Page 150 of Illusory

Someone hissed out a curse beside me, but I didn’t open my eyes to see who. Instead, I held fast to the wind as though it were a tangible entity I could manipulate with my will alone. The sound of shuffling pages filled the air, followed by a crash as something hit the floor, the sharp sound of breaking glass ringing in my ears.

“Jemma!”

The wind whipped harder, the air turning cold as it spiraled around me like a tunnel, building and growing with each coil, faster and faster still. It was dizzying… intoxicating… as if the magic was beckoning me to reach out just a little more, to push past the edges and let it swallow me whole—

Cool hands grabbed my wrist, yanking me up from the couch. My eyes snapped open to find Trace standing in front of me, his brows furrowed as he wrapped his arms around my waist. Loose sheets of paper and small objects from the room swirled around us, caught in an invisible vortex that none of us could see, but that we could all feel.

His gaze skirted down to my mouth, darkening as the air in my lungs rushed almost as quickly as the wind swirling around us. His lips crashed into mine, and I immediately opened for him, letting his tongue slip in like it was the antidote to the chaos in my blood.

I groaned softly against his mouth, my eyes slipping shut as his hold on me tightened, his hands pressing into the small of my back and making all the thoughts in my mind turn to him.

The stolen moment stretched into minutes as the tumultuous wind around us began to gradually calm, the echoes of its fury drifting further away before finally stilling completely.

My eyes fluttered open lazily as Trace pulled back, his hands still locked around my waist and holding me to him.

Though the wind around us had stopped, the turbulence inside me was still going strong.

“You know, it’s kind of funny,” he said, his voice deep and smooth, his sapphire eyes tracing my face. “From the moment I met you, I always thought of you as this beautiful, delicate butterfly caught in a storm—something I needed to save.” He paused for a beat, his gaze locking with mine as my heart raced in time with his. “But I see how wrong I was now.”

“Oh.” I frowned, looking down as my shoulders slumped.

He lifted my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes as he smiled at me. “You were never that butterfly, Jemma. You were the whole fucking storm.”

My heart swelled as an impossible grin spread across my lips at his beautiful words—words that were meant just for me.

I may have been the Daughter of Hades, with a bloodline older and darker than time itself, but in that moment, I was just a normal girl, swooning over the boy she loved. And I swore I would hold onto that moment forever, no matter how dark the storm became.

49. HEALING HANDS

We spent the rest of the afternoon testing each of the remaining elements to see if I had an affinity for any of them. While Jaqueline had been wrong about me possibly having an affinity for all the elements, she wasn’t that far off. It turned out I had six of the nine—which, though not all of them, was still practically unheard of among Anakim.

Fire, water, earth, air, aether, and energy.

I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel about it all. Mostly, I felt numb, but I figured that would change once I had time to really process it. For now, though, it was still my birthday, and I’d decided I was going to make the most of whatever was left of my day. For all I knew, this could very well be the last birthday I ever celebrated, and I wanted to do my best to enjoy every second of it, despite all the ugly things lying in wait for me in the future.

Of course, the reminders were always there with me, lurking at the edge of my subconscious in the form of three Horsemen, but today, none of that was going to exist.

Because I wasn’t going to let it.

After taking a quick shower and changing into somethingnice but comfortable(as per Trace’s instructions) I rejoined him in the den wearing my blue jeans and a white, short-sleeved crop top that wrapped around my waist and tied in the back. It had taken me nearly fifteen minutes to come up with something that lookednice but comfortable,so I was relieved when I saw Trace’s face light up as he crossed the room to join me, especially since he hadn’t given me a single clue about where we were going.

“I hope this is okay,” I said, gesturing to my outfit. “I wasn’t sure if I—”

“It’s perfect,” he cut in before I could finish defending my wardrobe choice. Leaning in, he plucked a soft kiss from my lips. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you,” I said, feeling my cheeks heat up at the way he was looking at me. “So, are you going to tell me where we’re goingnow?”

“Not yet,” he replied with a sly smile. “I wanted to take you out to eat first so we could talk.”

“Talk?” That sounded serious, and kind of heavy. Not exactly the birthday vibe I was going for.

“Not like that,” he said quickly, probably sensing my apprehension. “I just have a few things I want to say to you before I take you where we’re going. It’s nothing bad. I promise.”

I swallowed my worry and nodded. “Okay. Sure.” I glanced down at our casual attire. “We’re not going anywhere fancy, are we?”

“Nope.” His dimples made an appearance as he grinned. “We’re actually going to that burger joint in town. The one we ate at on our first date.”

“Our first date?” I raised an eyebrow, laughing. “Are you talking about the night after Caleb’s hockey game against Easton? The one where you punched two guys because they were talking smack about me?”

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