“Those crystals are the only way to change things in Malovia for good,” Elijah snapped. “Droga’s got the right idea. A thousand-year reign, with the fae in charge. We’d be unstoppable. All the supernatural races would bow to us. So what if some peasants perish? The gains will be far superior to the losses.”
“I’m not helping you, Eli. I’d rather die first.”
Elijah kicked my prosthetic out from under me. It remained attached, and I fell to the side. I hit my hip painfully, and let out a gasp. Elijah stood over me, hatred burning in his eyes.
“This was your last warning,” Elijah said. “You want to die in service to a ridiculous ideology that doesn’t exist? Be my guest. Gabriella and I won’t hesitate to get our hands on those crystals, and find all six before you do.”
Hope burned at the corners of my being. Eli didn’t know we had two stones already. Somehow, Milonna had prevented Droga from finding out, and telling Eli. That was the only thing saving our asses.
Elijah strode away. Once he was out of my sight, I forced myself upward and limped on my prosthetic to the Rec Room. Emma was sitting on one of the window seats, a textbook open in front of her and scattered papers everywhere.
It hurt to look at her. Pain burned in my chest as her fiery gaze narrowed at my appearance. She was disgusted by the sight of me.
“Did you come to apologize for yelling at me the other day?” she snapped. “Because honestly, what you did was really fucking rude.”
My temper flared. I wanted to shout at her again, but now wasn’t the time. I forced myself to have a clear head as I said, “It’s about the stones.”
Her expression changed. She began packing up her things. Emma flung her bag over her shoulder, and we turned into a quiet hallway. When no one was looking, I pulled her into a small janitor’s closet. Brooms and mops were knocked aside as we squeezed into the tight space, and I reached up to click on the light.
I felt desire the moment Emma brushed up against me. We were in such confined quarters, completely alone, and her scent was driving me half mad. Last semester, such a situation would’ve caused us to be unable to keep our hands off each other.
My arousal died as she backed away from me as far as the closet would allow. She crossed her arms and asked, “So? What’s going on?”
“Gabby and Elijah know about the crystals,” I told her. “They’re hunting them as well. My cousin confronted me in the hallway moments ago.”
Emma’s face went pale white. “Do they know we have two of the stones?”
“I don’t believe so. But it won’t be long before they put it together, I’m sure.”
Emma chewed on her lip nervously. “Milonna warned us about this. But we have two stones already, so for once we’re ahead of the game. Did Eli give you any information about what he knows?”
I shook my head. “He’s keeping quiet. He won’t give anything away unless it’s a trick to deceive us.”
Emma tapped her fingers against her arm. I could tell she was thinking of something. “What?” I asked.
“Lady Korva,” Emma began. “I’ve gotten the impression she’s part Unseelie. We know Gabby has to be, because she’s practicing Unseelie magic. But what if Elijah is Unseelie as well, through his mother’s line?”
“That can’t be right. She’s my aunt. I would know if she had Unseelie blood, because my mother would have it, too,” I argued.
“Would you?” Emma raised an eyebrow. “Your family is pretty damn good at keeping secrets.”
“That would mean I’d be able to perform dark magic.” I scowled. “I’ve never tried before.”
“Well, let’s put it to the test.” Emma walked out of the closet, and I took it as an indication to follow. Her red curls bounced against her shoulders as she jogged through the hallways. I increased my strides to keep up with her, and noticed the odd stares I got from people as we passed by.
The tabloids had made a mockery of Emma and I’s breakup. All of Malovia was taking it as their own personal entertainment. Nobody had the balls to ask me about it yet, because they knew I’d rip their heads off, but I was certain Emma was taking most of the blame for our separation.
Another regrettable consequence of my stupid decision. Emma was always taking the brunt of things for me. When would it end?
Emma wound upward, to a tower in the northwest corridor. I knew them well— they were study halls for students looking to ace their exams. Emma found an empty room, and we entered it. It was small, but cozy, with several armchairs placed in front of a small fireplace and a square desk centered in the middle of the room.
Emma took the grimoire out of her bag, as well as her journal. She rolled her eyes when she saw my sour face. “Come on, Ethan. This is the only way.”
The leshane in me greedily took interest once the grimoire was placed on the table. “You know I hate messing with dark magic.”
“I’ll pick the simplest spell. If it doesn’t make you sick, we know you have Unseelie blood.” Emma shuffled through the journal pages until she came to an entry in the middle of the book. She handed it to me. “This is easy. Any Unseelie fae could pull this off. If you can’t do it, we know you don’t have dark fae blood.”
“What are the consequences if it backfires?” I asked. I was almost certain my blood was full Seelie, and this wouldn’t work.
