“Nightmare,” he murmured, his voice pitched low and sultry. He stepped closer, reeling her into his chest. “Haven’t you learned it’s better to trust me?”
Her pupils enlarged, growing larger with desire as she used her magic. And then they were both in the throes of need as her power flowed through them. He tilted his head back, groaning quietly so they wouldn’t be overheard. But every time she used magic, it was white-hot fire that flowed through his veins.
This magic was powerful, almost too powerful for him to comprehend. Witches weren’t supposed to be able to use his magic like this. Or at least they never had before.
Not until her.
He breathed into the power, allowing it to flow from his fingertips and down into hers. The moment it entered her body, she changed it. Manipulated it. The magic became something far more than what he could do with it, because she knew how to use that power to her own advantage. No longer tied only to him, the magic became something else entirely.
“Shadows,” she breathed. And then they became so.
He could feel his form disappearing. Soon enough, he could barely even see her. But he could feel the connection between their hands as they held on to each other. Elric could feel her heart beating through the tight grip with which she held on to him. And he could hear her soft exhalation of breath.
“Shall we?” she asked, though the words were strained.
Holding on to her, he maneuvered them out onto the streets. He wanted to make sure the spell worked first. If the guards got the impression of shadow figures walking toward them, he wasn’t sure what the men would do. Likely shout and use those swords at their sides, or worse, use the rifles that were strapped to their backs.
Elric really didn’t want to be picking shrapnel out of himself, or thelittle musket balls, which were painful even to a god. This new body wasn’t as strong as the shadows he once was.
But none of the guards reacted to them in the slightest. The men just kept staring straight ahead, their eyes waiting for any movement to draw them. They could likely still hear them, though, so Elric couldn’t praise Jessamine as he wished.
His gravesinger had come a long way from not being able to cast any spell. She deserved to know how good she had become. He was, unfortunately, only able to squeeze her hand.
She squeezed back as they rounded the house and then took the lead as they slipped through the servants’ entrance and toward the wall of ivy that Nyx had shown her.
It was a complicated lock that required seven enchanted ivy leaves to be perfectly overlapped before there was the faintest crunching noise and the stone moved. He tensed, waiting for a guard to say something about a door moving on its own. But when he looked over his shoulder, the guard didn’t look back.
Jessamine tugged him closer to her and whispered, “He probably thinks someone is leaving. Let’s go before he realizes no one is here.”
Elric took one look at the beaming blast of light that erupted from the small slot behind the ivy and sighed. He knew they had to do this, but he still hated it. The shadows were entirely banished by the light beyond, and though he was still a god, it would make him weaker.
At the very least, he had Jessamine by his side.
Together, they plunged into the light that burned the spell from their shoulders. He could almost feel the power slinking back underneath his skin like a beaten dog.
The room was sobright. Even worse than that, it waslight. It appeared Fortuna was partial to white and gold; the walls were white with filigree gold dancing along the edges, and the floor was white with flecks of gold in the very stone beneath their feet. Gold framed the pictures on the wall, oil paintings of far-off places or boats for some strange reason. The furniturewas white and looked decidedly uncomfortable to sit on. But he expected nothing less from a woman like this.
What an unwelcoming home. He grimaced as he looked at the room they stood in. “This place is ugly.”
“What is within shows without,” she murmured, her gaze moving down the hallway before she reached for his hand again. “Is there a spell that would let us know which room is hers?”
“Yes.”
“Shall we cast it?”
He was reluctant to agree, if only because he secretly desired to look around this place. It was so different from anything he would have chosen. What kind of people would want to live here? The colors burned his eyes, and nothing was inviting. He’d choose a tomb over this place, and Elric knew most people would hate the thought of spiders, but he’d gleefully accept their company over those who willingly lingered here.
“Elric,” she said with a soft laugh. “We need to get moving. Someone will see us.”
“And if they do?”
“They’ll sound an alarm and Fortuna will have to move houses because Leon will not know how someone got past his guard.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “You can snoop later if you wish.”
“I cannot snoop in this place. There are no shadows.”
She stood in front of a light, and her shadow cast a long figure on the floor. “Anyone walking in this place would have a shadow. You can stitch yourself to it.”
He sighed. “Fine, get this over with.”
