And then he does, and what I see rips my heart open.

Sel’s eyes have been a bright, tawny yellow in the sun. Glittering amber jewels at night. Even rich, liquid honey. But never have they been a burning sienna. This is gold, yearning for crimson. The sun, seeking blood.

And yet my hand reaches for his face before I can stop it, as if my fingers are compelled to touch the same features that have captured my eyes. Dangerous things draw you in like that, and he is a dangerous thing. Poisonous flora, gorgeous for a reason. Dancing flames, beckoning you forward. A lure in the dark by a creature who wants your death slow, not fast.

Then, realization crashes down around my heart, and my hand falls.

My voice is a bare whisper. “You said protecting me and William would be enough.” Sel flinches, and his lips curl back. His canines, usually long enough to just touch his bottom lip, now extend to two sharp points. “Your…”

Your teeth look different today.

His voice, meant to soothe—and redirect. Do they?

The memories come back now, pouring in through cracks so small I didn’t realize they were there. His eyes on the plane as we spoke. His flirting in the safehouse bathroom, how close he’d gotten and how long he’d held my gaze. The look we’d shared downstairs in the hallway. The hot press of his hand on my spine…. All of those moments. The guilt I’d felt being close to him, thinking I was somehow betraying Nick. Thinking that Sel wanted to be close to me, wanted to touch me. The parts of me that screamed that I wanted him to touch me, too… but no.

None of that was real.

What I thought felt like falling into him, maybe even for him, had been me, falling into Sel’s illusion. A lie, wrapped around my senses, all by his design. Breath punches from my lungs. Pain burrows in, deep and wide, and nausea follows.

“You—you mesmered me.” The well of tears, finally falling in a rush. “You’ve been mesmering me. Haven’t you?”

His eyes fall shut. All the answer I need.

Valec rocks back on his heels. “A Merlin away from his Oaths is a damn ugly thing, Briana. Unbalanced cambions, all of ’em. Unlike myself.”

Sel’s eyes snap open. “You cannot be a cambion.”

“Why not? Because I’m not on the Order’s leash?” Valec sneers. “The original Merlin was balanced, born from a demon-human union. But that lil’ bit of demon blood you Merlin descendants have is like a drop of rabid dye in a glass of calm water. The dye spreads everywhere, maybe tints the water a shade or two, but it will never fully turn that water the color it wants it to be. And that’s the thing about demon blood: it wants.”