by Aileen Erin
“Go inside,” I said. “Find something to help her.”
“I need you to understand that once I go through that door, my sister will know we have her. She might come after us. I don’t know if it’d be immediate—if the seals would give an instant warning or if someone needs to check on them regularly. That my sister was here to see if we’d been inside makes me believe that it’s the latter. But if not, if the magic warns them, and we have to leave before Tessa is ready and there’s a backlash—”
No. I wasn’t letting Tessa out of my sight. Not after tonight. Not after she just spoke to me before she fell asleep. “The magic is weakening, right? And we all heard what she said. She’s there. I don’t need more than a day.”
“You need to be sure about that.”
It was a risk, and I got that. But everything was risk right now. “I am. Go find whatever clues you can find.”
“Good. I’ll be back.” She waved Chris over.
He patted my shoulder as he left with her.
The next few minutes were excruciating. I wanted to know what they found. Hell, I wanted to be there when they found it. But it was more important for me to stay where I was. I kept my fingers on the pulse point of her neck. The steady thump-thump soothed me. I breathed in time with her and waited for answers.
My cell phone buzzed, and I glanced at it. The text was from a number I didn’t recognize.
Cassie’s fey friend is in the elevator.
I quickly called Cosette. “Your sister is here,” I said as soon as she answered. I heard the elevator ding. “She’s getting off the elevator now.”
“I’ll handle it.” Cosette hung up.
I wanted to go and help, but I wasn’t leaving Tessa alone. Not when there were fey around. If Cosette’s sister didn’t come alone—
A few seconds later, Chris, Cosette, and another girl entered the apartment. She looked almost like Cosette—the same dark blonde hair, same height, same small nose, but her eyes were different. They were an eerie pale blue and filled with ice.
Cosette’s grasp on her sister’s arm was tight as she shoved her toward the loveseat. “Sit there and don’t get up.”
Cosette’s sister relaxed in the loveseat. “How cute, sister. It’s almost like you actually care about these werewolves. Mother told us not to get close to them. You know what they can do to our kind. Is the addiction already—”
“I’m not addicted to controlling them because I don’t act on it, Georgine.” Cosette sat on the pouf and stared at her sister. “But you’ve been with Tessa. What have you—”
“I’ve done nothing but watch her.” She looked at Tessa. “I don’t like her, but I didn’t hurt her.”
I didn’t like Georgine looking at my mate. I didn’t know what the fey girl could do by just looking at her.
I eased out from under Tessa and stood in front of her.
Chris came to stand next to me.
Georgine smiled at Chris, and it was like looking at a shark. There were too many teeth in her mouth.
“Georgine.” Cosette’s voice held a threat in it.
Georgine’s smile faded, thankfully, and she turned to her sister and shrugged. “You’re no fun anymore.” She flicked her hair over her shoulder. “I owed Mother a bargain, and I wanted out of that bloody court. I couldn’t take it there for one more day, so I watched your little werewolf friend. I went to classes, Cosette. Mortal school.”
“Oh, that must’ve been so hard for you.” Cosette laughed, and it was colder than her sister’s eyes. “If you wanted no part in our feud, why did you take the job?”
“Because I owed Mother a bargain. I had to do it, even if I didn’t want the boring job. I wasn’t allowed to contact you, or I might’ve just wanted to end my misery. But I was to watch Tessa until she either died or someone came for her. I was to alert her if either happened, which I have. But your timing is great. As usual.”
Cosette huffed. I’d been in battle with Cosette, I’d laughed with her, we’ve shopped together, but I’d never seen her with family.
It was almost like watching a soap opera.
A very dangerous, possibly deadly soap opera.
And even if I didn’t like Georgine, I wasn’t sure she was evil. At least not entirely. Especially since she wasn’t fighting us.
“And why is my timing great?”
“Van has caused a bit of trouble at court today. There’s a battle going on at court, and Mother is…occupied. And since I was the only one watching Tessa, you’ve time to fix what Mother has done.” She looked at me for a second.
