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WILLOW
When morning arrives, my muscles ache, and I’m not alone. Fox’s legs and tail are twisted around mine. No horns or wings, though. It’s a miracle I got any rest in this position, but his embrace was so soothing that I slept straight through.
Excited thumping somewhere in the room jerks my head up. The baby Wild Hunt sits on the floor beside the bed, staring at me, wagging his little dragon tail.
“Seriously?” I mumble, scrubbing my face. “How long have you been sitting there staring at me?”
His tongue lolls, and the thumping intensifies. I groan. “You want yum-yums, don’t you?”
I’ve created a monster.
Glancing at the clear sky outside tells me it’s just after dawn. Before Bodin decides to attack me with another training session, I’d better dress and head into the Nexus early.
I slide out of bed and wrap my arms around my cold, naked body. Shivering, I tiptoe toward the door, praying it leads to my room as it did last night. Yep. Still there.
After dressing in clean training attire, I inspect my collection of treasures on my dresser. The jar of manabeeze now sits between the two gemstones I stole from dream webs, and myportal stone back to Elphyne. Fox told me to look after it. Over the weekend, I added an old trowel from the conservatory, possible options for new portal stones, and some spindly wire coiled in a loop. It would make a useful garrote in a pinch.
When I braid my hair, I check the mirror and notice my ugliness still remains at a minimum. Leaning in close, I test my brows and pat the angles of my cheeks. The scars are still small and silvery, as they were before the curse.
I open the door to Fox’s room.
“Tell me I don’t take your breath away.” He waits on the other side, arm braced on the doorframe, naked body holding a pose that accentuates his physique. No tail now, but all male. His biceps are defined, his abdomen is tight, and his cock juts out proudly, ready for attention. When I stare appreciatively, he shoots me a lazy grin, tilting his neck to draw my attention to my mating—what!
“My mark is gone!” I grab his neck and yank him down to inspect.
“Whoa.” He stumbles into me.
“You healed!” I accuse. There’s nothing but red, tiny pinpricks.
Talons erupt from his rapidly blackening fingertips. He raises a clawed hand to his neck and growls, “I’ll bring it back.”
“Don’t!” I tug his hand down, scowling, hating the heat prickling my face with inadequacy. “I’m mortal. You’re a demigod. This was bound to happen.”
“And Titania has your magic.” Gray eyes flick to black. “Perhaps it’s time we pay her a visit. Together.”
Meaning he canflickerme into her room, and I can kill her while she sleeps. She is a rival queen. Perhaps killing her would work.
“The queen’s assassination will take a lot of planning,” I point out.
“Why?”
I give him a warning look until he groans in capitulation.
“Fine. We’llplanit.” He pouts as he registers my clothes. “Going into the Nexus already?”
“I don’t want trouble today.” I bite my lip, thinking of how much attention my theatrics threw on my friends last week. And then gnaw at it when I think of Alfie. “Do you think Milford’s death will be forgotten now?”
He rakes a hand through his hair. “Definitely not. But I have no reason to believe you’ll be at risk. Cait won’t betray us. Actually—” His gaze lands on the jar of manabeeze. “I was hoping to give five hundred wisps to her as payment for that special mirror she promised to hunt down for me. It belonged to another demigod eons ago who used it against a female bonded to the Baleful Hunt.”
“Five hundred?”
“Unless you need the wisps for something else?” Fox’s tone holds a hint of nerves.
How can I explain to him that manabeeze are my safety net? My mark didn’t stay on him, but that doesn’t mean anything, right?
“Willow?”
“Um.” I scratch my head. “I was saving them to use on a portal stone back to Elphyne.”
