Twin groans sounded from Juniper and Oz as they roused from being so unceremoniously knocked unconscious. I glanced down at my mate, noting a strange colour shift in her hair. Her roots weren’t dark green like I was used to, but a bright white colour that stood in stark contrast against the rest of her hair.
The world screeched to a halt. Wait…
‘Ow…’ Juniper complained, her hands coming up to cradle her head.
‘Ow…’ Oz echoed, mirroring her actions.
‘Fuck, Oz, what the hell was that?’ Thorne asked as he helped haul his friend into a sitting position. I was doing the same for Juniper, but I was also staring at the new colour in her hair and comparing it to Oz’s. They were virtually the same shade. And now that I was looking closer, their features were distinctly similar, the main differences being the masculine cut to Oz’s jaw and the feminine roundness to Juniper’s.
They weren’t cousins, they were siblings.
‘How are you feeling, my soul flame?’ I asked her.
‘Not great, but not the worst, either,’ she answered honestly.
‘Understandable. I have a question.’
She gazed up at me, wariness narrowing her eyes. The last time I’d asked questions, I had set off the curse, and we both wanted to avoid that, especially so soon after the last attack. ‘Okay…’
‘What is your age?’
She blinked, taken aback, but sagged in relief when she realised I wasn’t going to ask a dangerous question. ‘Oh, um, I’m twenty-four. Why?’
‘I want to get to know you, and it seemed like animportantquestion to ask,’ I said, hoping she would catch my hidden meaning. She frowned, understanding I was up to something but unable to figure out what.
I made it as clear as I could when I pointedly turned to Oz. ‘What about you?’
‘Hmm?’ he asked, then sat up straight, intense blue eyes that were an exact match to my mate’s darting from me to her before settling back on me. ‘I’m twenty-four.’ I only caught the gravity in his answer because I was looking for it.
I sucked in a sharp breath at the confirmation of my theory, then, to avoid suspicion, I asked around the circle. All the Humans were twenty-four. The only age variances came from my people and Elvina, who, at eighteen, was younger than us all by quite a few years. According to Daemon Law, she wasn’t even a legal adult yet.
I squeezed Juniper’s hip and gave her what I hoped was a subtle nod, hoping she understood that I had figured it out. She and Oz were twins, and they were being kept apart. For what reason, I had yet to determine, but I would find out, and I would help them break the curse.
As if it could hear my thoughts, it sent a single sharp stab to my brain, followed by a wave of nausea that was over almost before it started. It didnotwant to be discovered, and I knew that that was the only warning I was going to get. It wouldn't play nice with me just because I’d been smart enough to see through its cracks.
Chapter 23
Juniper
‘He figured it out,’I told Oz as we walked as a group. Well, two groups. Three, if you considered the trees, and since their brightly coloured leaves and bark were extra visible as their roots rhythmically tore from the ground before reburying themselves. I was almost certain I’d made friends with one in particular, with a teal trunk and neon yellow leaves. It kept offering me these sweet little berries from its branches and supplied me with as much water as I needed, and then some.
The Fae were still keeping their distance, but it gave me hope that they were at least following our lead. We needed to worktogether, after all, and we couldn’t do that if they kept running off and pushing us away. Like the Angels.
Stuck-up assholes.
‘Let’s hope so. I think the curse got to him, too, if that bloody nose meant anything.’
‘I don’t want him to be cursed,’ I protested.
‘I don’t think it’s a bad thing,’ he countered. ‘We can talk about it because we know about it. Why would it be any different for him?’
I sighed, and Phenex’s hand tightened on mine.‘Yeah, it would be nice to talk to someone else about it. Especially when I can’t be with you.’
‘And we could make use of another set of eyes with the tomes,’ he pointed out.
‘I highly doubt he’ll complain about that. If we ever get back, that is…’
He halted ahead of us, and I could tell by the tension in his shoulders that he didn’t like my pessimism. That was his job. I was supposed to be the optimistic one.
