strong. “I’ll be right here.”
“Come on, hun.” Mayanne put a
hand on Daisy’s back and led her
toward the doorway.
I had to fight the urge to follow.
As soon as they disappeared I
turned back to Violet. “What is
really going on?”
“We already told you. We’re
here to help.” Violet rolled her eyes.
“But why?” I pressed. “Why are
you helping?”
“Because I like Daisy.”
“But you can’t even feel. You
can’t actually care.”
“I’m not heartless.” Violet
sighed. “I may not be able to feel
true emotion, but that doesn’t
mean I can’t feel others’. There’s an
intensity in Daisy.” She looked off.
“Her love for Owen is strong.”
Georgina smiled warmly. “It’s
strong enough that it got your
attention.”
“It’s what’s keeping her fighting
the change, isn’t it?” Violet turned
to Georgina. “Otherwise she’d have
given in.”
Georgina nodded. “I’m sure
there is more at work. She loves
her family I have no doubt, but her
feelings for Owen are intense,
maybe part of that originated from
the way they met or the magic she
was exposed to, but it doesn’t
matter now. Her heart is what it is.”
“That kind of love is rare.” Hugh
rocked back on his heels. “It’s hard
not to play with it.”
Violet glared at him. “You will
not make things any harder than
they already are for her. No one
will.”
Hugh scrunched up his face. “It’s
almost pathetic.”
My hands balled into fists. “Shut
up.”
“You’re lucky we left Roland
behind.” Hugh grinned. “You’d be
even more annoyed at him.”
“Where is he?” I had to ask.
“I guess leaving him behind is
making it sound nicer than it was.”
Hugh stuffed his hands in his
pockets.
“Meaning?” Levi asked. He’d
been unusually quiet.
“Meaning we had to use force.
He’s drawn to her, but we couldn’t
have him getting in the way.”
“You used force against your
own?” Levi seemed surprised. Very
little surprised him.
“As if you should talk? You have
imprisoned Pterons before.”
“Not my friends.”
“Maybe not your social friends,
but friends of The Society.”
“You have him imprisoned?” I
asked. “That seems extreme even
for you.”
“Not imprisoned so much as
distracted.”
“What does that mean?” Levi
stepped toward them.
“Why so curious?” Violet asked.
“Looking for new ways to control
your people?”
“No.”
“Oh.” Violet crossed her arms.
“Got it. You want to know how to
subdue an Allure. Now that we’re
back, you’re worried.”
“We’re not worried.” He
straightened out. Violet had him
ruffled.
“You are. You don’t know what
to do now that older, stronger
creatures are in your midst.”
“He is not worried.” Georgina
stepped between her grandson and
the Allures. “The King of The
Society does not fear others. He is
only doing his job. Protecting his
people.”
“I like you.” Violet studied
Georgina. “Why aren’t you in
charge?”
“Because she’s human,” Hugh
said matter-of-factly. “A human
would never be put in charge of the
Society.”
“Our mates still play a major
role in our decision making. That
has been the case since the
Laurents have been in power.”
Georgina held her chin up.
Violet seemed pensive. “I like
you better than your predecessors.”
“My dad?” Levi asked.
“No, the family before.”
“You were really around for
that?” Georgina seemed to be
looking at Violet with new eyes.
“Yes. We live long lives.” Violet’s
face fell into a wistful expression.
“There are good parts and bad
parts about that gift.”
I thought about what Myrtle had
said. How Violet had searched for
the guy and then disappeared. How
did that all tie in? I sensed there
was a significance we needed to
understand.
“But you call it a gift, so that
already speaks for a lot.” Georgina
walked toward a sitting room and
set down her purse. The rest of us
followed.
“It is a gift, but even the best
gifts come with strings.”
“You were in love.” Georgina
reached out and touched Violet’s
hand. “That’s why you understand
Daisy.” Georgina turned to me.
“Absent of true feeling or not, this
one still has a heart.”
“Then Daisy might too. Even if
we fail…” Levi started.
Violet shook her head. “It’s not
the same. She won’t be able to give
him what he needs, and he what
she needs. It would never be love.
And it would take her years to even
remember why she cared so much.”
Georgina took Violet’s hands in
hers. “I’m sure he was a good
man.”
Levi and I exchanged looks.
Georgina had softened over the
past few years, but this was
extreme for her. This had to tie into
Myrtle’s story.
“I barely remember why I loved
him, but I know I did.”
“How old are you?” Levi asked.
“Leviathan Laurent.” Georgina
scowled. “You were raised better
than to ever ask a woman her age.”
“I don’t think that rule applies
for an Allure.”
“I’m old. Older than anyone
you’ve ever met.”
“Older than me.” Hugh laughed.
“Age stops having meaning after
a while.” She turned to me.
“Everything does.”
“Mayanne is going to find a way
to delay the change.”
“She will. We discussed it before
you arrived.” Violet spoke calmly.
“What? What did you discuss?” I
needed to know everything.
Violet sighed. “Calm down. If
you want to help Daisy, you are
going to have to learn to trust me.”
“How can I trust someone who
doesn’t feel?”
“Don’t let Daisy hear that,”
Hugh took a seat on a couch. “She’s
already starting to change. My
guess is that would insult her.”
“Everything will insult her right
now.” I slumped down in a chair. “I
don’t know what to do. I just wish I
could make it all go away.”
