“It’s late. I’ll try to make this quick. We’ll have to schedule a second session.” Rhys was examining the cut on my shoulder. In the warm lights of the room, the redness looked worse. “Let’s start here.”
I smelled the magic before I saw it. Floral and sweet, it crawled from under the feathered cuffs of Rhys’s robe.
Cade’s magic was sharp, stark black tattooed lines. Rhys’s magic floated off their skin like delicate flower petals. They caressed my skin, and I watched in the mirror as they healed the cut on my shoulder, moving from front to back, leaving behind unblemished skin.
“Wonderful. Now for the rest of this mess.” More magic spun from Rhys’s fingers, pink traveling across my body and healing bruises. When the petals swirled together, forming a pale pink rose on my forehead, I saw the goose egg disappear entirely.
With it went a headache that I had only been partially conscious of. I sighed, my shoulders slumping in relief.
“Nia? Did I miss anything?” Rhys asked.
She looked up from her phone, glancing over at me. She shook her head, and Rhys grinned. I could see a sheen of sweat on their face, and they pulled a handkerchief from their pocket, dabbing at it.
“Someone worked you overgood, sweetheart. Now, on to thefunpart.” Rhys grinned, stepping back and crossing one arm across their chest, the other hand resting at their chin. “Beard first. Stubble is one thing.Thisis giving meI just spent a month in the backwoodsvibes.”
I watched, trying to see how the magic worked, but all I could do was feel it as flower petals brushed across my face, leaving me clean-shaven.
Frowning, I leaned forward, looking at myself in the mirror. “Did you do my eyebrows?”
“Honey,yes. Your eyebrows looked like they hadn’t shifted back from wolf form.” Rhys tapped their chin again, using the handkerchief to wipe discreetly at their forehead. “Now, body hair. I love a good manly man, but it’s more common here for wolves to only have hair on their chest when they’re in wolf form.ButI’m not sure what Prince Bartlett isinto, if you catch my drift.”
In the mirror, I saw myself clearly. Tall, muscled from years of being the one that Declan would call when he needed someone reliable, someone who wouldn’t ask questions, someone whose body could do anything asked of it.
My body had always been there for me. But I had been undercover often enough that I knew the best way to get what I wanted was to fit in. I needed to look like I belonged in order to help Cade find out who was behind the assassination attempts.
I looked at my hair, running my hands through it. It was still wet from the shower. Shoulder-length, it was longer than I’d ever had it before. But being on the run hadn’t exactly provided me enough time to stop at a barbershop.
“Go ahead. Give me whatever’s standard. The hair too, if you have time.” I shook my head, feeling the water droplets hit my back.
“Thehair?” Rhys actually sounded injured. “If youinsist.”
Nia stood, and my eyes immediately went to her, tensing. She stood next to Rhys, a few inches taller than them, draping her arm over their shoulders.
“Thank you, dear. I don’t know what I would do without you.” Rhys leaned over, pressing a kiss to Nia’s cheek. Then they turned back to me, extending both hands in a twisting motion.
Flowers bloomed in the air between us. Then they landed on me, roses and tulips, small pink blossoms that grew across my chest. Petals flowed down my arms, each one as delicate as a kiss.
In the mirror, I could see the changes taking place. My skin glowed, the tone evening out. I was still myself but more beautiful, each aspect of me buffed to perfection.
“Therehe is,” Rhys smiled, and Nia tightened her arm around their shoulders.
The flower petals drifted away, disappearing as though carried by an invisible breeze.
I stared. The person in the mirror looked like me but better. My chest gleamed like I’d been oiled for a bodybuilding competition. My hair was shorter, showing off my cheekbones. When I smiled, my teeth looked whiter.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“Oh, nothing that wasn’t there already. I’m notthatmuch of a magician. Just a little bit of cleaning up.” Still, their shoulders slumped in exhaustion, and Nia guided them back to the couch.
There was a soft knock on the door, and the cook poked her head back inside. “This is the best I could get.”
She offered over some folded clothes. Nia crossed the room and got them, bringing them over to me. The cook shut the door so quietly that I didn’t even hear it.
I shook out the pants, examining them critically. They would do. They were long, and the waist was too big, but I didn’t have much of a choice. The fabric was scratchy under my fingers, as though they had been through the laundry a few too many times.
“No, no,no.” Rhys shook their head, pushing themselves up. “I didn’t do all that work just to have Prince Bartlett see youslouchingand wearing sweatpants that make you look like a mom visiting Target onlaundry day.”
They grabbed hold of the pants, shutting their eyes tightly. I tried to watch what they did, but it was like reality bent. One moment, we were both holding pants that were too long, too big, and had a hole in the knee. The next moment, they were buttery soft under my fingers, as though they were made of silk. When I held them up to my hips, they fit perfectly.
