In another moment, everything vanished. The eyes, the presence, everything. Magic too incredible, too potent, to feel or track or maybe even acknowledge blinked out.

“What was—what…” Mordecai took two quick steps forward, shock on his face, and looked at the beach.

The bodies were gone. Both of them. The blood, the messed-with sand—all of it. It was as though the skirmish hadn’t happened and Daisy hadn’t killed someone five feet from where she stood.

“What’s going on?” Mordecai turned to her, and then his eyes flicked to the spot where the person had revealed himself. Mordecai had probably seen the eyes. Daisy couldn’t imagine how anyone could’ve missed them, as beautiful and green as they were.

She opened her mouth to explain—

Shh, little dove. It must remain our secret, or it will become your group that I must silence.

It was as if the sentiment had been left behind like a landmine, triggered when she went to speak about him. The voice was silky and smooth and flowered in her mind. It should’ve scared the hell out of her, felt invasive. Instead, all the worry over what his presence might mean to Lexi melted away. Daisy had no idea if that was magic or what, but she felt in her blood that if she didn’t remain silent, they would have hell knocking on their door.

17

Alexis

“It’ll be fine. Amber and Henry are constructing that conspiracy theory website right now.” Kieran held my hand as we drove slowly through the darkness, on the way to Magnus’s lodge for dinner. We’d brought the kids and the crew, just in case, plus our fleet of golf carts, but Kieran and I were leading the way. “Amber has a good tech team working on it back home. They’ll get it all sorted. Zander hasn’t changed with the times enough to recognize a hastily thrown together website. He’s also stepping on my toes. I might be new, but he fucked himself by giving me the time of day. He has to go about this delicately unless I royally screw something up. We’re good. We’ve got this locked down.”

But it didn’t feel like we did, and I could tell he didn’t, either. Fear of what Aaron had in store for us ate through my gut, not to mention the presence of that shadow in the trial room. Logic dictated it must have been a Demigod. It hadn’t been Harding, and no one else had that kind of advanced spirit magic. But what Demigod in their right mind would have risked showing up in full view of Magnus? It didn’t make sense. There had to be another explanation.

I worried I would not like that explanation.

I wanted so badly to talk to Harding about it, to ask if he’d seen anything, but earlier I hadn’t been able to cross that weird plane. I’d only managed to stick my head in normal spirit, freak out in case one of the other Demigods was lurking and caught me, and ducked back into reality. I would get no help from him.

“How’s Daisy faring?” Kieran asked as he glanced to the side, his brow furrowing. Uncertainty bled into the link.

I followed his gaze, but didn’t feel or see anything in the night. “She called it a love note. I think it must be bothering her a little, though. She was flushed when she stopped in to borrow some jewelry earlier, when I was getting ready, and she’s been abnormally contemplative.”

He nodded, turning away from whatever he’d been looking at. “She’ll be fine. We’ll keep an eye on her. What about you? How are you taking all this?”

“I want her to go home. She doesn’t even have healing magic, Kieran. Not even experienced magical people without healing magic belong here. She has the nod of approval—it’s time for her to go.”

“We can’t send her home. She’s making a name for herself right now—she’s finding her place. If we send her home, we’ll send the message that she can’t handle it. Besides, she wouldn’t leave. She’s sneaky—she’d find a way back in. Zorn is almost positive she and Mordecai snuck out when we were all discussing this dinner.”

I crinkled my brow, thinking back. I hadn’t missed her. Then again, the formal invitation to dine with my father had had me plenty distracted.

Kieran took a deep breath. “I wasn’t going to tell you, but…I offered her the magic last night. She wouldn’t take it. She doesn’t want to be tied to me.”

I jerked my head toward him. It was unusual for a Demigod to give his blood to someone who hadn’t offered him an oath. Kieran clearly didn’t care much about the norm, since he’d given his blood to both me and Mordie, but it was unheard of for a Demigod to offer such a boon to a perfectly healthy, non-magical person. And she’d said no.

Tears filled my eyes. “I can make her see reason.”

“Which is why I didn’t tell you. I don’t think you should push her, Lexi. Daisy is in a very precarious situation in a world she doesn’t belong in. She’s trying to find her way. With all due respect, I think we need to let her. I won’t force an attachment on her if she doesn’t want it. We’ll just keep her with us at all times. With you or with me, she’s covered.”

I nodded and blotted the wetness under my eyes. Stupid eye makeup. It was so fragile.

“She’s tough, though,” he said with a grin. “I have to give her that. We’ve always known it, but…wow. Henry made…friends with a woman who works for the surveillance team.” Friends meant they were bumping uglies. Apparently Henry was excellent at pillow talk. “He showed me some of the clips he smuggled out. Daisy is every bit the gremlin we’ve always called her. She’s like a flying squirrel but with razor-sharp teeth and claws. It’s kind of fun to watch.”