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My heart sank, seeing them waiting. I held up my hands as we came into view to show how empty they were. Seth frowned, and Kyler’s eyes widened. Jin straightened up off the wall he’d been leaning against and ambled to meetus.
“Not as simple as you were hoping?” he said with a crookedsmile.
“No,” I said. “We couldn’t get the books. There was…” I trailed off, my gaze veering to meet Seth’s. A fresh flicker of warmth shot through me, just remembering his hands and his mouth on me lastnight.
He had some idea now. He hadn’t pushed for answers, and I hadn’t offered many, but he knew I had more power than he would have once thought was possible. And that other people, people like me, had that power too. But I hadn’t revealed that much to the other guysyet.
“There was a sort of trap,” I settled on. “It wouldn’t let the books leave the house. I know that soundsweird—”
“Fuckingweird,” Damonmuttered.
“It’s okay, Rose,” Ky said before I had to go on. “You don’t have to explain. We getit.”
Jin rested his hands on my shoulders, his thumbs rubbing over the muscles there with just enough pressure to release the tension I hadn’t realized was coiled inside them. “One way didn’t work,” he said in his usual relaxed tone. “So we move on to somethingelse.”
I didn’t know what else. For a second there, all I really wanted was to lean back into him and forget all the uncertainties ahead of me. His hands moved from the base of my neck to the peaks of my shoulders and back again, the gentle caress flooding me with even morewarmth.
How was it possible that I wanted all of these guys so much? I wanted Damon gazing down at me like he had right before he’d told me he’d missed me. I wanted Seth’s careful strength pressed up against me again. I wanted to rediscover the taste of Kyler’s mouth, to stay long enough to see how his eyes would light up atmytouch.
It hung all around us like a hum in the air. I wanted all of them—and I could almost taste their desire echoing back at me. What was the point in trying to deny it? That was just the way it was. Maybe the way it’d always been, only our feelings had grown from childish affection to the deeper, headier emotion coursing between usnow.
And I didn’t have the slightest idea what to do with that knowledge. I wanted them, sure. But how could I have any of them? They were unsparked and I was a witch—a witch who still needed a fully-fledged consort. I wouldn’t even have the brief flares of magic they’d given me if I passed my twenty-fifth birthday without my spark properly kindled. The seed inside me would die and leave me with nothing but that terriblehollowness.
Maybe there was a chance—maybe it could work—but how could I risk my entire magical future just to findout?
Chapter Eighteen
Kyler
Acloud streaked past the rising moon, but I didn’t think I could blame that for the shadow that crossed Rose’s face. For a moment, standing there between the four of us in the alley, she looked so hopeless my heartwrenched.
“Mr. Cortland should be gone until after tomorrow,” I blurted out. “That’s the last day he had his mail held for. We could go back, try some otherway—”
Rose was shaking her head. “The books are—we can’t take them. Consider them gone. And nothing but the actual books would have been enough proof to accuse a man with the standing Ma— Mr. Cortland has, in mycommunity.”
Jin’s hands stilled against her back. I tried to ignore the way that simple contact ate atme.
She’d kissed me. So briefly, but it had been the best fucking thing I’d ever felt in my life. And then she’d run. She’d been upset and reaching out for comfort, and afterward she’d realized what a mistake she’d made. She looked so much more comfortable with Jin touching her than she had when she’d dashed for mydoor.
I wasn’t supposed to think things like that. She was still engaged, even if she meant to end it. But God how I wished I could have believed it’d be me she’d turn to, and not every guy here before me, if she was ready to moveon.
“How do you think we should go on from here?” Jinasked.
Rose rubbed her mouth. “I don’t know. Maybe I can find out more from my stepmother, or my fiancé, somehow. There’s got to be proof on their end, somewhere, or they’ll slip up. Or we’ll think of somethingelse.”
“We’d better go our separate ways for now,” Seth said, his gaze intent on her. “The longer you’re out here withus…”
My twin was right. The last thing Rose needed right now was to get caught running around with us, to give her stepmother ammunition against her. But just for a second, like a punch to the solar plexus, I hated him. I hated the way his words had made her eyes shimmer with affection. I hated Jin, for his hands now simply resting on her shoulders as if they belonged there. I hated Damon, for the glance she shot his way as if his reaction mattered that much toher.
But mostly in that moment I hated me. All the facts I had at my fingertips, all the data I’d dug up, and what good had it done her? What had I accomplished, really, that would actually help her get out of this mess we’d uncovered? I’d hacked into banks and spied on confidential mailings for her, and she was still just as trapped by her stepmother asbefore.
As eleven years ago when she’d been dragged away from us nearly forgood.
Rose nodded and sucked in a breath. She blinked, the lamp out back of the hardware store catching on a glint of moisture in her eyes. The way she was looking at us… I couldn’t help thinking it was as if she believed she might not ever see usagain.
She moved as if to step away from Jin, but then she spun around and wrapped her arms around him. His face blanked with surprise, but only for an instant. He hugged her back, tipping his head beside hers. The squiggle of jealousy in my gut squirmeddeeper.
Damon started to turn away and head off. Rose detached herself from Jin and grabbed Damon’s sleeve. “You’ll survive this,” she told him, and pulled him into an embrace. Damon’s back stiffened, but his face seemed to wobble at the same time, that mask of indifference vanishing. He closed his eyes almost reverently and tugged her closer. Rose’s hand fisted in his jacket as if she never wanted to letgo.
