I felt cold the entire night, even after he'd tried to make conversation with me.

I faked the conversation, the smiles, the flirting.

It was painful.

It was painful still as he kissed me good night. A deep passionate kiss that I was sure would have made me weak in the knees if it had been Damien that kissed me.

But it wasn't.

It was Robyn.

I only felt repulsion as he kissed me, as he deepened the kiss and pressed me against him.

I acted coy as I gently pushed him away to say goodnight and closed the door. When he could no longer see me, I ran to the bathroom and threw up my entire dinner in the toilet.

I fell against the cold marble floor willing the coldness of the floor to seep into my skin and take away the fever I suddenly felt.

I had watched him in the quiet moments during dinner and kicked myself over and over for not realizing it sooner. He'd touched me lovingly, I let him, revealed to him my darkest moments, confessed that he'd broken me ...

I propped myself up again against the porcelain toilet and didn't stop until my body couldn't retch anything else.

I'd made my mind up immediately as soon as I realized the truth.

Robyn couldn't know.

He wouldn't know that I knew.

I had to formulate a plan - I had to get Damien back. And if it meant I had to play a part to stay close to him while I figured it out, I would.

I owed Damien that much.

"You found out, didn't you?"

Kymra stood at the doorway of the stunning marble bathroom watching me apprehensively.

"Twenty minutes," I whispered as I lay on the cold marble floor. I stared at the ceiling, dazed. "My life was perfect for twenty minutes."

She sat on the floor next to me. "I'm so sorry, Emmy. I am -"

"He lied to me, didn't he?" I asked her as I lay on the floor of the bathroom. "He lied when he said he was dampening my power with his. It's the Mark, isn't it?"

She gnawed on her bottom lip but said nothing.

"And the clothes - my stuff, did he bring that?"

"The Alteazor asked me to get everything for you while you were asleep. He wanted to make sure you were comfortable while you stayed."

I laughed wryly. "Earlier he made it seem like he went out and got it himself. That bastard. Damien would have at least admitted he had help."

Kymra didn't say anything.

I couldn't turn to her. "Who else knows?"

Kymra shook her head. "No one. No one knows. I can't get close to anyone else."

I sniffled. "Then where - where is Damien?"

Kymra froze at my words and looked away. "I wish I knew."

"Is he still there?" I asked quietly.

Kymra shook her head. "I don't know."

Rage boiled inside me, pure, hot rage. "I am going to kill him. I am going to kill him myself -"

Kymra shook her head and leaned against the counter as she sighed. "I wish it were that easy." She looked at me. "You are in no shape to take him on by yourself. You don't even have your magic. Robyn is cunning, ruthless and he has the Alteazor's power." She shook her head. "I shudder to think what would happen to you." Kymra stood and extended her hand. "Come, lets get some fresh air."

I stood with her and followed her to the balcony. Once outside, I breathed in the night air, watched the moonlight as it danced on the river. "What now?" I whispered. "What can we do?"

"I can help."

I turned to her as she spoke. She was apprehensive again in the way she spoke, the way she watched me. "Do you trust me?"

I shook my head. "Truthfully, I trust no one."

She smiled. "I suppose that's the smart thing to do." She gnawed her lip again. "I can help you - I can try and get rid of the Mark."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Anything, anything please - I don't know what I'll do if he takes over again-"

Metal glinted in the light as she pulled a small knife from her robes.

I blanched and took a step back.

"Please," she begged. "Let me help. I need some of your hair."

"No scissors?" I asked in a panic.

She shook her head. "Magic dagger."

I frowned, how had I not noticed the ruby glinting in the hilt?

I nodded and let her work. I shut my eyes tightly as I felt her pull my hair into one fist and cut clean through my hair with the other hand.

When I opened my eyes, I saw her hold the smooth silver strands in her hand.

Instinctively, I touched my hair panicking at the loss of most of it. It was so short it barely stuck out of the hair tie I'd put in.

A large jar appeared on the balcony next to us. She stuffed the large amount of hair in it, leaving only a couple of strands in her fingers.

She swallowed. "And done blood too."

I inwardly winced but gave her my hand.

Immediately, the dagger but through my palm and the blood that emerged was draped over the hair in the jar.

She mumbled something to herself then gently breathed on them.

I watched transfixed as they floated upwards then turned to dust in the moonlight. She gracefully moved her hand, like a conductor in front of her orchestra and guided the silver dust into a small vial in her waiting hand.

Before I knew what she was doing she quickly drank the vial.

"Kymra!"

She made a face as she put the vial down and away in her robes. "Gods, that's nasty."

"Why did you-"

Magic poured in me. I felt it run through me, starting from my middle then outward to my limbs then my fingers, everything.

Yes, this felt familiar.

She smiled. "I think it worked."

I looked at my hands, they glowed slightly. Like it was finally settling back in. My hand instantly healed. I laughed. I missed it. "I think it did."

At once, she grabbed me in a massive hug. "I'm so sorry to do this. I really am."

I frowned. "Do what?"

"It's for your own safety, I promise."

My stomach dropped. I tried to pull away. "What is it Kymra? What did you do?"

I could hear her voice change. "Run, don't come back. Don't come back until you can save him. Save us."

"What are you talking about?" I asked as I struggled to pull away.

Her voice changed. The tone, the inflection, her actual voice.

It was so familiar...

When she pulled away, I wasn't looking at Kymra, I stared at...myself.

She had the same silver hair, the same porcelain skin, the same eyes. She was no longer taller than me, we were the same height, the robes sagging slightly as it no longer hugged her figure as before. Her warrior arms beneath me thinned mimicking my own.

It was like looking into a living, breathing mirror.

"Kymra?" I was shaking. "How did you-"

"A glamour," she answered in my voice. "You'll learn about that soon. I think I will be able to fool him long enough while you go train and gather your strength."

"What?"

She pushed me over the railing of the balcony.

I couldn't scream as I fell.

I was going to die. There was no way I would survive the fall. I'd fall into the rocks below and die from the impact.

I wasn't ready.

I couldn't die.

Damien needed me.

Pain exploded through me as I fell onto cement.

No, not cement.

But God, it sure felt like it.

Water. I'd fallen into a large body of water.

The Ylee, I realized, it coursed through the city. My room was directly above it.

It felt like I was being stabbed all over my body the prickly feeling was overwhelming me. I tried to kick up and swim but cried out in pain, water filling my mouth and throat. I was in pain anytime I tried to move anything. I felt like I'd broken every bone in my body.

I watched the lights of the windows of Blackdown Keep twinkle above me through the water. I reached for them, trying desperately again to swim to them.

I was going to die.

I was going to drown, in pain and in the Underworld - the one place that I'd wanted to visit more than anywhere in the world.

And I wasn't able to save Damien.

I failed him.

I felt something warm start within me. Dull at first then explosive.

It covered me from head to toe in a sweet embrace and, at once, I knew Death had come.

❤️❤️❤️