“You’re beautiful,” Gray said, approaching my side as if he intended to step into the mirror with me. There was no reflection of him in the glass, his Vessel not existing even as his hand touched my shoulder.
The faint purple of my eye seemed to glow in the same way the bones had when he’d opened the bag. I swallowed, grasping one of the bones and trying to pull it away from my neck.
Gray stepped away finally, going back to the portrait behind his desk and closing his safe. I tried not to think of what other treasures might exist within there, what he might be hiding from the world.
Kairos shoved open the door as he stepped into the office. “We found her. The plants didn’t want to let her go, but—”
I reached out with my hand, laying it on the bare skin of his neck.
The magic of the bones reached out immediately, spreading through my veins. He froze, his eyes wild as he looked down at me in horror, his gaze settling on the bones around my neck.
“Release him, Witchling,” Gray said, taking a step toward me. Fury rose in me as his compulsion slid over my skin, never seeming to sink inside me and force me to obey as I turned my glare back to him.
I didn’t so much as glance at Kairos as I let that magic spread through the Vessel, Unmaking the very fabric that had woven him together. His body slipped, melting away. Gray’s jaw clenched.
When I turned my gaze back to Kairos, all that remained was a puddle of muddy earth on the floor, what my ancestor had given to lend to his creation.
“That was unnecessary. Look at the mess you’ve made,” Gray said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
He approached me, closing the distance between us and slamming my back into the door. I fought to find bare skin, touching his face and using it to press him away from me as he lunged with his teeth ready.
His fang pierced my hand, but I willed that magic into my palm to Unmake him. Smiling into my grip, Gray drew his tongue over the wound he’d created and pulled my blood into his body once again.
“There’s so much of your blood in me, Witchling. You cannot Unmake me, because those bones recognize me as part of you.”
The inside of my head roared like the wind in the trees, rustling the branches of my mind as I made the connections. The first time we’d met, he’d fed from me. He’d taken from me every chance he got.
“Is that what all this was about?” I asked, gesturing between us.
As if his betrayal with the bones wasn’t enough, the thought that he’d been using me, allowing me to think I was seducing him all along, just so he could have my blood in his veins, somehow made it worse.
“No, Witchling,” he said, guiding my hand away from his face finally. He pressed his body into mine, staring down at me with a cruel smirk. “You were a very unexpected surprise.”
I flinched into the wall at my back, desperately seeking distance between us as he raised his hand and toyed with the bones around my neck.
“Take them off,” I ordered. A tiny spark arched between him and the bone, burning the flesh from his finger as he pulled it away.
“I’m afraid I couldn’t do that even if I wanted to. They’re tied to your life now, and I definitely want you to stay alive,” Gray said. He ducked in front of me, taking a step back as he bent at the waist. His shoulder pressed into my stomach, and he hefted me over until I stared at the ground behind him.
“Put me down!” I shrieked, kicking at him, but his arm lay flat across the back of my thighs and held me as still as possible.
The bones clattered around my neck, touching my jaw and making me hope they would somehow fall off, but the magic that held them fastened to me refused to release me.
He stepped through the open door. “I do not suggest you allow her to touch you unless you want to return to the mud from whence you came,” he said, barking the order at the Vessel who waited in the hall. “Have Susannah brought to the Tribunal room and tell Juliet to fetch the missing pieces.”
“I—okay,” the other man muttered, racing off to play errand boy.
I grabbed at Gray’s dress shirt, untucking it from his pants and sliding my hand into it so I could drag my nails across his skin as he walked down the stairs. He jostled me on his shoulder, whistling calmly as he made his way toward the Tribunal.
“I really wish you hadn’t taken my knife,” I muttered, hatred lacing my voice. Gray spun on the stair landing, adjusting me on his shoulder as he hurried down the rest of the stairs. “You’re awfully chipper for someone who just had all his plans ruined.”