Two girls. Two secrets.
Only one can survive.
Years before Nelle Wychthorn plans her escape, Tabitha Catt may unearth something in a Horned God's lair that is the key to freedom.
Desperate to save her beloved aunt from a dark curse, Tabitha is out t...
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Tiny willwips fluttered around my figure, leaving a wispy trail of vibrant color as if fine bristled brushes had drawn through opulent oil paint. I stood in a swirl of constellations. A moving galaxy of wonderment.
Pale violet twirled around my fingertips, and when I trilled them as if playing ivory keys, the tiny otherworldly creatures scattered in a shimmer of light before flittering back. The willwips were delightful and graceful and so sweet. I could hear the faintest sound of their excited chittering as they played with me.
The dark power in me surged up briefly with curiosity before settling down once more. It kept one ear cocked toward Varen, intrigued with the barest hint of other about him.
Varen stood across from me as willwips whirled around, spinning a halo of jade above his black hair and gilding his suit in icy blues and copper. I grinned at him and he flashed a smile that showed all his teeth.
I tried to sound stern and failed. "I should be mad at you."
"But you're not," he replied cockily, his long legs swishing through the thin blades of grass and tall dandelions. With his abrupt push into motion, the willwips streaked away from his figure like shooting stars.
Some small part of me was angry with him, but the rest of me was too enchanted with the beauty of the ethereal creatures. "I told you this morning I wouldn't go out on a date with you."
Inky hair slid to the side as he angled his head and pursed his mouth in contemplation. "A moment ago I believe I heard you say you wished you'd worn something else to your date."
"It was a moment of weakness," I shot back.
Godsdammit. When it suddenly struck just what this was, a date, I'd been horrified at my appearance. My summery dress was fine for a city jaunt, but nothing at all like what I'd daydreamed about wearing for my very first date. I would have wanted to take time with my appearance, reveling in the building excitement of spending an evening with a guy as I slicked on lipstick and dabbed mascara to darken my light eyelashes, and pondered over which dress to wear, how to accessorize it with costume jewelry and high heels.
Varen sauntered closer and his gaze slowly skimmed my figure in a languid caress that burned my skin. His deep voice rumbled across the narrowing gap between us. "Just so you know, Miss Catt, I think you look pretty. I think you'd look pretty in anything you wore."
Heat stole across my cheeks and flared inside my chest. A shy, pleased smile tugged at my lips. I threw my gaze over the rug with the cheerfully striped boxes of delicate Italian starters before returning to his as he stared back with hooded eyes. "I'm not going to be able to dissuade you, am I?"
"In this? No."
His choice of words sent me soaring back to Florin's oversized office where I'd knelt beside the Horned God while we argued gently over the stone tucked into the pocket of my peacoat.
