Once Seb had gone inside, Alex put his arm around me, kissing my head. “Hey, you,” he murmured into my hair. I could feel that he was glad Seb had left. Though I was happy to be alone too, I wanted to say, You know, you and Seb could get along if you just gave each other a chance. Except I wasn’t really sure it was true. They were both such strong personalities – Seb in his quiet way, and Alex in his direct one – and neither liked being pushed around.

I caught myself; time alone with Alex was too rare to spend it thinking about Seb. I wrapped my arms around him, slipping a hand under his T-shirt and caressing the smoothness of his skin – relishing how my fingers glided over the warmth of him. “Remember the cabin?” I said after a while. “What the sunrise was like there?”

There’d been a few times at our refuge in the mountains when we’d stayed up all night talking, then sat outside with the sleeping bags draped around our shoulders, watching the sun come up – pink and golden fingers that edged up the peaks like fire from within. The memory made me wistful. I’d known then how lucky we were to have that time together, but I’d had no idea how soon it would be before we hardly even got a chance to talk.

“Of course I remember.” Alex kissed my neck. “We’ll go back someday, Willow. I mean it. If we defeat the Council...”

He stopped. I felt the worry grip him again; the grim tension that was never far away. I hugged him hard, wishing desperately I could say something that would help. We had less than two weeks now – and whether we managed to get further security details or not, we were going to have to enter the Torre Mayor and make some kind of attempt against the Twelve.

We. Because mentally, I was including myself in the attack. I’d learn to change my aura in time if it killed me.

“What are you thinking?” Alex had pulled away slightly, watching me with a considering smile. “You look like you’ve got a million thoughts whirring around in there.” He tapped my brow.

I smiled. “Maybe not quite a million.” I wasn’t about to tell Alex. He was already worried sick about all this; there was no point adding to it until I knew how to disguise my aura at will. I was just glad he wasn’t psychic – he’d have picked up on what I was planning in about two seconds, the same as Seb had. I thought of the steady look that had been in Seb’s eyes, that moment in the basement. We hadn’t discussed the issue out loud yet – it didn’t really feel necessary; we both knew exactly how the other felt.