A beat of silence. “Where are you?”

“The boardwalk.”

“Alone?”

“I am now.”

“Don’t leave the crowds. I’m close. I’ll call you when we’re out front.”

He ends the call. Of course he’s with Aristelle.

Ten minutes later, and I’m in the back of a van with Aristelle driving and Xander turned around, staring at me with an anger I rarely see on his face. “You were what?”

“Hunting with Roman. He trained me,” I add.

I can tell that last part didn’t make things any better.

“Should have known that asshole wasn’t going to give up.”

“It’s not like that. He didn’t try to get me to leave, and I’m better now than I was before.”

“He didn’t?”

“No. He felt guilty that it was his fault you had to find me so late.”

“He does love guilt,” Aristelle mutters.

“I’m not leaving,” I say.

It’s dark now that we’ve left the city’s lights, but I feel Xander searching my face.

“I’m with you,” I say.

“Then let’s make it official,” Aristelle says.

Xander’s smile flashes in the dark.

CHAPTER 17

I slide my fingers down my borrowed leather pants, surprised for the millionth time at their softness. It doesn’t make them any more comfortable, though. Xander wears leather pants too and his signature shirtless vest.

“Are you sure we both need to wear leather?”

Xander only chuckles.

I take a deep, shaky breath. “Seems like overkill.”

“You’ll do fine. You’re ready for this.”

I am. Roman made me better. I ignore the sickening twist in my stomach.

I hate that he stood there and offered to let me kill him. It would have been so much easier if he’d been angry or defensive. But all I saw on his face was hurt and sadness and shame, and the bit of hope when he explained—and the way that hope crumbled like dust after I listened and still told him to leave.

Aristelle receives her applause and exits without saying good luck on her way by. I guess I’m in the doghouse in her book.

My hands sweat. I need to focus. Roman doesn’t have anything to do with why I started this. It was always about magic and revenge, and the people I’m with right now.

Xander takes one of my hands and leads me out to the center of the stage beneath a harsh light secretly trying to illuminate all my flaws and not my talent. Only the dim lights above the audience’s heads illuminate their waiting faces. I pretend I’m performing for a room of skeletons instead of people. Pretty sure you’re supposed to imagine them naked, but this seems like a better option.