My hands clenched into fists, knuckles whitening and veins protruding. What type of test would they put into place?
This wasn’t a test to prove herself, not really. It was a test designed for her to fail.
“She’s heading to the Mermaid Kingdom first,” Bash said with a pointed look.
Cold sweat broke out on my skin.
I had never been to the Mermaid Kingdom before, but I had heard rumors. They were wolves in sheep's clothing, monsters disguised as humans. They used their siren songs and ethereal good-looks to lure you in...before they killed you. The Mermaid Kingdom was cut-throat, each trying to get the upper hand on everyone else. Envy was funny in that respect.
You couldn’t just be good. You had to be great.
If you were perfect? They ate you alive.
And if you weren’t? You ate yourself alive.
“Do you know what the task is?” I asked Bash urgently. There were thousands of things the Mermaid King could ask her to do, each one worse than the last. A pounding headache reverberated behind my eyes, and I brought my hand to the tender muscle.
Why couldn’t fate have given me an easy mate?
As quickly as I thought that, I dismissed it. I didn’t want easy, not anymore. Not after I had met and held Z. I was even willing to share her, just on the off chance she’d grant me a small piece of her heart. I knew she was capable of it, despite her beliefs. She may not have loved often, but when she did love, she gave everything she had. Being loved by her was worth more than a thousand females, a thousand “easy” mates.
“No idea,” Bash answered. “Ryland?”
“He’s planning on announcing it tonight,” the Shadow answered demurely. No doubt, he was thinking the same thing I was. The fragility of our human mate.
“We’re going with her,” I said. It wasn’t a question, despite my need for confirmation from the other two. If they weren’t joining her, then I would go by myself. Either way, she was not leaving my sight again.
Before they could respond, the door was pushed open, and Devlin entered, breathing heavily. My stomach tightened when I caught the heady remains of his lust and desire wafting off of him. Jealousy, briefly, speared my chest before I pushed it down. I had no right to be jealous of these men, my brothers. Z was their mate just as much as she was mine.
“What’s going on?” Bash asked lazily, flicking his eyes towards the Genie. There was no missing Devlin’s unkempt, disheveled appearance, but if Bash knew the cause of it, he didn’t comment. That was a first.
Progress.
“It’s Z,” Devlin said breathlessly, and my breath left me. Icy dread slithered down my spine.
Danger. Danger. Danger.
That single, repetitive thought hummed through my mind.
“Is she okay?” I asked anxiously. Bash tried to look nonplussed, impassive, but I could see the tightening of his eyes. The stiffening of his shoulders. He had a lot to do to win over our little mate, but I knew he would try.
He just had to get his head out of his ass first.
“I think so…” Devlin trailed off, running his fingers through his curls, a gesture he always did when he was anxious.
“You think so?” Ryland asked darkly, and Devlin jumped. It was surprising he hadn’t noticed the Shadow when he had initially entered the room. He must’ve been really distracted. Or nervous.
My heart, which had already been beating erratically, now picked up speed.
“She’s gone.”
Devlin’s words doused me in cold water.
“What?” Bash asked, raising a blond brow.
“She’s gone,” Devlin repeated. His nails dug into the palm of his hand, a coping mechanism he had done since we were children. “She left.”
FOUR
Z
The air was crisp, unnaturally chilly, as I walked down the dirt streets of my home town. The skeletal branches of trees clawed at the sky, and wispy clouds did little to block out the sun.
It was a beautiful day, despite the chill, and I couldn’t help but smile. Contentment coursed through me in waves.
The last time I had been back here…
It was when I had first heard about the Damning. I had been instructed by B, the leader of the Alphabet Resistance, to kill a Mage who had murdered young children. The Mage had been initially selected for the Damning, but when I had killed him, the magic had transferred itself to me.
My life had changed dramatically since then. No longer was I merely Z, the poor assassin girl. I was Zara and Susan as well. The competition had brought me to my mates, seven men who I still didn’t fully understand, but it had also inevitably led to the death of my best friend. The banishment of the other.
Children giggled, racing past me, and an older woman asked me to sample her freshly baked bread.
Everything was familiar. Simple. Exactly as I remembered it.
But also painfully different.
The girl I had once known, the girl who had once wandered these streets, was dead. In her place was someone designed to be a killing tool for the monsters I had once hunted. What would B say if he saw me now? What would S think?
My heart hurt thinking of my dead lover. The pain was softer than it once was, a mere wrenching. It no longer overwhelmed me as it used to. I supposed the saying was true: time healed broken hearts and all that shit.
A smile, unbidden, broke free when I caught sight of a small bakery. It was in there, surrounded by the pervasive scent of stale bread and cheeses, that I had met Devlin. I remembered his violet eyes glimmering with barely suppressed amusement. The curve of his lips. Those soft curls I desperately wanted to run my fingers through.
The smile left my face when
