Reaching out, he stroked one of my wings, and my legs quivered in anticipation.
“Too…many…clothes,” I moaned as he ripped off my top and unclipped my bra. Within thirty seconds, we were completely naked before each other.
He dotted my collarbone with kisses, and when his lips dipped to my chest and lapped my nipple, I moaned and reached for his hardness.
They said that once you met your soulmate, being physically apart from each other was painful, and it made coming back together all the more special. I could tell by Liam’s frenzied movements and how we rushed to join that he’d been aching without me, just as I had him.
I moaned, curling my toes as we rocked together, and pleasure radiated throughout my body. Liam trailed his lips along my neck while I tried to remember to breathe. As I raked my fingers gently down his back, his muscles clenched, and I started to ramp up as ecstasy rolled through me.
“Don’t ever leave me again,” I huffed, gripping a handful of his hair.
His back arched as we both peaked. “Never…again,” he promised, and we rode the wave of bliss together.
That promise played in my head long after our lovemaking.
I slept lightly, waking in the middle of the night wrapped in Liam’s arms. It was the most secure and amazing feeling I’d had in a long time. Elle had left three healing stones for Liam’s wing on the kitchen table. I’d already treated him with one and would do another in the morning.
Rolling to my side, I slipped out of his arms and padded to the bathroom to go pee before creeping back to the bed. As I was about to slide in, I noticed that my messenger bag had been thrown carelessly on the ground, and the book I’d gotten from the Elder library lay sprawled out. The one on illusions.
Picking it up, I started to flip through, reading the chapter headings.
Temporary Illusions.
Grand Illusions.
Multiple-Person Illusions.
Illusions Only Affecting Normies.
Dark Magic Illusions….
I stilled on that page and started to read.
Dark magic illusions are very powerful and can only be broken with dark magic. Illusions of invisibility are the most common dark illusion and take a blood offering to activate and break.
Liam was right…my mom had used dark magic. That meant that whatever was in her journal was important enough for her to have broken her own moral code and use dark magic to hide it.
I wasn’t ready to know yet. Everything was finally going well with Liam. We had a plan to defeat his dad and bring the crystals back to Faerie. I just…didn’t want another bomb dropped on me.
Sometimes, ignorance was bliss, and I wanted to be ignorant just a little while longer. Stuffing the book back in the bag, I slipped into Liam’s embrace and tried to push the journal from my mind.
Once I woke up to whatever was in that journal, I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep, no matter how much I might want to. It would awaken me to something I wasn’t yet ready to deal with…something so horrible that my mother had used dark magic to conceal it.
The next morning after Cam, Elle, Liam, and I had breakfast, I looked at Liam. “Let’s get the healing water.”
He froze. “But I thought you wanted to get the crystals first.”
“But that’s clearly going to take more time than we thought, and your mom doesn’t have time.” I shrugged. “I can convince the Elders that I need to get the water to change the dark crystals back.”
He was silent for a moment, simply staring at his cereal. Then, he reached out for my hand and squeezed. “Thank you.”
Cam rolled his neck. “I’m game.”
“I’ll go, too.” Elle popped a blueberry into her mouth. “Obviously.”
Cam looked down at his plate of fresh fruit and yogurt and three waffles stacked high. “This is amazing and all, but where’s the meat?”
Elle and I shared a look.
“So, most fae are vegetarians. We don’t seek to harm the animals we live with. It’s hard to get meat here, so Elle and I only eat it when on Earth, and only a few times a year.” I felt stupid saying it out loud and worried it might make the divide between Liam and me greater.
Cam looked at Liam with wide eyes. “Vegetarians.”
Liam shrugged. “I heard.”
“Well, you said most fae, so if I come live here, I’m going to start raising pigs and selling bacon,” Cam joked.
Elle huffed. “If you want to be a complete asshole, you will!”
His lips quirked up. “You’re sexy when you’re mad.”
“Oh, stop it,” she snapped, but we all had a hard time suppressing our grins.
We ate the rest of our food in silence, and I packed a small backpack with empty jars for the healing water. I also threw in some food and a few knives, just in case.
I sent word for Indra and the Elders to meet me at the water’s edge. I had to play this right, lest I wind up in cuffs like Mara. I needed to openly ask her permission to have Liam and Cam get the healing water with me, and then I needed to somehow get her to agree to let Liam and his men live with us after. He had the final crystal, and his brothers—and seventy warriors—needed to be allowed into Faerie.
No big deal.
We were about to go meet the Elders when Elle pulled me aside. “Hey, can we talk for a second?”
I nodded, walking back with her into my kitchen.
Elle pointed to my hands. “I know it’s been crazy, but are you going to tell me about the light magic?”
I laughed nervously. “I think it’s a side effect of falling in the healing pool.”
“Okay…” Elle frowned. “But maybe we should ask Trissa or—”
“No. Let’s just focus on
