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“I hope you will, because it is my parting gift.”
“Wait. What?”
“I feel you all the way down the street now.”
I caught the meaning right away. He couldn’t stay much longer. If he did, I might kill him for real this time, which was no easy feat. The man was practically immortal.
“Oh.” My chest felt heavy all of a sudden. So did my heart. With so much chaos in my life, Ansin felt like my only rock. Maybe that was the problem. I was still drawing from him to stay sane. “Will you go back to Miami? And Obliza?”
He nodded.
“That’s fair.” He deserved to live his life. Well, maybe deserve wasn’t the right word. He was entitled.
“I would stay if I could, but I still have—”
“I know.” He had a promise to fulfill.
“I will keep the house and return to visit when I can.”
A lie. He was never coming back.
“Jeni?”
“Yes?” I stared into his dark eyes.
“Promise you will call if anything changes or you need me.”
I nodded.
He nodded back and left.
So this was it. I was absolutely alone. Dad still loved me but couldn’t be near me without reliving his pain. My babies were gone. King was dead. And now Ansin was heading back to Miami. I didn’t even have contact with those fucking witches. The world, both good and bad, had abandoned me to deal with my pain on my own.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Dear Sister,
If you find this book, know one thing: I wrote it for you, for the Seer who has found herself lost at sea with no one to introduce her to her true gifts.
No matter whose hands this book has passed through, know that you were always the intended recipient. Only you will truly understand why I have written this. Only you will know what to do with the knowledge contained herein.
I pulled my gaze from the page and frowned. I’d set the book aside for weeks, not sure if I wanted to read anything from a Seer. They were notoriously manipulative and evil. King’s own daughter, Ariadna, had had a death wish for me from the moment we first met in “Seer Land.” I still didn’t know if her soul had been in the body of that little girl who died in my womb, and I didn’t want to know. The things she’d said to me right after Draco’s birth—the hate and anger—had left a deep scar. Like King, she believed I was Hagne. She wanted me to suffer for a life I didn’t remember.
So was the Seer who’d written this book really out to help? Or was this another of their tricks?
I turned the book over and inspected the binding. It looked like a regular old book with a leather binding. The handwritten ink was black, not brown like I’d expect to see if it were written in blood.
I settled onto the couch and turned the page. It was filled with ramblings about energies and the balance of nature. Basically, a lecture on yin and yang.
“Why would Ansin give me this?” Suddenly the letters began to fade. The pages turned blank.
“What the…?” I flipped through the book, finding it empty except for the last page. The letter K was written in cursive.
I glanced at the tattoo on my wrist. The font was identical. I had no clue what this meant. None at all.
My hand started sliding toward the page. Oh shit! I couldn’t stop it or hold it back.
My wrist twisted painfully, and the two letters married up. My skin grew hotter and hotter. “Ahh!” It felt like I was on fire.
The pages reappeared in bright red ink. The binding was thick and chunky, stained with dark red blood. My mouth sagged open.
I turned back to the first page.
Dear Jeni,
I’m so very glad this book has found you. Now listen carefully to what I am going to say. Here on out, there will be no more secrets. When you finish reading this, you will know everything. You will see everything. The world will be yours and bow to you. – Hagne
Ansin
Despite my efforts and loyalty to my people, things hadn’t worked out with Obliza. And by worked out, I meant I could not muster the desire to have sex with her. Not even once.
In a way, Obliza had served a valuable purpose. Jeni did not know this, but on the day I brought Obliza to the house, I could not get an erection.
“Is it me? Don’t you think I’m pretty?” she’d asked.
“You are very attractive. Now leave, and forget this happened,” I’d said, using my voice.
Never in my thousands of years of life had I been unable to perform. That was when I understood how deeply my feelings for Jeni ran, unaltered by knowing what she might become someday. Basically, co-chair of the new Ten Club.
Nevertheless, I made one more attempt with Obliza since returning to Miami alone, but it had been a waste of time. I showed her the door and commanded her to forget me.
