aside as we squeezed into the tight space, and I reached up to click on the light.
I felt desire the moment Emma brushed up against me. We were in such confined quarters, completely alone, and her scent was driving me half mad. Last semester, such a situation would’ve caused us to be unable to keep our hands off each other.
My arousal died as she backed away from me as far as the closet would allow. She crossed her arms and asked, “So? What’s going on?”
“Gabby and Elijah know about the crystals,” I told her. “They’re hunting them as well. My cousin confronted me in the hallway moments ago.”
Emma’s face went pale white. “Do they know we have two of the stones?”
“I don’t believe so. But it won’t be long before they put it together, I’m sure.”
Emma chewed on her lip nervously. “Milonna warned us about this. But we have two stones already, so for once we’re ahead of the game. Did Eli give you any information about what he knows?”
I shook my head. “He’s keeping quiet. He won’t give anything away unless it’s a trick to deceive us.”
Emma tapped her fingers against her arm. I could tell she was thinking of something. “What?” I asked.
“Lady Korva,” Emma began. “I’ve gotten the impression she’s part Unseelie. We know Gabby has to be, because she’s practicing Unseelie magic. But what if Elijah is Unseelie as well, through his mother’s line?”
“That can’t be right. She’s my aunt. I would know if she had Unseelie blood, because my mother would have it, too,” I argued.
“Would you?” Emma raised an eyebrow. “Your family is pretty damn good at keeping secrets.”
“That would mean I’d be able to perform dark magic.” I scowled. “I’ve never tried before.”
“Well, let’s put it to the test.” Emma walked out of the closet, and I took it as an indication to follow. Her red curls bounced against her shoulders as she jogged through the hallways. I increased my strides to keep up with her, and noticed the odd stares I got from people as we passed by.
The tabloids had made a mockery of Emma and I’s breakup. All of Malovia was taking it as their own personal entertainment. Nobody had the balls to ask me about it yet, because they knew I’d rip their heads off, but I was certain Emma was taking most of the blame for our separation.
Another regrettable consequence of my stupid decision. Emma was always taking the brunt of things for me. When would it end?
Emma wound upward, to a tower in the northwest corridor. I knew them well— they were study halls for students looking to ace their exams. Emma found an empty room, and we entered it. It was small, but cozy, with several armchairs placed in front of a small fireplace and a square desk centered in the middle of the room.
Emma took the grimoire out of her bag, as well as her journal. She rolled her eyes when she saw my sour face. “Come on, Ethan. This is the only way.”
The leshane in me greedily took interest once the grimoire was placed on the table. “You know I hate messing with dark magic.”
“I’ll pick the simplest spell. If it doesn’t make you sick, we know you have Unseelie blood.” Emma shuffled through the journal pages until she came to an entry in the middle of the book. She handed it to me. “This is easy. Any Unseelie fae could pull this off. If you can’t do it, we know you don’t have dark fae blood.”
“What are the consequences if it backfires?” I asked. I was almost certain my blood was full Seelie, and this wouldn’t work.
Emma shrugged. “You’ll probably vomit for several hours.”
“Lovely.” I read the journal entry. It was a simple spell— a protection ward, drawn from the energy of another magical force. Emma placed a small red stone on the desk in front of me— a red agate.
“Draw from the stone’s power, and recite the incantation,” Emma said. “You’ll know if it works almost immediately.”
This felt wrong… sinful, almost. But I was a sinner of the worst kind, so I didn’t see much point in trying to save my soul by avoiding Unseelie magic. At any rate, my prejudices against the Unseelie were what I’d been taught, not what was necessarily the truth. This could be a gateway into darkness, or a gateway into another way of thinking. The least I could do was try.