And it had to be Xan. Damn, damn, damn.

‘They are,’ Dee said. And without you.’

‘And whether you believe it or not, I want to say thank you. I love them, too.’ Xan considered her a minute, obviously gauging back. I’m not going to insult your intelligence by trying to convince you there was never any animosity between the two of us, Dee. You do have a legitimate case against my behavior all those years ago.’

Dee couldn’t move, mesmerized. ‘You mean the part about your murdering my parents?’

Xan waved an elegant hand, as if discounting bad grammar. ‘No, dear. I didn’t murder anyone. They simply didn’t have the stamina for what they asked. They wanted their powers gone. They had misused them and thought it would be an appropriate penance. I… obliged them.’

And they died.’

‘Well…’ Xan sighed, actually frowning. ‘Yes. I’m afraid I wasn’t as proficient then. I couldn’t pull away in time. They surprised me. I learned a terrible lesson that day.’

‘Yes. How to cover up a crime.’

‘The verdict was death by accident, Deirdre.’ Her voice was so gentle, so understanding. Dee wanted to break something. And it was just that. I’m sorry. And I hope you’ll be able to accept my gift in the spirit it was intended, as a gesture of reconciliation.’

‘Gift?’ Dee demanded. ‘Like a fruit basket?’

She got Xan to smile again. ‘If you’re getting fruit baskets that are nearly as delicious as Danny James, I need to stop in for the holidays more often.’ She looked down the street in the direction Danny James had just disappeared. ‘I looked all over the world for him. I wanted to find someone who would help you free yourself from all your responsibilities, and every search led to Danny James. He’s your true love, Dee.’

Again, a thrust straight through the heart. ‘He can’t be. He doesn’t even believe in what we are.’

Xan actually looked a bit regretful. ‘I know. I didn’t realize that until I saw him here with you. I talked to him this morning, but I just don’t think that’s going to change. He’s been too hurt.’

‘Then how can he be…?’

‘Your true love?’ Xan shrugged, looking disconcerted. ‘Truly? I don’t know. I just know that this chance comes along once in a lifetime, and that you can’t throw him away.’

Dee wanted to close her eyes, to stick her fingers in her ears. God, Xan was good. Satan in Chanel.

She shoved her hands in her pockets. ‘Why should I listen to a word you say?’

‘Because you know I’m telling the truth.’

‘A lovely thought. But what if I feel I can’t accept such a generous gift?’

Xan walked right up to her. ‘Do you really want to find yourself my age and all alone?’

‘Like you?’

Xan’s eyes sparked red, betraying her frustration. She looked away a second, and then faced Dee head-on. ‘Yes. Like me. I chose power, Dee. It’s too late for me to change that. It’s not too late for you.’ Dee could smell the cinnamon and sulfur that was Xan’s power signature. It made Dee want to sneeze. Even so, she couldn’t look away from those mesmerizing black eyes.

‘Why am I seeing a Trojan horse in my head?’ she asked.

Xan laughed and shook her head. ‘You don’t have to trust me. Go to him and you’ll know. I’m just hoping you don’t throw away the best thing that ever happened to you because I brought him to you. I hope you know just what he’s worth.’

‘Because he’s my true love.’

‘Yes.’ Xan took Dee’s hand before she could stop her, twining their fingers together until Dee could feel the warmth of Xan’s skin. ‘Get out of this town, Dee. Go travel the world and find out who Danny James is. Love him. Have babies with him. And if you have to compromise to get him, you should. I promise you, there isn’t anything too great to sacrifice for this chance.’

Dee was shaken to her toes. Shed never heard Xan sound so sincere. So passionate about anything. She’d never seen ghosts of any kind in her aunt’s eyes. She saw them now. She felt such warmth spread through her, as if Xan had poured it from her fingers.

Xan straightened, retrieved her hand. Dee stumbled, suddenly off balance and shivery.

‘It would be nice to reestablish a relationship with my nieces,’ Xan said. ‘After you think about this, after you decide what you want to do about Danny, let me know. I’ll help any way I can. I’ve spent the last long years making sure I learned how. Correctly, so I can’t hurt anyone else.’

And just like that, Dee was alone once again with nothing but a sense of sudden cold and the growing suspicion that for once in her life, Xan had told the truth.


