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“Who did this to you?” I whisper, horrified. Something in my chest aches for him. “It’s cruel.”
“The hellish courts are cruel. Being a demon is cruel. They hurt you and you hurt others, and it’s a vicious circle that never breaks.”
“Did you ever hurt anyone?”
His eyes narrow. “Of course I have. It’s what being me is all about.”
“Rys—”
He lets out a sigh. “Look, you wanted to go to the library. So let’s go.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.” He scowls. As I look around for my backpack, he mutters under his breath, “You’d better find a way to help us, or this reality won’t be any better than the hell I grew up in.”
In the library,I sift through books, too aware of him standing at the end of the row, quiet and pensive, something menacing in his posture. Everyone passing by quickly hurries away. Maybe he’s glaring at them; I can’t see his expression from here.
It’s kind of funny.
Would have been funny, if I wasn’t so annoyed with him.
His scars, though. I remember how they felt under my fingertips.Holy crap.
Enough. Focus on the task at hand. And stay away from the hot demon.
I grit my teeth thinking about that as I flip through yet another useless book about elemental magic and why it’s so bad and why we should ditch it like a hot potato.
As if you can ditch magic.
As if killing its users will ever work in keeping it down.
I put the book back on the shelf and pull out another.Moon and magic.Promising title. I flip through the pages and stop at the drawing of a full moon with a woman holding it in one hand.
The Dark Queen, it reads.The golden disk.
Is that the same as a Golden Moon?
“Rys…” I walk over to him only to find him rubbing at his chest, where the arrow wound is. Nobody is around. Unguarded, his handsome face is drawn in tight lines of pain.
“Hm?” He looks up when I clear my throat. “What is it?”
“This book. Take a look.”
He takes it from me, frowns down at it. “The Dark Queen and the golden disk,” he reads. “As the disk rises, she will have to choose four familiars to form the elemental circle. What the fuck is this?Familiars?”
“Read on.”
“Closing the circle will require vast amounts of magical energy,” he reads. “The strongest witch will be crowned and surround herself with the strongest sources and vessels, to use as conduits for the event. Close physical contact is recommended as it lets her absorb the magic and any discomfort experienced by its accumulation in her— See? Sex. I called it.”
“God, Rys. I want to help with the magic, but I…” I glance around, lower my voice. “But the thing is, I’m not the Queen. I can barely control my… abilities.”
“Right. The sex thing still works, though.” He’s still frowning down at the book. “Even touching you helps. It helped me just now.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were in pain?”
A shrug. “I’ve learned to live with pain. Listen, what if touching works for all witches and even more for this Queen bitch?”
“You think so?” I’m still thinking of what he just admitted to, of being in pain, and of my touch helping. It’s what they all told me, and it looks like I helped Jason with the shift, but… how can that be?