I started to say something—what, I didn’t know—but Chris gripped my arm.
Georgine was a Lunar Court princess. Someone who could control wolves. Gaining her attention wasn’t wise.
“And I’m supposed to let you go?” Cosette asked, gaining Georgine’s attention again. “Because my timing is good?”
“I kept her alive, even when Mother’s magic would’ve smothered her wolf until it was dead.” Her words felt like a punch to my gut. “But I gave little bits of myself. I sacrificed for her. You owe me for that.”
She’d helped keep Tessa alive? I wasn’t sure how to feel about this fey.
Cosette’s sister stood from her perch on the loveseat.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Away, and you’re not going to stop me. You need to help that one there, and I want no part of it.” She motioned to Tessa. “When you go after Mother, you will either say nothing about me or tell her I’m dead. I honestly don’t care which.”
Cosette crossed her arms, and I wasn’t sure why she was agreeing to this. “And where will you go? How do I know you won’t act against me?”
“I won’t act against you as long as you don’t attack me. Said plainly and no lies hidden in my words. There’s war brewing among the fey, and I’m not like you. I was never Mother’s assassin. I’ll wait somewhere safe until this is over.”
Georgine got up and walked to the balcony door.
She was living, but she couldn’t lie. If she said that she wasn’t going to act against us, that she’d helped Tessa, then we had to let her go.
“Georgie?” Cosette stood. Her voice was softer, kinder. “You swear you didn’t hurt her.”
“No, Coco. I didn’t hurt her. I was sent here when the magic was already on her and only here to watch. I was bound to do that, but I didn’t hurt her. I couldn’t really help either.” She opened the balcony door. “See you in the next life, Cosette.” She stepped into the moonlight and was gone.
Cosette sat on the pouf again, but this time her face looked paler. I wasn’t sure what to make of that or what to make of her sister.
“Are you sure it’s okay to let your sister go?”
Cosette sighed, and then she turned to me. “Yes. I would’ve killed her if I thought she’d harm any of us, but that’s not Georgie’s way. She’s cold, oftentimes heartless, a straight-up bitch most of the time, and a narcissist all of the time…but that coldness in her was built over centuries of being with our mother. Under it all—buried very deep—is a softness. She doesn’t have the stomach to fight or even hurt someone. Not like our mother. Or even like me.”
“You’re not cold like that,” Chris said.
Cosette laughed and reached her hand out to Chris. “I’m glad you think that.” He took her hand, and they smiled at each other.
I wasn’t sure what to say, but I had more questions. “What did you find in her apartment?”
Cosette turned to me. “There are spells woven into every wall. Everything she touches in there reinforces the magic.” She pressed her lips together as if she were thinking hard about what she would say next.
I stayed quiet, waiting. Chris stood next to her. I could read him a little better, but his concern and worry didn’t give me answers.
“When she was first taken, I remember thinking about how much magic someone would need to hold her hostage and thinking it was too much. I just could
n’t wrap my head around what would need to be done, and that’s because I wasn’t thinking big enough.” She leaned forward over her knees. “And it is big. What’s in there is no joke. They’ve got spells on every inch of that place, reinforcing the magic hiding her, the memory loss, and making her more…docile, I guess, might be the right word. Making her accept what’s given to her—what she’s told to do and believe—and not push for more answers. It’s vile. I know my sister helped keep that going, even if she was also feeding her a little strength to keep her going. I’m not sure how Tessa’s survived this long.”
Chris sat down next to Cosette, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “She survived because she’s strong.”
I sat next to Tessa, gently pulling her back onto my lap.
Cosette stared at Tessa. “She’s got these clear capsules in her medicine cabinet. I’m assuming those are the meds she mentioned. They’re herbal, but potions. I can’t tell what they do exactly, but I have to assume that they make her more vulnerable to the fey magic. It says on the bottle that she’s supposed to take them every two hours and then five more before bed. That’s a lot of spells she’s been ingesting every single day for a very long time.”
