I couldn’t pay attention, though—I was instantly locked in a battle of powers with Caspian, who stepped forward like he intended to tear me apart to get at the juicy bits inside. I could feel my succubus nature trying to get its claws into his animus, even though some distant, human part of me was screaming that no, no—I didn’t want that foul and slimy filth inside me.
Before the outcome of the battle could fall in either direction, the other Fae muttered something low and fast, and the same burst of agony I’d felt when Albigard broke my connection with him sliced through me. My muscles jerked against the invisible bonds holding me in place, even as Caspian staggered and caught himself with a hand against the wall next to my head.
He pulled away quickly, as though he’d been burned, and retreated a step. His green eyes flared with outrage. “Ward the creature!” he snarled, turning on his companion. “Why did you not do so immediately?”
“M-my apologies, General,” the other Fae stammered. “It appeared harmless—”
My heart was racing at a thousand miles an hour, adrenaline coursing through my system as I struggled fruitlessly against the force holding me to the wall.
“Let me down from here and I’ll show you harmless!” I yelled, hating the ugly, hysterical note in my voice.
The second Fae had gone a bit pale, but he murmured again, a glow forming around his right hand. He flicked his fingers at me, the light snaking out and settling around my body in glowing coils before sinking through clothing and skin. My stomach turned over. It felt as though something inside my soul had been cut off... quarantined from the rest of me.
I jerked harder, sore muscles protesting the abuse. “What did you do?”
Caspian’s hand shot out, backhanding me across the jaw as he’d done in the parking lot in St. Louis. The sudden pain shocked me into silence. My vision wavered as ringing filled my ears.
“Examine it now,” Caspian ordered, his voice coming to me distantly through the haze.
I was only vaguely aware of the other Fae approaching... of his glowing hands splayed as he ran them up and down the length of my body. Not touching, just hovering an inch away. I would’ve tried to fight against it anyway as the creepy crawly sensation of Fae magic brushed over my skin, but the connection between my mind and body had been temporarily stunned by Caspian’s vicious blow. I could taste blood on my tongue.
“Well?” Caspian asked impatiently, after his companion had run his hands over every part of me.
“It appears to be a normal human, General,” he said, his voice filled with deference, as though he knew that wasn’t the answer Caspian wanted.
“’She,’” I insisted in a hoarse croak, only to be completely ignored.
“A normal human?” The words dripped with disdain. “And that disgusting display a few minutes ago was something one would find in a normal human, was it?”
The underling cleared his throat. “Clearly not, General. As you said earlier, that is a demonic attribute, but I am certain the creature is not a true cambion. I have no explanation.”
The ringing in my skull was subsiding, dizziness giving way to a throbbing ache in my jaw that pulsed in time with my heartbeat. I wanted to shake my head in an attempt to clear it further, but I couldn’t even move that much, bound to the wall as I was.
“Then find an explanation!” Caspian demanded. “Why do you think I brought you here in the first place? Somehow, the demons have discovered a way to seed their filth through more than a single generation. I must know what it is.”
His companion hesitated. “The only approach I can think of which might be effective would be delving directly into the core of its magical nature. It would take extensive time and energy, and I can’t guarantee that the creature would not be permanently damaged, depending on the depth at which its magic lies and the amount of protection around it.”
Caspian sneered. “Do it.”
And with that careless command began the worst experience of my twenty-six years of life. Worse than my father’s cold dismissal. Worse than knowing I’d betrayed Rans’ trust in order to protect him. Worse than the feeling as I stepped through the gate between Earth and Dhuinne with the sure knowledge that I would never see home again.
Worse than seeing my mother killed.
A week ago, I had no idea that magic existed inside me at all. I thought I was normal, at least for a given definition of normal—a sickly, slightly messed up woman with a tragic past, who never really fit in anywhere. Now, I was about to learn the lengths my body would go to in an attempt to protect the magic inside me from attack by an outsider.
I had no frame of reference for what Caspian’s spell-wielding underling was doing, beyond the few instances I’d seen of Fae magic being performed to make portals, change a person’s appearance, or restrain someone. At first, he retreated to the far side of the cramped cell and turned away. His head was bowed, and I could hear him muttering more mysterious words. A faint glow began to emanate from his entire body.
My attention was caught between whatever he was doing, and my instinctive feeling of repulsion as Caspian stared at me like he could peel back the layers of my clothing and skin with his eyes. When Fae Two turned to face me again and came closer, he was still surrounded by that pale halo of light.
I braced myself, not knowing what I was bracing against. The light gathered into a bright point in the center of the Fae’s forehead—the place one of my yoga instructors called the third eye. I tried to flinch back as the glow began to
