I didn’t know where he’d come from. He stepped around the side of the rock like he’d been lurking behind it, but I suspected he’d just walked up to us unnoticed in our moment of lovers’ angst. Anger radiated off him, and his eyes were as dark and stormy as the sea beyond us. And as soon as I saw him, I needed no drawn-out questioning, no build-up to a revelation. I didn’t need to ask what he was doing there because I suddenly knew.

“You’re the summoner,” I said.

“Of course.” There was a dismissive tone to his voice as he said that, like it was an insult that anyone else could have played that role. “Who else? I wasn’t kidding when I told you I was the best in the area. I can’t honestly believe you never even considered me. No, scratch that. Of course I can believe that. No matter how jaded or sorrowful you get, there’s still that Pollyanna piece of you that wants to believe the best in those you care about.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I said, feeling my own anger grow. Being played this whole time was bad enough. But being played by my own boyfriend? Unacceptable. And yet . . . he was right. It had been stupid of me not to consider him, yet I couldn’t believe he would have subjected me to all this torment.

“It is a bad thing. I was hoping I could break you of it, but I guess not.” His eyes flicked to Seth’s face and then back to mine. “Of course, I can’t really talk about naïveté since you were screwing me over this whole time. Or, well, screwing him.”

There wasn’t really anything I could respond with. I could hardly say, “It’s not what you think,” because . . . well, it was exactly what he thought. Regardless of his role in Jerome’s summoning, the fact remained that I had cheated on Dante, and I’d been caught.

“I’m sorry,” I said lamely, my hand still clutching Seth’s tightly. He’d taken a step forward. He wasn’t blocking me from Dante, but there was definitely a protective stance going on.

“Yes, yes, I know.” Dante gave an exasperated sigh. “Damn it, Georgina. What does it take with you? I never gave you shit about your job. I was trying to make a good life for us. And yet . . . you still went back to him. As soon as you could fuck him without hurting him, you jumped right on it.”