Page 28 of Prince of Darkness and Deceit

Draven whirls and levels me with a fierce glare. “You tell us. You triggered it.”

“I-I didn’t!” I gape at the accusation. “All I did was touch him!”

And then my magic felt like it was dying…

Draven huffs, then shoots a loaded look to Jaxon.

I try to summon my power—my ever-fickle, often-unreliable power. Usually, it simmers beneath the surface, lazy but present.

Now?

Nothing.

A faint flicker. A dying ember. Barely there.

I clench my fists, hiding the tremor in my fingers.

The tan Fae rises from the cot and approaches. I scoot back until I hit the wooden trunk, the likely source of the pounding headache radiating from the back of my skull.

He stops a foot away, his strong jaw clenched, smoky eyes hard. The silence around him is suffocating. I can't read him. I don’t want to. Draven is dangerous—all Fae are.

But this guy? I don’t know… There's something about the tumultuous storm of darkness in his metal-grey eyes that makes me believe he’s the one I should be worried about.

I avert my gaze, staring up at the tent’s emblem—a thorny vine coiled around a selmary rose. A rare flower. One I’ve only ever read about in Juniper’s oldest healing tomes.

“How did you do it?” he asks finally, his voice quiet, deliberate.

I drop my gaze, forcing myself to meet the unnamed Fae’s unsettling stare. “Do what?”

“Disconnect from him.” He jerks his head to the Fae lying on the cot.

My forehead furrows. “I didn’t.”

“You did,” he states. “We saw it.”

I sputter. “You think I threw myself across the room on purpose?”

Draven snarls. “It doesn’t matter how you freed yourself. The point is, you ignited his ailment. That means you have the ability to cure it.”

“No, I can’t. I don’t even know what happened.”

“Then you’ll figure it out. Jaxon,” Draven snaps at the man kneeling next to me. “Get her up.”

I rip my arm away when Jaxon reaches for me. “I’ve got it.”

I push myself up, wobbling from the sudden move, but I recoil when Jaxon tries to help me.

I march toward the cot, ignoring the pain pulsing through my skull. The three Fae form a silent, menacing wall behind me.

I scan the unconscious male and do another assessment. Same gray skin. Shallow breaths hold the same pace. I cross my arms and purse my lips.

He seized in pain after we touched, but I highly doubt my timid magic caused the agony that ripped through us both.

No. Whatever happened, I’m almost certain it came from the male lying in front of me.

I release a slow breath and think. “You say he wasn’t injured by a blade or a blow?”

“Correct.”