“Al won’t kill him,” I said frantically, not knowing if it was true. “He’ll be okay.”

Shaking his head, Trent smiled sadly. “I don’t pity him because he’s a demon familiar. I pity him because he loves you.”

I took a breath to say something but couldn’t exhale. Damn it, he’d sacrificed himself so that I would live. He knew I didn’t love him, and he’d done it anyway. “I-I…,” I stammered, fingering the band of silver around my wrist. It was humming with wild magic, slumbering deep within it. I could feel it. I looked up at Trent, confused.

“Al saw you comatose,” Trent said. “He told the demon collective. Perhaps you should keep it that way. This is why I gave you the charmed silver. It was a chance for me to…” He hesitated, sighing as he sat back down. His head was bowed over his knees, and his eyes were on his hands—his beautiful hands, now broken and marred. He might never be able to work some of the finer ley-line charms again, and I shivered.

“My father made you into a tool to save the elven race,” he said softly, his voice pained. “It saved your life but took it from you at the same time by making you into something that most people would deem too dangerous to live.” His head came up, and he met my gaze squarely. “I don’t know why, but I feel responsible. For everything. You weren’t given a choice, and I’m sorry for that.”

“You didn’t do anything,” I said, my mouth dry. “And your father saved my life.”

“By twisting it to his own ends, without asking your permission.” Trent exhaled. “I wanted to give you your choice back. That’s all.”

I followed his gaze to the band of silver around my wrist. That’s all? That was everything.

“It’s not a normal zip strip,” Trent said as he straightened up from his hunch over his knees. “It doesn’t simply cut off your contact to the lines but to the demon collective as well. Otherwise, they would know you were alive, even if you shunned the lines for the rest of your life.”

My lips parted in understanding. If Al had seen me comatose and I was cut off from the collective, then I was as good as dead. Free?

“You can do earth magic still, and ley-line magic will work on you like any human, but demon magic won’t if it goes through the collective,” Trent said, and I brought my wandering thoughts back to him.

“Curses won’t touch me,” I said, and he nodded, his expression more earnest and open than I’d ever seen it. It was as if he was down to his bare essence, too tired and beaten to hide it.

“I didn’t do it to protect you. I did it because my father made you into something, and unless you choose to be that person, then you are nothing but a tool. You are not a tool, Rachel,” he said earnestly, almost frighteningly. “You are a person. You can stay as you are and be, well, not normal, but as close as you can get to it seeing that the coven has denounced you as a day-walking demon. Or you can take the charmed silver off and be who you really are. It’s up to you. It’s your choice.”