Nola suspected he’d gotten lost in his thoughts, several minutes passing in quiet peace. Fatigue hammered at her, and she closed her heavy lids, about to drift off...

“Tell me what happens when you turn to mist,” he said, and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

Too tired to mentally debate the risks and rewards of sharing such personal information, she explained what she’d relived. How real it had been, how she hadn’t felt truly there, sitting beside her toddler self. How her parents had worried about hiding from a she-monster. How an Adwaewethian warrior had stood in the road, causing a horrific accident before murdering her mother.

“The fact that your body turns to mist... I wonder if you actually go back,” Bane said, all but humming with excitement. “If you have an opportunity to change the past.”

“You mean time travel?” No way. Just no way. Impossible. Except, nothing was impossible, was it? She was a hybrid alien, who was in bed with a full-blooded alien able to breathe fire and transform into a literal beast. What if she could go back and save her parents?

“I told you each queen has a unique ability,” he said, his excitement already more pronounced. “This could be yours. An ability against Aveline!”

Why would he want Nola to return to the past—

The answer slugged her with stunning force, leaving her gasping. His wife, Meredith. He wanted Nola to save the other woman.

She isn’t the other woman. I am.

Nola choked down a cry of distress, crumbling inside. One moment Bane hadn’t been able to get enough of her, the next he’d hoped to use her to get back the woman he truly loved.

Why am I so disposable?

Bane jerked upright, dragging her with him, then framed her cheeks with his hands. “You can try to return to the crash on purpose. Will you? We must know what, exactly, you can do.” Hope shone in his eyes, brighter than the sun.

The tears gathered once again. Do not cry. Don’t you dare. Nod instead. Good, that’s good.

He smiled at her, the expression she’d dreamed of seeing, and it was as magnificent as she’d suspected. An exquisite display of undiluted happiness—with a dimple.

“Thank you, Nola.” He pulled her close and kissed her lips.

A swift peck, no tongue, and she felt like she’d been vivisected. Did he know how terribly he was hurting her right now? Would he care if he did?

Unable to bear looking at him any longer, she closed her lids, drew a deep breath in and slowly released it. Though it pained her, she forced her mind to revisit the accident. Driving along the road...the hushed conversation between her parents...

When the bed bounced, she gasped, her eyelids popping open. Not the bed, she realized, but the car. She’d actually done it on purpose!