to me.
“You can’t be serious,” Luca says as he pushes himself from his chair. “We have to plan this. We have no idea where we’re going.”
“Youdon’t need to have a plan. Mae and I are going. You’re staying here,” Asmo says, his hand still outstretched, eyes still on mine.
“Absolutely not,” Luca says, nostrils flaring and voice turning shrill. “Your Highness, need I remind you that not even twenty-four hours ago, we were considering the fact that he might have betrayed us?” he asks, gesturing to Asmo.
“Your choice,” Asmo whispers to me. His eyes are doing that thing again where they turn soft, like he’s afraid I’ll say no. Like it would hurt him if I did.
My body reacts before my brain does, and my hand reaches for his.
“Let’s go,” I say as I stand. Luca mutters something under his breath that sounds a lot likestupid.
Asmo leads me to the kitchen and hands me a knife. “Do you remember the spell? Do you know who you’re going to transform into?”
I nod, the female deer hybrid etched into my memory. From guilt or necessity, I don’t want to think about which. The blade is light in my palm. I lift my shirt and carve the mark into my stomach, whispering the words.As are you, as am I.
My blood turns black as it evaporates into the air.
Beside me, Asmo repeats the spell. But he’s not the girl from before. He looks similar to his usual self, but his features are different. Gone is the defined jawline, the strong cheekbones, the fern-green slivers in pools of night. He just looks like an average male with black hair and dark eyes.
“Did you make yourself shorter, too?” I ask.
“I made myself average height.”
“Are you not already average height?”
He clasps a hand to his chest. “You wound me.”
Back in the living room, Ivan hands Asmo a slip of paper. “The name of the extract. You should be able to find it at any apothecary that specializes in Fae healing magic.”
Luca glares at us as we walk toward the front door. “Mae, think about this. You could be walking into a trap.”
“I’ll have her back before sundown, Dad,” Asmo says sarcastically before taking my hand and pulling me out the door.
When we’re outside, Asmo stops and faces me. “We don’t have to do this, Mae. We can walk right back inside and tell Ivan it was all one big joke.”
