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"Uh, I did lose most of it. This is all I can manage now," Kym said, holding his hand up and lighting a small flame at the tip of his index finger like a candle.
"Oooh. Can I touch it?" I asked, already reaching out.
"Sure. I don't know what will happen, though," Kym warned, and I shrugged. I wasn't an evil man—at least I hoped I wasn't—so it wouldn't hurt me. Probably.
I brushed my finger against the flame, and a spark like a small electric shock coursed up my arm, making me jerk my hand away. I was familiar with the feeling since I'd accidentally shocked myself one time too many since moving to the human realm, but I hadn't expected the fire to do that.
"Are you okay?" Nico asked, and I turned to look at him, words of assurance already leaving my mouth.
"Yeah, I'm—" My voice got locked in my throat as my eyes fell on Nico, and I gasped loudly, covering my mouth with my hands.
"What? What is it?" Star demanded, pulling my gaze to his. If it was physically possible for me to widen my eyes even more, I would've.
It took me a moment to find my voice, but once I did, I cleared my throat and said, "Nico, you need to touch that flame. Star, you too."
They both gave me a confused look, but they must've seen something on my face because they didn't argue. Kym held his hand out, flame hovering over his index finger, and one by one, Nico and Star both copied me.
Nico hissed at the sting, while Star made a "Huh" sound, but it wasn't until they both looked at me that their eyes went wide in realization.
"Oh!" Nico exclaimed, while Star swore profusely.
"What? What's happening?" Kym demanded, sounding confused and a little worried. He clearly hadn't known what effect his fire would have on demons.
Nico
"Uh..." I trailed off, unable to find the words to explain to Kym what was happening. When Ryk had reacted so dramatically, I'd thought it was just Ryk being his usual over-the-top self. But his response had been very much warranted.
Star seemed to have been shocked into silence, though his eyes kept switching from Ryk to me as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Kym! Your fire! You need to get all the demons to touch it!" Ryk said, turning to Kym.
"Why is that? What just happened?" Consort Reece asked, and Ryk shook his head.
"I don't know what it did to me, but I can recognize my mates now!" Ryk exclaimed the words that were stuck in my throat, and both Consort Reece and Kym's eyes widened as they looked at Ryk, then me and Star.
"Oh my God, really?" Consort Reece demanded, his eyes alight with excitement, and Ryk nodded quickly. While Consort Reece had been King Damien’s mate and a ruler of Otherworld for a few years now, in moments like this, his human-ness shone through.
"Does that mean there was some kind of dark magic keeping us from recognizing our mates?" Ryk asked, and I frowned.
"But who would do such a thing?" I asked, and Consort Reece frowned.
"I have no idea, but I will figure it out. Arty would probably know," he said, referring to his mate and the other consort of Otherworld, Artemus.
"Would you please tell us when you find out?" Star asked, piping in for the first time, and Consort Reece smiled.
"Of course. I'll also talk to Day about getting all the other demons to touch Kym's flame," he said, and I wondered if everyone in Otherworld referred to King Damien so casually or if it was a nickname only used by Consorts Reece and Artemus.
Glancing at Ryk, I found him biting his lip, and shot him a warning look before he could open his mouth. I had a feeling he was thinking something along the lines of 'that sounded dirty,' and I wasn't going to let him say that out loud.
"We should get going. I'll let you know once I find out who put that spell on you and why," Consort Reece said as he stood up and Kym followed suit.
"Thank you for visiting," I said with a dip of my head, and Reece smiled, Kym waved at us, and then they both disappeared.
The room was quiet as we all settled in our seats again, all three of us lost in our own thoughts.
I couldn't believe we were mates. Well, actually, it wasn't that hard to believe. I'd always been close to Ryk and Star. Hell, I'd even dated Star for a brief period ages ago when Ryk had been summoned to the human realm, but we'd later stopped, reasoning that we'd only started dating because we missed Ryk, and not because we felt anything for each other.
Now that I thought about it, we probably separated because we'd felt guilty about getting together without Ryk, like we'd somehow betrayed him. It was why I'd never tried to pursue anything romantic with either of them.
