Page 140 of Faerie Hunted

Who had been controlling Onyx and forcing him to attack those fae? He hadn’t known.

“Come on.” Livvy gestured for me to follow her. “It will help put you at ease. It’s something I can do. I told you I would teach you everything I know.”

“You think…you think we can figure out who was controlling him? He’s gone.”

Her lips set in a thin line. “I think it’s worth a try. And besides, it will be a good test to see if my magic is failing. My spell failed. I want to see if this will fail.”

I shivered, the drop in temperature having nothing to do with the beautiful evening and everything to do with my own reservations.

There was no one around to see us work this magic. No one except the night creatures. And once Livvy settled us near the water, once her own magic rose and crackled in the open air, even the crickets fell silent. Bats swung around us in a circle of clear air overhead.

She closed her eyes and when she spoke again, her voice had dropped. “Sit across from me again, Tavi, and open up your energy to me. I’ll need to use your connection to your friend to be able to access him. We should see where his spirit has traveled. If he is free, he’ll have his answers. And so will we.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about this.

We had to do something.Ihad to do something. I couldn’t sit and hate myself much longer.

But rather than voicing my reservations, I settled across from her, in awe when a perfectly still pool of water lifted off of the lake itself.

The pool shivered in the air before it shifted between Livvy and I, straightening out into a hammered sheet of pure darkness.

She lifted her hand to me again, inches below the floating water, and I placed my palm in hers. Magic passed between us and my own power lifted and reached for her.

I forced myself to still and focus on Onyx. On the training sessions where he’d taught me more about my shapeshifting. The way he’d looked in the hospital, how he’d stared at me from the executioner's block, everything that happened thereafter.

“Look.”

Livvy whispered the word and I peeled open an eye to see the surface of the water rippling.

“Concentrate on the answers you seek. Tune in to his energy. His earthly body may be gone but pack bonds do not disappear with death. I’ll be able to scry the rest, and the face of the person in control should become clear.”

It was up to me now.

And impossible for me to focus entirely on the things I wanted to know, not when there were a thousand other questions. Why not look to see a way to defeat Dorian Jade? Why not look for a way to reunite the two courts?

Onyx.

The son of my fated mate, who was more than a friend and mentor. A lover who would never be. A solid connection, and someone I cared about. Gone, too far for me to reach, but he needed me to get to the bottom of this.

The surface of the water shifted again and slowly a face filled the confines of the pool. I stifled a gasp as the features became clearer.

“You’re sure?” The words burst out of me and dread crawled under my skin. “You’re sure this is the person?”

“Who do you see?” Livvy asked.

Black hair, cut in a sharp shag. Pointed ears, dusky skin, a snake’s smile.

I saw Selene in the reflection.

Her eyes seemed to penetrate through me.

And I wanted to rip her from navel to neck with my claws and watch her bleed. For the pain she’d caused Onyx while he was alive, the pain he’d live with for the rest of his life, for the shit that happened in her wake.

“How?” The word erupted out of me before I was aware of even asking the question.

“So you know the person you see in the reflection,” Livvy said out loud. “Her face is unfamiliar to me. Tavi, who is that?”

My hands had curved into fists and I realized my claws were literally out at the pinprick of pain. When I uncurled my fingers, a half-moon of bloody indentations greeted me.

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