Lepore, letting it suspend from her fingertips.
“Why would she find that threatening?” I ask, touching the pendant at the end. “I thought it was powerless?”
“It is powerless unless someone with Fey blood is wearing it.” She eyes it as it sways in the low light of the room.
“And what happens if someone of Fey blood wears it?” I ask, hooking my finger under her chin and making her look up at me.
“Well Royal Fey can control the Faerie Realm with it,” she smiles as if she finds it amusing. It’s kind of freaking me out a little. She’s acting crazy and possessed. “Are you okay?” I ask in a low voice.
She nods, swallowing hard. “I’m fine.”
“So that means if you were to wear the pendant, you can control the Fey?” Laylen muses over the thought, like he’s brainstorming an idea.
“Yeah, but only the Fey in the Faerie Realm,” she clarifies. “When they’re here, they can pretty much do whatever the hell they want.”
Laylen and Gemma exchange this weird look, it makes me wonder and it kind of pisses me off.
“What are you two thinking?” I ask, inching over a little so I’m blocking her from Laylen’s view. “Are you possessed again, or something?” I lower my head and study her eyes, which are as captivating as ever, but look a little hollow.
However, then she gives me a tentative smile and she looks like herself again, but I can feel that something’s off, like I could when I first woke up from my possession and knew what she was thinking.
“I have Royal Fey blood, Alex,” she says, in a duh tone. “I can use the Cornu Lepore to control the Fey in the Fey Realm. We can free Aleesa and Aislin because I can make the Faeries let them go.” She swings the chain around on her fingers with a proud smile on her face.
“No,” I say, shaking my head and grabbing onto her hand. “No freaking way. Besides, I wasn’t even planning on you going to the Faerie Realm. You can stay here where I know you’re safe.”
Her expression falls and she slips her hand from mine. “You don’t get a say in this.”
“Like hell I don’t,” I argue, seizing her by the waist. “I watched you for the last few days, possessed by a freaking evil queen who has Fey blood in her.” I tug her roughly towards me and she gasps as I lean in, breathing hotly on her neck. “And there’s no way I’m letting you go anywhere near the Fey.”
She huffs a frustrated breath, but she’s trembling in my arms. “Alex, this is the perfect plan—the easiest one to get Aislin and Aleesa back. Please, don’t make this hard.” She wiggles her arm up between us and then places her hand on my cheek. “You can be right by me the whole time. You can…” She bites her lip nervously as she glances at Laylen and Evan, then leans in, dropping her voice low enough that only I can hear her. “You can even kiss me the entire time to make sure I’m still me.”
“You think you can bribe me?” I ask, trying to sound firm, but the idea of kissing her the entire time is so God damn appealing.
She lets her lip pop free and stares into my eyes. “Just let me do it or I’ll… I’ll never be able to forgive myself for everything I did.”
“That was Helena,” I remind her. “You can’t feel guilty about the stuff she made you do.”
“It’s not that easy.”
Her eyes beg me to cooperate and even though I really don’t want to, I find myself saying, “Fine.”
Shutting her eyes, Gemma kisses my cheek. “Thank you,” she whispers in my ear and I shut my eyes, fighting the urge to pick her up and lock her in the dungeon until I can fix all this and know she’s safe.
Evan lets out a yawn, stretching his arms above his head, and then blinks his eyes repeatedly. “I’m going to have to get a quick nap if you guys want me to be a part of this.” He opens and closes his hand and a flame starts to burn, but then sizzles weakly. “I’m drained and my powers are pretty much useless right now.”
I let out a breath, glancing at the window and the blackness outside. “How long of a nap?”
Evan shrugs. “Like an hour, tops.”
I hate waiting, yet I want to wait because I don’t want Gemma to do it