“Did your sister say anything about how to break the magic before you came in here?”
“No. Georgine’s powers are less and weaker than mine. There’s no way she could break it if I can’t either. Eli said no one but you could do it, but this is actually good news.”
I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or scream. “Why? How is any of this good?”
“My sister is gone. She’s the only one that’s been keeping an eye on Tessa. My mother is occupied. Which means we have time for her to fall in love with you again. And look at her.” Cosette pointed to Tessa asleep in my arms. “She’s here, already drawn to you. When I gripped her hand tonight, I could feel her fighting against my mother’s hold. With both you together again, that magic doesn’t stand a chance.”
I looked down at Tessa. “I almost gave up.”
“I know.” Chris squeezed my knee. “I know how bad it got with you, but you didn’t give up.”
I looked up at him. He was wrong. He was so fucking wrong. “She’s been fighting this whole time—so much that they have to shove the magic down her throat every two hours and press it into the walls where she lives—and she’s still here. She’s still fighting. And I almost gave up?” I’d never hated myself for that weak moment, but in that moment, I did. I hated how weak I’d been. “Tessa said she was running away to a mountain. She was afraid someone would die if she didn’t get there. That was me. Even under all that magic, she was still trying to save me.” I wasn’t worthy of her.
“This has been incredibly hard. I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through. If something happened to Cosette—”
“I saw Chris’s body.” Cosette’s voice was flat, and her words were too fast. As if she spit them out.
My gaze darted to hers. “What?”
“Chris was dead. Stabbed in the heart. I held him while he died. The blood was hot and everywhere and I was screaming and….” Cosette looked away and brushed away a tear. “I lay in my bed after. I couldn’t move.” More tears fell, but she didn’t brush them away this time. “I couldn’t talk to anyone. There was nothing to say. I hid in my room, in my bed, and I didn’t want to live anymore. Van tried to convince me to keep going, but I was fading and fading fast and I…” She turned to Chris, and he brushed her tears away with his thumbs. “I still have nightmares where he’s bleeding on the ground. Cold and lifeless. It haunts me. I’ve never felt that kind of pain before and—” Her voice broke.
Chris pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’m okay. You have to let it go.”
She pulled away from him. “I can’t. I’ve been alive for a long time and gone through a lot, but losing you nearly killed me. It would’ve killed me if my father hadn’t fixed it.”
Chris pressed his forehead against hers. “Cosette. Please.”
“No.” She pushed him away. “This isn’t about us.” She looked at me again. “You survived much longer and did much better than I did. But this will haunt you forever—her being gone will haunt you—if you let it. I didn’t know you before you met her, but I know who you were with Tessa. She’s your other half, just as Chris is mine. And whatever happened for the last twenty-one months, you did what you had to do to survive, even if it was just barely. You don’t get to beat yourself up over that.”
She was wrong. I could and I would, especially when I knew the truth. “I never should’ve had her in the first place.”
Cosette’s mouth dropped open for a second, but then she covered up her shock. “Why do you think that?”
“I bit her.” I ran my fingers over her shoulder, over where I knew the scar from my claws were. I ran my finger over her lip that I’d bitten. “I took away her choice. I—”
“But you’re starting from scratch now.” Chris sounded so matter-of-fact that I wanted to hit him. He was annoying when he was arguing with me. “Her memory is gone, and she doesn’t remember you at all. And yet she decided to come over and hang out with you after talking to you once—“
“Twice,” I corrected.
Chris huffed. “Fine. After talking to you twice, she decided to come over for dinner, decided to stay, flirted with you, told you her whole backstory, and felt so comfortable with you that she’s currently asleep on you.”
Chris had a point. “But part of her must remember because—”
“No.” Chris cut me off. “Look at her. She has no memory of you, but her soul recognizes yours. You’re True Mates. Two halves. The same thing happened before. I know what I said before—about how I didn’t think you deserved her—but I wouldn’t have said that if I knew you’d felt the same way. And part of me knew because…”
“Because?”