“There will be nothing ‘just’
about it. Even if Mayanne is
successful in delaying the change,
it’s still going to be a difficult
journey.”
“Journey? What is with all this
journey talk?” I needed to know
more.
“You don’t know yet?” Violet
turned to Georgina. “You feel
confident, determined. I assumed
that meant you knew.”
“I know the place isn’t of this
world.” Georgina took a seat on a
chair across from me.
“No. It’s not.”
“Where is Energo?” Levi asked.
“Be frank with me.”
“Your matriarch is correct. It’s of
another world, but it’s not Energo
you need to find.”
“Then what is?” I was tired of
the games, the never ending
circles.
“It’s Mount Majest. The palace
at the top of the highest mountain
in all of the worlds. You can only
get there through Energo though.”
“I take it you know where to
go?” Levi asked.
“Absolutely.”
“Tell us.” I didn’t bother with
being polite. They’d worn out any
politeness I had in me.
“No.” She shook her head.
“Tell us.” I repeated.
She shook her head. “No. I will
show you though.”
“No. You are not coming.” I
didn’t trust the Allures. They had
too many of their own motives, and
we knew almost nothing about
them.
“The creatures you need to talk
to will not give you an audience.”
“Then what’s the point of
going?”
“They will however give me
one.”
“Who are these creatures
anyway?”
“The Elders.” Violet tossed her
dark hair off her shoulder.
“They are as close to the gods
as…” Georgina trailed off.
“They do say we descend from
the gods don’t they?” Violet gazed
off into the distance.
“And you think they will help?”
“No. I doubt they will.”
I froze. “Then I ask again, why
bother seeing them?”
“Because they are your only
hope.”
8
DAISY
Mayanne led me into the same
room I’d slept in the last time I’d
been in Mayanne’s house. This time
was different. I wasn’t begging
Owen to stay with me—for him to
kiss me. But the memory was there.
That first kiss, the first taste of the
man who would get under my skin
in a way that no one else ever had
or ever would.
“Why don’t you lie down?” She
gestured to the bed that held so
many memories it made my chest
clench. Whether I wanted to admit
it or not, I was changing. Intense
emotions were becoming harder
and harder to handle.
“Still don’t believe you were
destined for him?” Mayanne asked
as she laid out several vials and a
glass flask on the bedside table.
“I believe he’s the most amazing
man I’ve ever met.”
“But you doubt destiny?”
“With everything looming over
us, the only thing that seems
destined is that we’ll both get hurt.”
“Stay confident. You will need
it.”
“That word has been thrown
around a lot in the past few days.”
“Because it’s an important one.”
Mayanne smiled lightly.
“It’s hard to feel that way right
now.” I ran my hand over the soft
bedspread.
“You are still in control of your
emotions. Don’t forget that.”
“Sometimes I am. Sometimes
I’m not. I’ve had enough angry
bursts and mood swings lately to
prove it.” I’d also manipulated a
man again, and from Owen’s
reaction and the waiter’s, I’d done it
well.
“Then try harder to control
them.”
“You make it sound easy.”
She laughed. “What in life is
easy?”
“Not much apparently.”
“Exactly. It all takes hard work,
at least at times.”
“Do you really think this is going
to work?”
“Confidence, Daisy. Confidence.”
“Oh no.” I groaned.
“What?”
“Is this one of those things that
is all in my head? Like it’s not going
to do anything except push me to
fight against the change harder?”
I’d read a lot about placebo sugar
pills and things like that.
“Fighting it will help, but this
should make the fight easier.”
“What is it?”
“It’s called a slug. It might make
you sick, but it will also make the
essence weaker.”
“Great. I’m hoping it’s called a
slug because it slows things down
and not because it’s gross.”
“It’s both actually, and I can tell
you don’t want to be sick or weaken
the Allure essence.”
“I want to weaken it, but I
don’t.” I was attached to the new
side of me though, even if it
terrified me.
“It’s already become a part of
you.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’m still
human.”
“You are human, mostly.”
“I’m human.” I was confident
about that. Aside from my ridiculous
mood swings, I was still me,
bumbling along toward some sort of
solution.
“Still don’t trust me?”
“I trust you enough to let you do
whatever it is you are going to do.”
“I was right about Owen coming
around.”
“After I searched for him for
years.”
“But he came around, didn’t he?
I thought he was going to lose it
when you told him to wait in the
other room.”
“He’s protective, in a surprisingly
nice way.”
She rested her hand next to me.
“Why surprisingly?”
“I don’t usually go for those kind
of guys. I mean, yeah, I loved that
he saved me, but I don’t need to be
the damsel in distress again, you
know?”
“I do. Drink this.” She handed
me a clear glass filled with a
strange blue liquid that gave off a
mist of smoke.
“What is it?” The blue color was
one thing, but the smoke? Was it
really safe to drink?
“It’s strong. As I warned you, it
will likely make you sick and you’ll
feel tired.”
“You probably should have
waited until after I finished the
drink to remind me of those side
effects.”
She shrugged. “You deserve to
know what’s happening to you.”
“I wish I did…”
“Violet has a plan. I know you’re
wary of her, and you have good
reason, but I’d trust her.”
“You think she’s trustworthy?”
“Trustworthy enough, and she’s
your only option. Besides, if the
change truly happens she’s going to