he made his way toward the door. “I’m putting you in charge of her. This one’s special. I’ll make her a fucking star.”
“Don’t worry,” I said, my voice dropping to a growl. Let him think his orders were the reason. “I won’t let her out of my sight.”
5
Phaedra
I kept my eyes out of focus. My body, boneless. In that instant, while Jameson Cruz slid his hands around my neck and gave me a taste of stolen magic, I felt a different power play at the edges of my mind.
He was strong. Fae magic. I’d never been this close to it. If I let it, I could forget where I was. Lose time. Space. Myself. And that’s exactly what he intended. A test. A probe. Was I who I said I was?
I drew on my dragon side, pulling my cloaking spell tightly around me. Cruz was so close to the truth. And I knew with total certainty what would have happened if he sensed it. He’d try to do to me what he’d done to the witch whose wind he stole.
Rose Kilgore.
God.
I wanted to believe it wasn’t true. I saw her in my mind’s eye. She was scared. Small. They’d held her down using her own magic against her. Cruz whispered in her ear. She didn’t feel it. He bent her mind, so she thought she was only dreaming.
Then, her magic poured out of her. My God. They drained her. Too much. Too fast. Rose was only just beginning to learn to control her connection to the Source. They took it all.
“Stop!” I screamed it in my mind. I tried to reach for her. “Wake up!”
As I spun and danced, hiding who I really was, I knew the truth. Rose Kilgore hadn’t survived the harvesting of her magic. I couldn’t see what they’d done to her body, but I knew her mind was dead. I was far too late.
I pretended to laugh. I turned my fire inward, struggling to keep the cloak in place.
“Do you want it?” Cruz said. I stopped spinning and leaned against the wall. Cruz and Archer had been talking, but I hadn’t listened. I’d been too busy trying to hold my disguise in place. God. If he knew. If he saw. He would try to steal my fire. Rose had been weak. Fresh. Untrained. If Jameson Cruz or the Ring knew what I could do…
I took a step, putting my back against the wall. Archer’s eyes flashed. He stood with his fists clenched. Every muscle on him seemed coiled, ready to strike. Rage poured through him. It was just an instant. A flicker. But at that moment, I knew he wanted to kill Jameson Cruz.
“What else can you give me?” I asked, purposely slurring my words. My head hurt. Cruz’s magic was strong. It was... other. It tore at the edges of my cloaking spell, looking for weakness. Trying to rip open my truth. I held strong.
“A job,” Cruz answered. “You haven’t heard a word I said, have you? Hungry little thing, aren’t you? Well, there’s plenty more where that came from.”
“She’s had enough for one day,” Archer barked. “She can barely stay on her feet.”
“She’ll get stronger,” J.C. said as if I weren’t there. Good. Let him think I was weak. He would let his guard down.
“Isn’t that right?” he said to me. He came to me again, waving the little flask with Rose Kilgore’s stolen magic in it. He’d glamoured it so it looked silver and gold. “You are hungry, aren’t you? Well, you can have all you want. Those are the terms.”
“The terms?” I asked.
“Your payment. You can sample the product every day if you’d like. And I’ll put a roof over your head. All you have to do is what you crave. Dance like that. Down there. Show the crowd how good our magic makes you feel. You can keep whatever they tip you. Plus, your benefits.”
He had a drop of the silver liquid on his finger. He reached for me, pressing his finger against my lip. Another test. I couldn’t escape Archer’s penetrating stare as I sucked J.C.’s finger and tried not to choke.
Rose’s magic couldn’t touch me. It was no more potent to someone like me than a drop of water. But J.C. had to believe otherwise. I couldn’t save Rose. I knew that now. But maybe…
“Enough!” Archer boomed. “Christ, J.C. You’ll fry her.”
“I think she’s stronger than she looks,” J.C. laughed. “What do you say, Phaedra? Do we have a