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"It's her," she croaks, stumbling backwards. "You found her."
Shay rolls her eyes at the dramatic hexer, and Chaz comes to stand a little closer to me. Thankfully, hexers have no power if a duster interferes.
"I've known where she was for years, but I couldn't tell anyone. Stop acting terrified and help us figure out what the hell is going on," Shay mutters, seeming annoyed.
The hexer dressed as a gypsy slowly tries to steel herself, seeming either awestruck or horrified—I'm not sure which. She clears her throat, moves her hands down her dress as though she's smoothing wrinkles, and then sits down when her legs refuse to offer her support.
"The night stalker? Is he here?" she asks, piquing my interest. How does she know about Kane if she didn't know about me until right now.
"You know about Kane? How?" I prompt, leaning forward.
"Dark ones run with dark ones, and you have the darkness and the light burning in your soul—two sides of the same coin. And the dark user? Is he with you?"
How does she know so much and so little about me at the same time? And she didn't answer my question.
"Neither are with me. Kane was sent to prison, and I'm—well, Gage and I need to stay away from each other. How do you know about them?"
She takes a weary breath, seeming uncertain for a moment, but then she finally exhales, releasing enough anxiety to almost be tangible.
"Because long ago, I hexed your night stalker."
I'm stunned, really. This bitch is the one?
My chair scrapes across the floor as I jump up, but Chaz's strong arms wrap around me, restraining me. Bastard!
"I'm only giving you one warning, Chaz. Let me the fuck go!"
"I had a reason," the hexer bitch says quickly. "I didn't curse him—I saved him."
My struggling slows as her words float to me, barely sinking in past my blanket of fury. Finally, I stop fighting and sit back down, allowing her a small window to explain.
"Elaborate," I hiss.
"If Castine had known what he really was, what he would have become, then he would have never gotten away from her. She would have tethered him to her until she suffocated him. I saved his life by cursing his gifts, keeping him from exposing his true being."
If she thinks she's explaining, she's sadly mistaken. She's only confusing me more with each rambled line of nonsense.
Shay and Chaz look just as perplexed as I am. Thank God. Sometimes, I feel stupid for not understanding the shit in our world.
"What do you mean? What's his true being? Bitten fey can only be what they are. Mortals destined for immortality cannot become bitten fey," Chaz says, and I nod, because I have nothing better to add.
A breath expels from her with a hazy fog, and settling in is an image of Kane from long ago. I gasp at the beauty he was even then.
"This is your night stalker. Yes?" she asks.
Words evade me, so I nod in response—again.
"You're right. Mortals destined for immortality cannot be changed into bitten fey—most of the time."
My head snaps up, just as Shay's and Chaz's does. "What do you mean?" Shay asks, urging this procrastinating hexer to quit drawing out the suspense that seems to be materializing and strangling me.
"A creature like she is—they can be bitten. Changed. And when their time is ripe, their true being will emerge."
It takes me longer than the others to understand, because what she's saying makes no sense—until it makes perfect sense.
"Kane's like me?" I almost whisper, but the color has already drained from Shay and Chaz who are forced to stagger to a seat.
"He can't be like me. He would have had some powers before he was ever bitten."
