I pushed, seeking any breach I could exploit, and suddenly I was—

In Faery!

It had to be. The scenery was impossibly lush, the colors too rich, vivid, so full of tone they had texture, like that first beach V’lane had taken me to months ago, where I’d played volleyball with Alina, when he’d given me the gift of seeing her again, if only in an illusion. But this was no beach—this was the Fae court!

Brilliantly colored silk chaises were scattered around a dais. Trees sprouted leaves and flowers of incomprehensible color and dimension. The breeze smelled of jasmine and sandalwood and some other scent that I imagined heaven—if such a place existed—would smell like.

I wanted to look around. I wanted to see the queen on her dais, but I couldn’t turn my/our gaze toward it because I was a passenger in his head, and I was—

Inside Barrons’ body.

I was strong.

I was cold.

I was mighty, and they didn’t even know just how mighty I was.

They didn’t recognize me, the fools.

I was danger.

I was everything they should fear, but they’d lived so long that they’d forgotten fear. I would teach them.

I would remind them.

I was with a Fae Princess, buried deep inside her. She throbbed around me. She was energy, she was empty, she was sex that devoured. Her nails were on my shoulders, clawing. I was more pleasure than any of her princes could ever be. I was full. I was inexhaustible. It was why she’d sought me. Word had spread, as I’d meant it to, and, bored, jaded, she’d come for me, as I’d known she would.

I’d spent months at court, in her bed, watching, learning, studying the Seelie court. Seeking answers. Hunting the bloody damned Book.

But now I was bored, and I’d learned all there was to know from them, because they were fools who drank again and again from a mystical cauldron to make themselves forget. As if forgetting eradicated the sin.

I needed them to remember.

They couldn’t.

But I could make them remember fear.

V’lane was watching me, as he’d been watching me from the moment I’d taken his princess, waiting for her to be his again, certain she would; after all, they were immortal. They were gods. They were invincible. Waiting for that moment when I was no longer her protected plaything so he could destroy me.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

I dug my nails into Barrons’ arm and cried out.

He was fighting me. Resisting. He’d shoved me out of the princess’s body, sent me tumbling, end over end, from his memory at the Fae court.

I was on the fringes of his mind, reeling from the unexpected ejection.

I gathered myself, forged myself into a missile of sheer will, and fired back at the blockade he’d erected. I’M NOT DONE YET!

I ricocheted off a smooth black wall and knew instantly it was impenetrable. He was stronger than me. I couldn’t get through it. I would end up ramming myself to death on it if I tried.

But I wasn’t about to admit defeat. I harnessed the velocity of that ricochet like a boomerang, made a last-minute course adjustment, and veered sideways.

Whatever was behind that wall would remain concealed, but I could get something else. I knew I could.

And suddenly there I was again, standing—

At Fae court, looking down at the princess—

Barrons slammed a wall up in front of me. But not fast enough.

I blasted through it.

I was Barrons and she was on the ground and I was laughing—

He slammed up another wall but didn’t get it reinforced fast enough.

I toppled it.

The bitch was dead.

He slammed one more wall up. Too little, too late.

I shattered it right out of existence.

Every Fae in the queen’s court was screaming, fleeing for their lives, because the unthinkable had happened.

One of their own had ceased to exist.

One of their own had been killed.

By me/Barrons/us.

I was choking, sputtering, trying desperately to breathe, and I realized with horror that it wasn’t the Barrons/Mac persona that was choking. It was my body.

I pulled back, yanked back, stumbled back, ripped myself from Barron’s mind. It wasn’t easy to untangle us.

His hand was on my throat.

Mine was on his.

“What the fuck?” V’lane exploded. It was the most human sentence I’d ever heard him utter. He’d been watching us but had no idea what had happened.

Our battle had been a private one.

Barrons and I stared at each other.

We released each other’s throats at the same moment.

I backed up a step.

He didn’t. But then, I hadn’t expected him to.

“You really can kill V’lane!” I exclaimed. “That’s why he won’t let you near him. You can kill him. How?”

Barrons said nothing. I’d never seen him so still, so silent.

I whirled on V’lane. “How?” I demanded. I was shaking. Barrons could kill Fae. It was no wonder the Shades left him alone. “Did he have the spear or the sword?” But I knew in my bones that it had been neither of those weapons. The wall he’d thrown up had shielded the answer. Whatever weapon he’d used, it was not one I knew.

V’lane said nothing.

“What does he have on you?” I cried, exasperated.

“Decide, Ms. Lane,” Barrons said, behind me.

“Choose,” V’lane agreed.

“Go to hell, both of you! New world. New rules. New me. Don’t call me. I’ll call you.”