Chapter 19

Nic drops us back into the room and warns us that we only have a few hours before the Trial before he vanishes. The moment he’s gone, Anton shifts back into his boy body. “Considering how fast hours move here,” I sigh, looking at the spot where Nic was just standing. “I’m sure we have even less than that.”

“So, what do you have planned, kid?” Anton asks, leaning back against my vanity, crossing his arms over his chest as I sigh and set the cloak and the invitation down next to him.

We didn’t say long at Laila’s before Nic and her Herald showed up at the door. Anton cursed and quickly shifted into his wolf before they strode us out onto the terrace and informed us that time was up. Honestly, I was fine with leaving – I have a great deal of thinking to do about how, precisely, I want to play this.

What I was not fine with was the way that Anton brushed himself up against Laila when we left, saying goodbye and looking soulfully up into her pretty brown eyes.

I had growled almost audibly before he moved to my side and Nic vanished us away.

“Well?” Anton asks, giving me a little nudge with his foot that I feel as a tingle against my ankle.

“I need to think,” I murmur, frowning at him as my mind whirs.

“Think aloud,” he suggests, watching me as I chew on my thumbnail and wander towards the bathroom.

“No,” I murmur, not meaning to be rude but…just really needing silence to get my thoughts in order. I turn to him as we walk into the bathroom and look up into his handsome face, all outlined in blue light. “Don’t think I don’t want your help, Anton, I just –“

“I get it,” he says, smiling softly down at me. “Take the time you need.”

The corners of my mouth press into a smile as I turn away from him. “Eyes shut!” I call, striding for the luxurious shower in the corner of the room. He laughs and murmurs his compliance.

But as much as I try to concentrate on the problem at hand while I wash my hair, my wolf just…won’t leave me the hell alone.

Didn’t like it, she huffs, prowling back and forth in my soul, glaring backwards to where Anton is standing with his back to us. He smiled at her – he liked her –

Would you shut up? I growl to her, my teeth clenched, reaching for the soap and beginning to lather it up in a big soft sponge. We have to come up with a plan for tonight – I’m not standing around naked in front of that Prince and his jackass dad –

No this is more important, my wolf insists, her lips peeling back over her teeth, angry. He laughed at her stupid jokes – he liked her pretty eyes –

“Oh my god,” I groan aloud, hanging my head, sick of this, wanting to concentrate. But she just won’t shut up.

“All right in there?” Anton asks, sounding entertained.

“I’m fine!” I snap back.

About ten minutes later, wrapped in a very luxurious silken robe that I conjured out of thin air, I walk to Anton’s side as he stands at the door to the terrace, peering out over the dark landscape.

“Okay,” I sigh, drying my hair with an incredibly soft towel. “I’m ready to talk.”

“Good,” he says, leaning against a pillar and turning his head to me. “And what did you decide?”

“I decided,” I say, quite serious, dropping the towel from my hair and narrowing my eyes at the ghostly boy before me. “That you have to stop having a crush on Laila.”

He stares at me for a long, shocked moment before his face breaks into a huge smile. A fairly gorgeous one, if I’m being honest. I frown at him, my eyes narrowing further.

“Seriously, Princess?” he murmurs, turning more fully to me and leaning back against the pillar, slipping his hands into his pockets, suddenly smug. “Tonight you’re negotiating your own mortality, the embarrassment of appearing naked before your potential suitor and his dad, the future fate of all mortal souls…and instead you’re worried that I…have a crush on Laila?”

“It’s not a joke,” I snap, lifting my chin at him, my wolf’s hackles raising.

“Oh, I’m not laughing,” he says, his smile growing as he shakes his head.

My eyes narrow so completely that I can barely see out of them.

“I’m serious, Anton,” I growl. “She’s our friend now – and I’m not going to spend the next twenty weeks watching you moon over each other –“

“Over each other,” he says, gleeful, leaning forward towards me, enjoying every damn second of this. “You think Laila likes me too? Damn, I never thought I’d end up with a mermaid –“

“Anton!” I shout, trying to smack at him, my hand landing hard against the pillar at his back. “I’m not kidding! I don’t like it!”

“Oh, come on, Juniper!” he says, shaking his head at me, laughing. “You can’t dictate who I have a crush on!”

“It made me really uncomfortable!” I shout back, frowning, feeling every inch the spoiled brat. But I can’t shake it – I don’t know what my wolf was thinking, but when Anton smiled at Laila, and he looked at her – looked over her body – I – I just hated it.

