“You mean I would have been brainwashed.” People like you, he’d said, as though they were in some cult. “You just wanted some young girl under your spell. Ew, you wanted me under your spell.”
He gave her a look that reeked of disdain. “I would only want a grown woman under my spell. I consider you far too young for me. And, beyond that, not my type.”
“I’m twenty-four years old. And you’re what, thirty?”
His mouth turned up in a slow smile. “I’m two-hundred-and-sixty-something, but thank you for the compliment.”
“Hah, funny. Look, I really must be going. I’ve got employees expecting me back at work. Strong, big, muscular employees.” Well, Nevin counted as big, anyway. “Let’s just forget this little misunderstanding.” She grabbed the gun and magazine and tucked them separately into her waistband. See, no threat at all.
“Ruby, you don’t seem to get that everything changes now. First, I need you to understand what you’re dealing with. Your uncle kept you in the dark, one of those bad decisions based on emotions.”
“Mon was the least emotional person I ever knew.” He’d taught her to release her emotions by pounding on something rather than crying.
“As a master of illusion, he revealed only what he wanted you to see. He was a magician in the truest sense of the word. He used his magick for fame and fortune, which is generally frowned upon, but it helped that he performed in Europe. Did he ever reveal to you how he performed his illusions?”
“No. Well, he did say it was real magic. When I was a child, I believed him. As I got older, I knew there had to be tricks. I saw those shows where the guy betrays his fellow magicians and reveals how the popular tricks are done. I figured it was something like that. Wait a minute. You said danger was stalking me. Why would someone harm me?”
“Where do I start?”
“There’s a list?”
“First it was from the people who had your parents killed.”
“Killed? Mon said it was an accident, that the authorities thought their boat hit something out in the ocean and sank.”
Cyntag shook his head. “Someone ordered their deaths.”
“That’s as crazy as everything else you’ve said. More crazy.”
“We decided to let everyone think you died, too. Did you ever wonder why Moncrief adopted you so quickly, changed your last name to his, and took you out of the country? It was too risky for Brom to raise you since he was a blood relation and easily connected to you. Moncrief had lost his wife and daughter years earlier, and Brom knew he would do good by you. His most important illusion was hiding that you hold magick.”
He slowly waved his hand in front of her face, his eyes staring straight into hers between his long fingers. “Crescents can identify one another by our eyes. Some are icy glitter, some swirling mist, and others burning embers.”
Her heart hitched. Hadn’t she thought she’d seen a glow in his eyes? She looked again but couldn’t see it now.
He lowered his hand. “Moncrief cast an illusion spell to hide the magick in your eyes. You looked like a Mundane, a regular human. Now that he’s gone, the spell is wearing off. Soon it will be obvious to every Crescent who sees you.”
She walked over to a gilt-framed mirror on the side wall and stared at herself. No glow. He was full of it. “I don’t see anything like what you described.”
“Because you cannot see.” He came up behind her. “You have not been Awakened. Crescents are initiated in a ceremony at thirteen, when their powers begin to appear. It’s similar to those of many native tribes to celebrate a coming of age. But much more comes with being an Awakened Crescent.”
Thirteen. She remembered a gnawing hunger deep in her belly and vivid dreams filled with colors and longing and…dragons. That’s when the damned rash had popped up, too. Different than what she heard other girls her age going through. Not that she was around many with whom she could compare notes.
She hadn’t wanted to kiss boys—or girls—or wear makeup or go shopping. She wanted something she couldn’t define. Drinking, partying, working her ass off, nothing sated it.
Cyntag brushed her bangs from her forehead, his thumb grazing the skin near her burn. “The orb did this?” She nodded, and anger shimmered over his face. “Unacceptable.”
“I thought so.”
He’d said it as though the attack on her was a personal affront to him. Like he owns you.
“Right now you’re like a baby chick fallen prematurely from the nest, without feathers developed enough to fly from danger or any way to fight enemies. Unable to even see them. You might get a glimpse now and then, but that won’t be enough.”
“You’re saying I have powers?” Could her disbelief be more clear? “Can I make one of those orb-lightning-bolt things?”
Another twitch of a smile. “Sorry, no. However, you are much more magnificent than mere magick.”
“I’m magnificent. Yeah.” She couldn’t help but glance down at herself. “Fine, how do I get…what’d you call it? Awakened?” Let’s play along.
“Considering the circumstances, only I can awaken your powers.”
Did his arrogance know no bounds? Dumb question, Ruby. “What do I have to give you for that?”
“You assume there’s a price?”
“There’s always a price.” She could see that he had one, too.
He stepped closer, again breaching boundaries. She wouldn’t move away. If only she didn’t have to look up at him. Even though she was five foot eight, he was way taller. His heat reached out, beckoning her. She stiffened her stance. The dragon tattoo eyed her, but no, she did not see it move.
He waited until she drew her gaze back to his face. “The price is that once you see, you can never go back to being blind. Once you know, you can never forget. Once you experience your true nature, you can never ignore it.”
“Ignore what?”
He released a breath. “We’d better start with the small stuff.”
The Book of the Hidden
The Dragon Prince stood before Garnet as a man now, though she knew the dark beast lurked inside him. His hair was so black that it was nearly blue where shafts of sunlight fell upon it. Eyes just as black, eternal wells where shadows dwelled beyond her ken. In the days since she’d come here, she had watched intruders try to storm his stone castle high on a mountaintop, watched him and his army of Dragons knock them back. Had they been her people come to rescue her? She did not know.
He had summoned her to a room of colorful marble and glittering chandeliers for their first real meeting. The kind of sitting area where one entertained important guests.
He sat like a king in a tall-backed chair of rich tapestry and carved wood. “Welcome to my castle, Princess. I hope you find it to your liking, as you will dwell forever more with me.”
“You cannot keep me here as a prisoner.” But he could. She saw in his eyes that he could do whatever he wished. “Why? Why did you save me, only to enslave me?”
“Your destiny lies with me. When you come of age, you will become my wife.”
He turned into a Dragon and approached her. She stood tall and strong even as her knees quivered. He opened his mouth and released a dark mist that enveloped her. She tried not to breathe, sensing the magick in it. The spell.