“God. It feels like forever ago. After she jumped out the window, I went to talk to Mr. Dawson. I wanted to make sure Tessa was being taken care of. I wasn’t bitten, but I knew how werewolves would treat her as less than.”
I couldn’t stop the growl. I didn’t want to stop it.
Chris laughed at the sound. “Yeah. I agree. And I heard what you told Mr. Dawson. She left that party and saw you. She came to you. She sat on your lap, after only seeing you a couple of times. After she only talked to you once before. She’d never touched anyone before, and she decided to make out with you? She chose that. She might not have known what she was getting into, but she picked you. She was drawn to you just as you were drawn to her. Nothing could’ve stopped what happened next.”
Now it was my turn to be shocked. “I didn’t know you knew. I…” No one except me, Tessa, Mr. Dawson, and the former Seven knew exactly what happened the night I bit Tessa. At least, that’s what I’d thought.
“Tessa loves you,” Chris said plainly. “So stop thinking about whether you deserve her or not. If you really feel like you don’t, then spend the rest of your days proving yourself wrong. Be worthy. Be better. But enough of the pity party. We don’t need it. Especially not now.”
I moved my hand back to her pulse point. Her pulse was slow but still steady.
Chris was right about something. I would make myself worthy of her. “Okay. So what’s the game plan? I can’t let her go back in there, and I definitely can’t let her take any more of the potion. And we need to be gone before anyone comes to check on her.”
“We’re all going to sleep here,” Chris said. “We take the bed, and you’re going to stay on the couch with her. It’ll be pushing it if you’re in the bed, and I doubt you’re going to let her out of your sight.”
“You have that right.” I looked down at her. “And then?”
“What was that bullshit about Above & Beyond?” Chris asked.
I laughed because I knew Chris was going to hate going to the club. “It’s not bullshit. Axel told me about it earlier. The part about having tickets was bullshit, but—”
“We don’t
need tickets.” Cosette looked insulted. “I can get us in anywhere.”
“No, babe. We’ll get tickets.” Chris nudged her. “That’s what normal humans do. We’re doing things normally for the girl who thinks she’s human.”
I wasn’t getting in between Chris and Cosette if they were going to argue about it, but I agreed with Chris. “What if your sister—or your mother—comes back before we leave?”
Cosette shrugged one shoulder as if it wasn’t a big deal at all. “Then, we’ll leave.”
“What if Tessa wants to go get her stuff?”
“Flash the dimples,” Chris said. “Tell her to take a shower here and that I’ll go get her stuff.”
“Why does everyone think my dimples will solve everything with her?”
Cosette grinned at me, and suddenly I felt like a piece of meat. “Well, they certainly don’t hurt.”
Chris nudged Cosette again. “Babe. You’re making him uncomfortable.”
She wasn’t. Not really.
Tessa’s pulse seemed to stutter for a second, and I stopped breathing.
“What?” Chris asked.
Her pulse came back, and I could breathe again. “I must be losing it. Her pulse seemed to stutter, but it’s fine. It evened out. She must’ve been dreaming or something.”
Chris and Cosette shared a long look, and then they turned back to me. Chris stood up suddenly.
Now it was my turn to worry. “What?”
“Look at her,” Cosette said. “Move your hand so you’re not skin-to-skin, and then really.”
I moved my hand, and it was like the fake, blonde Cassie was semitransparent. “How did that happen?”
Cosette shook her head slowly. “I’ve seen a lot of magic, but nothing like what my mother used to pull this off. It’s the mix of magics. If Tessa’s trying to fight them, I don’t…”
I put my finger back on Tessa’s neck, feeling for her pulse. It was there and steady again, but my gut was churning, telling me that something bad was about to happen. “Something’s wrong. I don’t know anything about magic, but something’s not right with her.” I didn’t usually hold her pulse point. Not even when her soul was trapped in a Hell dimension with Astaroth over two years ago, and I only had her body to hold on to.
