“You will.”

“When?”

He chuckled, and I realized I had my hand on his thigh. I dropped it hastily.

“A few months,” he said. “Your body is still getting accustomed to the new magic raging through it.”

There was something more than magic raging through my body. Hormones. Raw, savage hormones that were telling me to throw that gorgeous angel to the ground and have my way with him right here and now.

I felt a cool breeze on my chest, and I realized I’d pulled off my shirt and tossed it aside. And even though I knew I should have been embarrassed, all I could think about was that I was still wearing too much clothing. And so was he.

“What is wrong with me?” I asked him, clenching my teeth against the raging desire inside of me.

“You’re just more sensitive to magic than most people.”

And sensitive to him. Why him?

He flicked the tip of his knife, pricking my finger too. Blood surged to the surface like a swimmer gasping for air. I pushed my hand into his face, demanding that he drink from me.

“Steady,” he said. “Just a drop each. That’s all we need to perform the spell.”

I didn’t care about that damned spell. And only one drop? Screw that. I wanted to bathe in the glorious ecstasy of his blood, to relish in the euphoria of his magic melting into mine.

His grip tightened around my wrists, holding back my grasping hands. “Leda, you are stronger than this.”

No, I wasn’t. Not when it came to his blood. It tasted like Nectar. A little drop of heaven. Something about it made me lose my mind.

“Think about your brother. About Zane.”

The sound of my brother’s name on his lips drew me out of my madness. I took a deep breath, blocking out the pounding, aching pulse in my veins. I cleared my throat and looked at Nero’s finger, counting back from ten. On one, I dipped my head very slowly to his hand, showing him that I was in control. My tongue darted out and licked the drop of blood from his finger.

I stood very still, even as a tidal wave of need crashed through me, setting every nerve in my body on fire. I gasped, quivering, resisting. Nero watched me with intense curiosity, his gaze boring into mine even as his tongue flicked out and licked the drop of blood from my finger.

I sensed a change in him immediately. He grew oddly still, like he was struggling every bit as much as I was. His eyes lit up, glowing with magic. His mouth softened, his lips parting. Slowly, languidly, his tongue slipped out to trace the inside of his lower lip.

It took every shred of willpower in me not to pounce on him. Willpower was in short supply here. I could see Nero struggling to retain his composure. His hands shook as he extended them out to me, palms up. As I set my hands on his, a burst of something I’d never felt before surged through me. It was as cold as a whispering winter’s night, and it was that breath of ice that froze the desire right out of me.

Bright blurs of light danced before my eyes. Snowflakes. I blinked down hard a few times. No, not snowflakes. Dandelion seeds. Millions and millions of them dancing on a warm summer breeze. Beneath the dandelion sky, children held hands and danced in circles across a grassy field, barefoot and free. There were no buildings, no wall, no black prairies or rotting forests—nothing but pristine nature in sight for miles and miles. The children’s laughter melted the ice from my skin. The frosty particles rose in the wind like shards of broken glass, dissolving into the sky.

The sun flashed, and then I was standing in a room lit up by a ceiling of sparkling magic lanterns. And Zane stood before me, holding out his hands to me, a smile on his face. I tried to call out his name, but the words wouldn’t leave my mouth. Everything around me began to unravel, the streamers of its existence slithering away as the magic of the spell faded, hurling me out of this vision.

I jumped to my feet in Nero’s apartment, adrenaline raging in my veins, desperation fueling my steps. I needed to get to Zane, but I didn’t know where to go, so I channeled the energy into pacing back and forth across the floor.

“Did you see?” I asked Nero as he rose to his feet. “Did you see him?”

“Yes.”

“That place. Such beautiful, peaceful nature, untouched by monsters. There’s no place on Earth like it. We have only scorched expanses of nothingness—and cities built past the walls we hide behind. What is that place we saw? Where is my brother?”

“I don’t know. It is not any place I know of.”

“He looked happy,” I said. “I think…well, I just have this feeling that he’s safe there, wherever there is. At least for now. But I have to find out where he is. I have to see him, to know for myself. To talk to him.”

“Leda.”

I kept pacing, faster and faster. “I had a dream earlier. A battlefield of death. Or maybe it was something else. I don’t know. I feel like something is happening here. Something beyond us.” I laughed. “Listen to me, going on about dreams and doomsday premonitions. Am I going crazy? Is this what madness feels like?”

Nero reached out and grabbed my hand. “Leda.”

I pivoted around to face him. “I need to find Zane.”

“And you will,” he said. “I promised I would help you, didn’t I?”

“Yes, but—”

“No buts,” he told me. “You need to calm down. For the moment, your brother is not in danger. You need to focus on what’s important.”

“Gaining the magic I need to find him,” I said.