“If you weren’t so cute, I’d be insulted,” she said. “At my age, there’s little in the arcane arts Ihaven’tplayed with. Your father’s spell wasn’t broken, you know. Just incomplete and desperately in need of a feminine touch. No offense.” She added this hastily, smiling at Father, who just stuffed his hands into his coat pockets.
“You’ve dabbled in fae magic?” Mother’s voice cut across the room. She was hovering a few feet from Father, arms folded over her chest. Her long hair was left unbound today as though the months on the road tailing us had somehow changed her habit of plaiting it each morning without fail.
Delilah barely seemed to register the venomous tone. “Here and there. Ben’s been a great help in recent years.” She sat on the edge of the bed with the papers spread over the comforter. “Obviously, I wish I’d be able to help you become a full shifter,to be able to change between forms at will forever. But I’m afraid that’s not compatible with what we need to do. However, you’ll be pleased to know I can bend the rules. Enough to give you a choice.”
Father straightened with a glimpse of the ardent curiosity he’d worn so many years when crafting his own spells to be combined with gem magic.
“A choice?” he echoed. “But this here—” He tapped an intricate line of runes drawn on the first page. “This makes any form permanent.”
“Afterseven days.” Delilah pointed out an added line of script in blue ink. “Once seven sunsets have passed, you will be able to untether the gem magic in you before it fully takes hold. Think of it as an extended test drive.”
It was a better deal than I could have ever hoped for—the chance to choose between fairy and human one last time. Perhaps it was better than I deserved.
Cliff stood behind the winged leather chair that Jon was sprawled in, leaning against the wall. His smile was soft, still tinged with tension at the corners: a mixture of long-held concern and the fresh guilt from the other night. In the last few days, he’d seemed surprised every time I looked his way, as though he expected I’d never acknowledge him again after frightening me.
He’d made no secret of his protective pull over Jon since the moment we’d met, the moment I’d begun to draw his best friend into my world inch by inch. I was surprised to find, over time, that protective gleam extended to me, too.
But today, his gentle silence spoke volumes. He would be in my corner, whichever path I chose.
AndJon…
Stars,the affectionate tenderness on his face spilled through me and nearly knocked me right out of the air. His lips curvedas my stare roved over him, and I couldn’t help but match it. Heloved me.He would never leave me.
Didn’t we both deserve this? A taste of happiness after a decade of hell for both of us.
Every occupant awaited my response.
“Anything else I should know?” I croaked out.
“I’ll paint the rune on the floorboards here,” Delilah said. “You’ll lie down atop it, holding the stone. I hardly need to tell you to keep a tight grip on it. Then all you’ll need to do is repeat the incantation exactly as I tell you. It’s best to familiarize yourself with it beforehand.”
“And then it will hurt,” Father said softly.
Delilah nodded. “And then it will hurt.”
“I’ve experienced pain before,” I said, perhaps too quickly.
“Not like this.” Father’s voice deepened, more urgency behind each word. “It will feel like every bone in your body is shattering and reforming—over and over. When I transformed, the agony of it left me sightless for a few minutes.”
I tried to imagine him on that fateful night. For the first time, it dawned on me how terrified he must’ve been: blinded, alone, in fathomless pain. My comfortable surroundings, filled with people who cared for my well-being, could not have been more different.
“I can help,” Zia’s sweet voice cut in. “I can offer a soothing spell to block out the pain during the process.”
Delilah was shaking her head before Zia had finished. “Any added spellwork will muddy the transformation. We can’t risk it. This is a pain that must be felt. Understood?”
“Everything has a cost,” I murmured, my stomach twisting in knots.
“You’re in good hands, sweetie,” Delilah assured. “I gave you both my word. But you can still walk away. No one will think less of you for it.”
I took a deep breath, letting the gemstone’s thrilling beckon flood my every sense.
Use me. Use me. Use me.
Even from across the room, power rippled from it, wrapping around me like a song.
I took a long, deep breath. “I’m ready.”
29