Elric really was gone. Lizzie couldn’t believe it – when she went through her deserted bedroom back into the workshop, there was no sign of him. She’d assumed he’d just been masking his presence, and she closed her eyes and tried to sense him, tried to conjure up the flowing colors he seemed to emanate, but the air was flat and still. She looked down, and she was barefoot. How odd – even when she didn’t deliberately put shoes on, she always ended up with something interesting on her feet. But ever since she took her shoes off last night, she’d stayed barefoot.

Never in her life had she gone against her sisters’ will -she was the peacemaker, the problem solver, the one to figure out something that would make everyone happy, or at least marginally satisfied. She’d automatically stepped into the middle of the array he’d drawn on the floor the night before, and she could practically feel him around her, hear his voice in her ear. The rat bastard. He’d told Xan where they were. For all his ‘oh, I’ll help you,’ he’d turned around and given them up. He’d lied and betrayed them. Not only that, but he’d sent her fiance off to the ends of the earth, and probably given him amnesia, as well, at least as far as she was concerned.

Bastard. All that shimmering charm was nothing but a charade, just like her father’s facile charisma, and beneath it-

‘Stop thinking so hard.’

She whirled around. He was standing in the entrance to her workshop, as if he thought he’d be welcome. He’d changed his clothes – whether he’d literally changed what he’d been wearing into something new or had somehow found a new set of clothes, she didn’t know and she didn’t care.

‘You son of a bitch,’ she said.

He seemed undisturbed by her greeting. ‘Don’t overreact. I’m not the only one who’s arrived in this godforsaken little town. If I hadn’t told her, somebody else would have.’

‘Who else has she sent?’

‘Didn’t you listen to your sisters? Xantippe understands people far too well – she sent exactly the sort of men who’d most distract your sisters. Their soul mates.’

‘Is that what you’re supposed to be? My soul mate?’

For some reason his laugh sounded slightly hollow. ‘I think Xantippe thought you wouldn’t be interested in sex. I was simply going to distract you until she arrived.’

‘Why you?’

‘I offered. I came to her in the first place – Xantippe always knows things, and I thought if anyone knew what was upsetting the flow, then she would. She told me it was you.’

‘And sent you to stop me.’

‘I told you, I offered. I have no idea what she wants with you, and I don’t really care. I just wanted to stop you from wreaking havoc’

‘And how did getting rid of my fiance serve that purpose?’

He didn’t look the slightest bit guilty. ‘He was the wrong man for you, and you knew it. I just saved you the trouble of dumping him.’

‘Why, how thoughtful,’ she said, acidly polite. ‘So if you were so determined to stop me, why did you teach me things? And don’t pretend that you didn’t – I already feel different. I’m more focused. More powerful.’

‘I was afraid of that,’ he said, not sounding particularly pleased. ‘You’re a fast learner. And you’re going to need to know these things sooner or later, I thought I might as well start your education.’

‘Why bother? Why didn’t you just seduce me to shut me up?’

He looked startled. The violet ring around his pupils seemed to have widened, a dark, smoky look that made her think of long nights and purple silk. ‘Would it have been that easy?’

‘Would it have been that hard? You assured me you were very good in bed. Wouldn’t it have been simpler to distract me with sex? Unless, of course, you don’t want-’

‘Don’t even go there.’ His voice was low, dangerous.

‘Go where?’

‘You know what I’m talking about.’

The last twenty-four hours had been a mass of simmering emotions and frustrations, feelings she couldn’t even begin to understand, and suddenly she cracked, the last of her nervousness vanishing. She turned on him, coming right up to him as he filled her doorway. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know why you stayed once you found us, I don’t know why you decided to teach me things, why you sent Charles away, I don’t know why you have such a crazy effect on me.’

‘Sure you do,’ he said, sliding his hand behind her neck, pulling her face up to his. ‘You know too damned well.’

This time she was prepared. He was going to kiss her, and she steeled herself, determined not to respond. Why should she respond? she thought. She didn’t like him, she’d just been engaged to another man, and besides, she didn’t really like kissing…

‘Maybe you just haven’t been kissed by the right man,’ he murmured.

She jerked away. ‘You can’t read minds!’ If he’d been reading her mind for the last twenty-four hours she was in deep shit.

‘Can’t I?’ He seemed no more perturbed than if one of her magicked bunnies had hopped out of his reach. ‘Normally I can’t. But every now and then I get a glimpse of what’s going on in your tortured little brain, and it terrifies me.’