“Chloe Boucher doesn’t sound that intimidating,” Liv said.
“It’s the last name. She started using it because she thought it was funny,” Sampson said, looking pale. “Boucher is French. It means ‘butcher.’ ”
CHAPTER 21: NOX
Witching Hour
As Nox stared at the iron bars in front of him, he was at a crossroads. Until now, his interactions with women had always been simple. Caster girls threw themselves at him in one of his clubs, hoping for something—a TFP from his winnings, a supernatural favor, another chance after their luck ran dry at one of his gambling tables.
Nox’s answer was usually no, except on the rare occasions when he met a girl who just wanted to be with him. Sometimes, if he was bored enough and she was attractive enough, he’d give her what she wanted.
But until now that had never included his heart.
This time it was different.
This time, Ridley was the girl and that changed everything.
He finally understood all those stupid love songs and tragic romance movies, because the girl he wanted more than anyone in the Mortal or Supernatural universe wanted him, too. Desperately, fully, completely wanted him.
Now Rid was looking at Nox the way she used to look at Link. Maybe in a way she’d never looked at Link. And Nox wanted her. He had always wanted her. That had never changed.
But that also wasn’t the point.
If he let this happen, if he let his guard down and surrendered to the feelings and the impulses that had been building up inside him since the day he first met her—if he took anything at all from Ridley, knowing she wasn’t herself—then he wasn’t man enough to be worthy of her.
So he sat there staring at the metal bars between them.
We have to get out of here.
Nox looked over at the next cell, where she lay resting a few feet above the bed, on what appeared to be an endless gust of wind that never seemed to settle anywhere at all. Her pink-streaked blond hair fanned out beneath her, giving the illusion that she was floating on the surface of a rippling body of water.
Rid caught his eye—and before he said a word, he found her lying next to him, on her side of the row of iron bars. She wasn’t dressed in a hospital gown anymore.
Now she was wearing her red leather bodysuit, tight and leaving nothing to the imagination. Like the Devil’s own version of Catwoman, Nox thought.
“Well?” She reached through the bars, twisting the edge of Nox’s jacket. “Feeling any better?”
He let her pull him to the edge of the bars. As she moved her face toward his, he couldn’t resist. In some ways, he was only human, after all.
You live among them long enough and it’s bound to happen.
Again.
And again.
CHAPTER 22: RIDLEY
Revolution Calling
The moment she kissed Nox, Ridley had a realization. A breakthrough, really. You could even call it an epiphany.
For the first time in her life, Ridley didn’t crave sugar. She didn’t feel sweet, and she didn’t want to be sweet, either.
Not that the latter had ever been her problem.
She was hungry for something much more substantial than sugar. It was time to put the cherry lollipops aside. The power games of her childhood were no longer enough.
This kiss only proves that.
Nox didn’t taste sweet. He tasted strong.
Like steel and fire.
Electrical fire.
That was the taste of power.
That’s what I want now.
Isn’t it?
She had a fleeting thought of Link—of his partly Mortal warmth, his open face, the goofball way he curled his enormous hand around her smaller one, his lanky arm around her slight one. Then she put those thoughts aside.
Link was just another toy from her childhood. She couldn’t imagine feeling anything for him now. She remembered feeling something—scattered moments, a rogue look in his eye, a sudden, Linkish laugh—but even those were fading into a distant, hazy blur.
Nox was the only one who understood her—who could give her what she needed.
Besides, how can I inflict myself on a Mortal in this state? What has Silas even done to me? What kind of Caster am I?
I’m nothing that has ever been before.
Silas had made sure of that.
Nox could see it, too, and he wasn’t frightened. At least, those weren’t the signals he was sending right now.
She pulled him closer, feeling the burn against her lips—when she heard a sound in the corridor and opened her eyes.
“What the—?” Nox pulled away from her as Silas waved his Darkborns into the glorified dungeon containing their prison cells. One of them quickly unlocked the door of Nox’s cell.
Silas’ thugs flung Nox against the far cell wall before she could say a word. Silas moved into Nox’s cell behind them.
“Silas, stop it.” Ridley panicked, clutching the bars between them.
“That’s exactly why I’m here. To stop it”—he looked at Nox—“from living.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t kill him,” she said, trying to hide the fear rising inside her. “He’s on our side now. I promise.” She had no idea what she was saying. Nox had never been on Silas’ side—and he never would be—but she was desperate to keep him safe.
“Ridiculous? Listen to your own babble.” Silas glanced in her direction and laughed. “I don’t care whose side this kid says he’s on. He screwed me, and now he’s going to pay for it.”