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her ear, his breath a kiss at her neck. “Find a way back through the wards or contact Adam. I thought that there’d be at least the pretense that we were guests, that they would make at least an overture of goodwill before threats.”
    “It’s pretty clear what they think of humans, even freaks like us.” Just the thought of what that Mathilde had said, her tone, redoubled the deep trembling within Ellie.
    “Deep breaths, sweetheart,” Cam replied. “That woman is pure evil. I’ll get you out of here somehow.”
    Out? As in back to safe Segue?
    “The hell you will.” Ellie pulled back slightly from his embrace. “You think I’m scared? ” Damn those shakes; they came from her shadow. “I’m not scared. I’m pissed to the bone. I’m not going anywhere until I wipe that snide look off Mathilde’s face. Otherwise, what’s the point?”
    Up until a little over a year ago, she hadn’t been able to control her shadow at all; her dark self had been a wild thing, more dangerous every day. An angel named Laurence had finally restrained it, for only a few moments, after asking permission. Even then, the sensation of someone else’s will overcoming her own had been nothing less than an assault.
    The peace and acceptance she’d found at Segue had made her certain she’d never live in fear again of not being able to control her shadow. She’d reached the end of her tolerance for that kind of terror back on her farm. She was not about to lose ground now. And not to that condescending bitch.
    “You can have Slight”—Ellie patted Cam on the shoulder, as if to console him—“but if Mathilde tries anything again, she’s mine . Self-defense all the way, baby; you can still be the murderer.”
    Cam stepped back, eyes blacker than ever. “So you’re still angry with me?”
    Angry with everyone. A mage had just toyed with her, and the love of her life intended to risk his life needlessly to prevent the possibility of her shadow becoming insanely homicidal.
    Okay, in this state, maybe she was a little aggressive—or at least the dark part of her was. Maybe she should take one of the deep breaths Cam suggested. She filled her lungs three times before her tremors abated. Strange how the body fed her shadow. And stranger still that Cam should know it.
    Of course he would.
    The ring is in his pocket, her shadow said within.
    But Ellie wasn’t ready for that. Her shadow might want to merge with him at every opportunity— yes— but her mind was still holding back for some reason.
    Instead, she rose up on tiptoe and kissed his mouth, then glanced over his worry-worn face. She loved every single line and ached over each one too. Sometime in the past year she’d kind of lost track of how he looked to everyone else—young, fit, handsome, a little rough around the edges—and now he just looked like Cam. Her Cam. Who’d do anything for her. She’d have to be very alert for sudden heroics; she’d been concerned for a moment downstairs when he’d told Mathilde to stop what she was doing.
    But he had to learn to let go and trust her, all of her. She couldn’t wear his ring until they stood on an equal footing. Maybe this visit into magekind was necessary; the future would require her to fight without a keeper, even one with a heart as true as Cam’s.
    Her shadow twisted within, and Ellie knew why.
    Because true-heart Cam now contemplated murder, which seemed so incongruous with his nature. She’d known he was getting darker. First his eyes. Then all his quiet work. His silences. But she’d paid more attention to the lusty optimism he used with her. Which was the real Cam?
    Or did he come in parts too?
    The thought unsettled her.
    She stepped away from him, walked to the heavily draped windows and looked out. On the west side of the house, tucked in a wide fold of trees, was a series of spartan buildings—white, low, without any of the embellishment of the main house. They were situated in a square, four to a side,