Free Soul Kissed by Erin Kellison Page B

umbra thing. That had to be it. The Shadow within. Mason had always thought it was a passive ability, an almost intellectual one, considering how present and mindful Caspar had always seemed. Cari, too, for that matter. The Dolans were rarely given to the drama so frequently found in other mage households.
    But the way Cari had been overcome just now—her skin taking on that anti-luminescence. The crawl and grasp of Shadow around her body had made him think that she was receding from the world instead of calling on the magic within it.
    He was sure that the Dolans knew their business, but this seemed . . . off. Not wrong, necessarily. But inside-out.
    Cari didn’t fight his grasp, but when awareness came back into her gaze, she turned her head to the side—still shy, then—and shivered.
    “Are you all right?”
    She squirmed a little, as if to stretch. He could feel the darkness within her flex.
    Mason tried not to curse. He didn’t want to be . . . rough in front of her.
    “I’m fine,” she answered.
    “You don’t seem fine.”
    She lifted her black gaze. “I’m excellent, in fact.”
    Somehow her skin, even through that tidy dress, was too hot. Or too electric. Dangerous, anyway. It had always seemed dangerous to get too close to princess Cari. Mason let go of her. Strays weren’t fools. “Did you get what we needed?”
    Her expression gathered. The sadness he recognized. And frustration. Whatever had gripped her was passing. Good.
    She shook her head. “It’s been too long. I should’ve come back immediately.”
    “You sensed nothing?” He couldn’t quite believe her, after all that.
    Her mouth tightened.
    “There’s more,” he guessed. That mouth never lied. Someone should let her know before the wrong person discovered her tell. She had a House to protect.
    “Maybe the fae,” she suggested. It sounded like the truth.
    He had to make sure. “The fae?” Creatures of Twilight were drawing closer. And with all the Shadow she’d just used, the fae would be attracted.
    She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
    Mason looked away to take a deep breath. This was going to take time. They’d just started. And finding a killer was nothing Cari had been prepared for. They’d put it together. Eventually.
    It’d be easier if he hadn’t liked her so much back then, when they were kids. It made him worry for her now.
    His vision focused on a group of people—humans—who were watching him and Cari from across the courtyard.
    What had they seen? Not much from over there. Cari might have appeared ill, which was warranted considering her father had just died. Her eyes had been the most frightening during her episode, clouding with Shadow, but the humans were too far away to see, and only he could have sensed the storm inside her.
    They’d witnessed nothing really.
    But Mason recognized the character of their heavy stares. It was an us-and-them kind of expression. He’d felt it many times as a stray. These humans knew Cari was a mage and probably thought he was as well.
    Just a few months ago only human elites were really aware of magekind—the politicians and wealthy trying to get the edge on the new age of Shadow. But these were everyday people, just like at the May Fair.
    Now they knew and they believed.
     
     
    This was her chance.
    Leah watched her boss Ms. Dolan and the hot guy in jeans and a black tee—had to be a new bodyguard minus the suit jacket.
    Ms. Dolan must have come to pay her respects to her father. That spot was where he’d died, after all. It was so sad. No one ate lunch out there anymore. Felt weird and creepy. Only the gamer guy from IT did it, but he’d been nasty to start with.
    As soon as Ms. Dolan seemed finished, Leah would ask. Five more minutes wouldn’t make any difference. It’d been years already.
    “Burn ’em,” Thomas from accounting muttered beside her.
    Leah didn’t respond. The witches debate had gotten old quickly, but the consensus was that while some innocent