Page 62 of What did you do?

His mouth fell open as he stepped back.

“She isn’t who you think she is. She killed me. She’s magnificent,” I said, feeling the creases tug at my eyes as they always did whenever I thought about her darkness.

“She what?”

“Well, she thought she killed me until earlier today,” I said as Walter nodded, his mouth hanging open again.

“You mean you know what she is? How?” he asked, the shock clear on his face.

“Of course I know she’s an assassin. I knew it the whole time. If you recall, I’m the one she tried to assassinate,” I grumbled.

“No, that’s not what I—” He shook his head.

“We bonded, Walter. She will be my queen as soon as we go home to Unseelie. First, she wants to get the other half of her heart.”

“That’s not what I me?—”

But my thin patience was nearly gone. “She is mine, Walter. That is the only thing you need to understand. Take her with you to Unseelie tonight. She may fight it, but I will take out the Lumin guard stationed at the portal and get you two out. I need you back at the castle as soon as possible. I dislike leaving Mother alone with all of the Fallen’s recent activity?—”

“Mendax, no,” Walter interrupted, surprising me. “Caly, she’s…she’s Artemi.” His eyes were as big as plates.

My entire body went cold. “No, she?—”

“She is not human, Mendax. She is a fucking Artemi.”

“It’s impossible,” I answered immediately. “We would have known. Alistair would have…” But I trailed off, recalling my panther friend’s declaration that he couldn’t understand it, but he wouldn’t harm her.

“They are holding half her heart hostage—the half with her powers. That’s why my shifted form is so drawn to her,” he added.

She couldn’t be Artemi. That meant?—

“I found Versipellis at the docks. Remember, the old Seer who runs the apothecary in town? The cat shifter who was close with Alistair? Well, that smart old lady sold me as a pet?—”

Something sharp whipped across my cheek at the same time something cracked into my stomach with such force it sent me to the floor. I felt the cold, black blood drip from my cheek as I shadowed a few feet away from the attack.

Caly stood next to a stunned Walter in her plaid sleep shorts and white T-shirt, braced and ready for a fight. She instantlyrefocused on me when I reappeared, adjusting her stance and raising her tiny weapon as she prepared to charge at me.

Holy Tartarus below. I had never been so fucking excited in all my life.

“Weird. In all our catching up tonight, Caly, you somehow forgot to mention that you two are in love.” Walter smiled, shifting glances between the two of us. “I wouldn’t have snuggled you so much had I known.”

A deep rumble ripped from my chest. He had snuggled her?

“Heis in love,” she snapped at Walter. “I hate him! He’s been following me, scaring the wits out of me!”

She charged at me, moving my arm and stabbing her curved karambit deep into my side.

“Fuck, that hurt!” I bellowed. I kicked her legs out from under her, and she fell to the ground with a growl.

Walter sighed and rolled his eyes. “I’m going to leave you two to work this out while I search the castle for her heart. I’m drawn to her powers as a pure shifter, so I will have a better chance of finding it than you two anyway,” he said as he shifted into his rat form and scurried over to the door with a squeak.

I walked over to the door to open it, but Caly had somehow gotten there first and wrenched it open, smashing it into my head and splintering the wood.

Fucking Kaohs, I wanted her.

“You are detestable!” she exclaimed.

Walter scurried down the hall, while Caly took off in the opposite direction.

---