In my heart, I know the truth of why I hated it. My whole life I’ve had no one who was just for me. And it’s not like I’m not loved – of course I know that I am, my doting parents have made that clear despite every taciturn moment of my existence.

But – I mean – mom loves my eldest brother Rafe – her big stupid meatball – the child she wanted and hoped for and tried to have for years and finally, finally got. He’s so special to her – her little dream come true.

And dad – he loves Ariel with an intensity that none of the rest of us can live up to. And I forgive him for it, because Ariel is mom’s little double and dad got to raise her, and spoil her, and give her the life that mom never had. Raising and loving Ariel like that was him rewriting mom’s whole horrible childhood, a gift to her as well as to Ari, and that’s really beautiful to me.

And mom and dad love me and Mark, but I’ve never, ever been anyone’s favorite – the absolute center of their heart and their world.

And – god, it’s so childish – but…

Well, when this stupid blue wolf showed up in my bathroom? With a note around his neck, saying he’s just for me?

“I don’t want to share you, Anton,” I whisper, looking down at my feet, ashamed of myself for wanting it, for not being strong enough on my own. “She gave you to me. You were supposed to be mine – to help me – to fight for me –“

“I am fighting for you,” he says softly, and I feel that tingle under my chin, knowing it’s his touch. I tilt my head up to look into his face. “Can’t I be friends with Laila at the same time?”

“Yes,” I say, perfectly honest, emotion surging in my chest. “But – if you fall in love with her –“

“Hey,” he says, shaking his head, frowning down at me, “that’s not going to happen, all right? I’ll – whatever you want, Juniper, I’ll do it. I don’t have a crush on her – I won’t. She’ll just be my friend.”

And I hang my head again because I feel like such a selfish jerk, and an idiot –

“It’s fine, June, I’m here for you,” Anton murmurs, and I feel that tingle over my hair and around the back of my head. I smile a little because I know he’s petting me now, like I do to him when he’s a wolf and I want to tease him. “Whatever you need.”

“Okay,” I whisper. And I exhale slowly, my wolf at peace in my chest, and turn away, heading for my bedroom and the vanity in there -

“Oh, not so fast,” Anton snaps, reaching out for my arm. And I swear – I swear I feel a physical tug. I look down at his fingers, but they pass right through me, as they always do.

“What?” I ask, low and suspicious.

“This is a big ask,” Anton says, dead serious, leaning casually again against the pillar, crossing one ankle over the other. “You’re asking me to give up the pursuit of a very pretty, very kind girl –“

“You can’t pursue her anyway! You’re a ghost!”

“Then why are you worried?” He whispers, leaning forward with a smirk, knowing he’s got me.

I scowl, hating this, embarrassed again and hating him too, just a tiny bit, for not just giving in and rolling over easily the way I want him to.

“If I agree to this, I want something in return,” Anton says, his smirk deepening now that I’m angry again – my base state – and not upset.

I huff a sigh, crossing my arms and glaring at him. “Fine, but we’re having this discussion while I get ready,” I say, turning on my heel and striding towards the bedroom. He follows – I know he does. I can feel it. “What is it that you want?”

“I don’t know yet,” he murmurs, smug and rubbing in the fact that he’s in a position of power as we enter the bedroom. I cross to my vanity, sitting down hard on the stool and immediately conjuring brushes and cosmetics, all my favorite styles and brands. “I’m going to have to take a minute to think about the possibilities…”

“Oh, you liar,” I bite out, glaring at him as I pick up a case of eyeshadow and a brush, starting to apply it to my eyelids. “You know exactly what you want. Just say it.”

I can almost feel Anton’s self-satisfied grin as he lets me hang in silence as I carefully apply layers of eyeshadow, using a few shades darker than I’d usually put on to reflect my mood.

“That’s pretty,” Anton murmurs as I dash some pewter glitter across my eyelid and follow it with a long, thin, and pointed line of eyeliner.

I turn to Anton and bare my teeth, in no mood for compliments.

Anton’s face bursts into a smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners with real joy.

“Don’t change the subject, Wolfie,” I murmur, turning back to the mirror and deliberately using Laila’s nickname. He laughs as I pick up the mascara, which I start to apply. “Just tell me your demands.”

“Fine,” Anton says on a happy sigh. “Two conditions.”

I pause for a moment, because he’s pushing his luck. But then I grit my teeth as my wolf snarls within me, desperate to get this promise. I glance down at my chest, wondering at her vehemence on this point. Why does she want this so badly?

But she’s undeniable. We want this, she snarls, digging her nails into my soul. Make him promise.

“Fine,” I sigh, trying desperately to be casual. “Name your terms.”