Aflora was changing me. That realization should have caused me to take several steps back. But instead, I peeked at her in the dream again and smiled.
Maybe change could be good.
Or maybe it would force me to pay the ultimate price.
I studiedmyself in the mirror, frowning at the bright blonde ringlets falling to my shoulders. I had green eyes to go with them, and a deep red dress cut low across my chest and fitted at my waist.
“Do you have a fetish for Winter Fae?” I wondered out loud as Zakkai entered in a tuxedo, his hair dark and cropped short on his head. “I look like a Royal Elf.” Minus the ears. He’d rounded my pointed tips to match his.
He ran his sapphire eyes—a startling color change from his usual silver blue—over me and smirked. “You look nothing like a Royal Elf.” He stepped behind me, his arm wrapping around my waist as he set his chin on my shoulder. “You’re stunning, star.”
I glanced down at my cleavage. “You’re only saying that because you upsized my boobs and put them in this very uncomfortable top.” They were practically overflowing, almost indecently.
He followed my gaze, his pupils flaring as he whispered a spell to return my breasts to their normal size. “Better?” he asked softly.
I swallowed, the intimacy of his hold and nearness causing my heart to skip several beats before I whispered, “Yes. Thank you.”
He kissed my neck and released me. “For the record, you’re gorgeous no matter what you wear or how you look.”
I felt his sincerity through the bond and thought the same about his own appearance. He pulled off the short, dark hair and sapphire-eye look rather well. He’d also altered his face a bit, giving himself a rounder chin and thinner eyebrows. My face was more angular with several freckles on my cheeks and nose.
We looked completely different.
But I could feel the enchantment writhing across my skin like a live wire, my true self lurking beneath and waiting to be revealed.
Zakkai buttoned his suit jacket just as someone knocked at the door. He stepped toward it and greeted his father with, “We’ll be fine, Dad.”
“Famous last words,” Laki replied.
The tall male stepped into the room in a pair of charcoal dress pants and a white button-down shirt. No tie. This style of dress seemed to be his preferred attire. I rarely saw him in anything else.
“Have you come to argue some more?” Zakkai asked as he slid my wand into his jacket pocket. He still claimed it was his, but the magical strands responded to me, not him. Ergo,mywand.
His father slid his hands into his pockets. “No. You’ve made it clear that you have no desire to listen to reason.”
“As I recall, you took me to a Blood Gala after my eighteenth birthday, saying it would provide me with perspective. I’m doing the same for Aflora.”
Laki’s gaze slid over my dress before returning to his son. “She’s a beacon, Kai. They’ll recognize her power.”
Zakkai walked over to his dresser to retrieve a small jewelry box. He opened it to reveal a gold necklace with a diamond star pendant hanging from the end. “May I?” he asked, approaching me with the necklace.
“Will it be like the collar?”
“Sort of, but no.” He held it up for me to inspect. It looked like an ordinary chain. I touched the metal, expecting it to zap me, yet I felt nothing.
“Okay,” I said slowly and gathered all my wayward curls into my hands, exposing my neck.
Zakkai gently drew the chain around my throat, allowing the pendant to hang along my breastbone, and clasped the chain at my nape. “How does it feel?”
“Like a necklace,” I whispered.
“Dad?”
Laki pursed his lip. “The beacon of power has dimmed.”
Zakkai grinned. “This will hide your mating bonds as well.” He showed me a watch on his wrist. “Just like this is hiding my link to you, in addition to dulling my power.”
I frowned down at the beautiful charm. “But I don’t feel any different.”
