am I doing here? I thought, not for the first time. I knew the demons weren’t happy about my relationship with Trent. And it wasn’t as if there were any elf babies available for adoption. God knew he wouldn’t get any from me. I wasn’t barren, but the chromosomes didn’t line up right between an elf and a demon. Worse, elven society demanded children from their leader—or they weren’t a leader long. It was a barbaric, but understandable, belief that had sprung from their cascading genetic failure and subsequent near extinction. That I’d helped Trent regain the DNA that allowed everyone else to have healthy kids didn’t mean a thing.
“This is pleasant,” Trent said, so focused on Zack that he missed my mood. “I should have breakfast down here all the time. Was the pool warm enough, Zack?”
“Plenty, thanks,” Zack said as he hunched over his bowl and inhaled his cereal. “I swim laps at the dewar’s pool a lot, but someday, I’m going to learn to surf.” His expression shifted, part anger, part anticipation, and enough fear to worry me. “Now that I’m not going to be a dewar stooge,” he added. “I lived above Black’s Beach. Did you know that? And I’ve never been allowed to dip a toe in,” he finished angrily. “Do you know what it’s like seeing half of San Diego on the beach and not being allowed to even go out because some old fart thinks you might get a sunburn?”
He’s been in a prison, I thought, seeing by Trent’s closed expression that he’d felt those same bars of circumstance and expectation. Never allowed to risk anything in the pursuit of self, never allowed to be normal: skin your knee, break a bone, eat too much chocolate. I knew how that felt, but it must have been worse when there wasn’t a medical reason for the invisible bars.
“I don’t swim.” Jenks sat on the edge of my cup, the two sticks of maple cotton candy in his grip dripping. “The water makes my wings heavy. Besides, I’d freeze my nubs off out there.”
Zack’s gaze flicked to me as he slowed down. “Rachel says you might enclose it.”
Trent’s expression cleared, and he sipped his coffee. “I might. Still deciding. The waterfall makes it tricky, but if we manage it, we could make the window wall more permeable and up the humidity in the main house. I know everyone would appreciate that.”
Zack searched the bottom of the bowl to find a wad of soggy flakes. “Why not move the ward on the window? If you set the anchor out far enough, the natural arc from the top floor down should enclose it.”
“Perhaps.” Trent ran his gaze across the top of the window, wincing. “I was thinking something more permanent.” Zack hesitated, clearly waiting for more, and Trent added, “It only takes someone with the right know-how to bring down a ward.”
“Yeah.” Jenks snorted. “The first time Rachel touched it, she turned the whole thing gold.”
“Jenks, maybe you should get those sticks to Jumoke and Izzy before they drip all over Trent’s table,” I said, and the pixy rose up, saluting me with one hand.
“Back in a sec,” he said, wings humming as he darted off.
Buddy’s collar jingled as he watched Jenks, then the dog inched closer to Zack, begging with wide brown eyes. I settled back with my coffee, thinking the ward was a dangerous topic. Zack sitting there eating cereal like any other kid was dangerous. Everything was dangerous. Trent had defenses, but everything could collapse with the right word, and he knew it. So why was he being so free with himself? Trent was more cautious than that.
Unless he is trying to draw Zack into a mistake? Even more dangerous, and I eyed Zack in speculation as he shook more Raisin Bran into his milk to use it up.
“Rachel . . . ,” Trent drawled, and I jumped, not realizing I’d been glaring. “I’ve been giving it some thought.”
“What?” I asked, putting my attention on my own cereal.
“The curse Hodin taught you. The one that separates an aura into its constituent parts?”
“Ah, yes?” I said, wondering about his timing when Zack slowed his spoon on its way to his mouth.
“Do you think the baku might have left a residue aura on its victims?” Trent asked, cup held so the steam bathed his face. “And if so, would it show if you parceled their aura out?”
I hesitated, remembering that weird purple-and-orange aura on me when