Lailah bent down and swirled a finger through the water. “Look closely. You’ll see what happened.”
Everything I’d just watched replayed in the water’s reflection. When the dark sorcerer’s magic exploded, it evaporated into thin air, but some of it absorbed into my mother . . . into me. Not wanting to see anymore, I moved away from the water.
“What does this mean?” I asked, even though I speculated I already knew.
Lailah’s amber eyes bored into mine. “As you already know, Alasdair had given Kai some of his magic. That magic was stolen from your mother and your aunts, who use their power for good, not evil. That’s what makes it pure and light. That magic inside of Kai calls to you and vice versa. The same thing with the darkness. The light and the dark inside of you both are connected. It’s what triggered Kai’s torn feelings when he laid eyes on you for the first time. He has a strong connection with you because of the magic of your mother and aunts running through him, but also the sordid desires and vengeance from his father. Both are warring inside of him. And eventually, he has to make a choice.”
“What if he chooses good over evil?”
Lailah’s sadness poured off her in waves. “It doesn’t matter, Ella. Whatever choice he makes will destroy him. That is his fate.”
It felt as if my heart had been ripped out of my chest. I didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t.
* * *
When I appearedin the cabin, Kai took one look at me and grabbed my arm, pulling me into his body.
“I knew it wouldn’t be good.”
I didn’t want to think of him turning on me, but what if we couldn’t change our fates? What if it came down to him either killing me or me killing him? What would we do? I had to believe there was still time to change things.
Letting Kai go, I gazed up into his silvery gray eyes. “I know why we’re connected, why we can feel each other.”
His brows furrowed. “How?”
“When my mom killed your father, his magic disappeared from the Land of the Fae, but not before being absorbed into her womb, into me.
His eyes widened. “Our darkness is the same.”
I nodded. “And so is our light. We’re bonded in two ways.”
“What does all of that mean? How can we change the future?”
“I don’t know,” I answered trying to be as honest as I could.
He narrowed his gaze as he studied me. “Why do I feel like you’re keeping something from me?”
I stepped away from him, not wanting to see the look in his eyes when he found out the truth. The warmth from the crackling fire beckoned me closer, and I held out my hands toward the flames. A fire raged inside of me, demanding that I not give up.
“I was told it wouldn’t matter what you do,” I confessed. “Whatever choice you make will destroy you.”
Silence filled the air, but then I felt his body at my back, his arms protective as they wrapped around me. “And what of you? What happens to you?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “I just know when I heard that, it felt as if my whole world had been torn apart.”
Kai turned me around, his wild gaze on mine as he clutched my face tightly. “I don’t want to hurt you, Ella. If I can’t be saved, I want you to get as far away from me as possible. Promise me you will.”
Promises were sacred to the fae and considered a binding contract. They weren’t to be made lightly. Unfortunately, his request was a promise I didn’t know if I could keep.
When I didn’t answer, Kai squeezed me harder. “Promise me, dammit. I have to hear it.”
His energy blasted all around me and our eyes locked. His anger and desires made everything inside of me tighten.
Instead of answering, I pushed him against the wall. “I can’t. We’re just going to have to figure out another way.”
Pushing my tongue inside his mouth, I felt the fire instantly blaze between us. It took him a split second to catch up to the moment, but then his hands snaked around my waist, pulling me in tight—his grip almost bruising.
“Fuck,” he growled into my mouth.