Page 7 of The Never List
I nod, gathering my long blond hair over one shoulder, off my neck. Ivy quickly dabs the brush against the spot at the base of my skull, covering the light, silvery mark that showed up when I was ten. The one that looks like a tiny cloud.
The mark of a demi blessed by the goddess Neph.
Ivy moves to my wrist, silently covering up the light-purple bruises Turner left. My chest squeezes.
When she’s finished, Ivy passes the brush to Layce, who hurries to cover the mark on the inside of her wrist—a cloud matching mine. Ivy hikes up her left leg, shifting her gown higher to expose her inner thigh.
“Who wants the honors?” she asks.
I grab a different brush and dip it into her compact. I lean down and stroke the bristles over her mark—a light-green spot in the shape of a leaf. We’ve done this so many times now, we could probably hide one another’s marks in our sleep.
I take a step back to double-check my work. “Nothing stopping us now,” I say.
“Then what are we waiting for?” Ivy asks.
4
Jax
“You summoned me,” I say, dragging out the words as I stride into my father’s ornate office.
The walls of the great and powerful Baydel Lavine are lined with books I’m sure he’s never actually read, and a monstrosity of a marble desk is centered against a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the royal city. The sky is ink black, but gold sparks flicker and burst around the outer gates far below—the magical lights beckoning the Choosing guests into the palace.
“You could’ve come more quickly,” my father says. He stands on a raised step in front of a gilded trifold mirror, admiring himself as his tailor fusses around his ankles.
“I’ve heard that’s an ailment for some.” I cock an eyebrow at him. “Old age getting to you?”
He’s almost as old as Lumathyst itself, though he doesn’t look it. All people in Lumathyst age slowly after reaching maturity, thanks to magic the goddesses flooded the lands with when they first claimed Lumathyst as their own. But when my mother, the goddess Evaluna, chose my father as her mate, she bestowed him with a drop of her power and made himimmortal. His face only shows minimal signs of aging—a few wrinkles around his green eyes and snow-white hair that he keeps short.
He glares at me in the mirror, unamused.
I slide my hands into my pockets, leaning against a pillar and propping one boot behind me. “You’re going with gold again, I see.” I motion to his suit. It’s clean, simple, not unlike mine, but the color is unspeakably garish.
“And you went with black,” he says with a condescending sneer.“Shocking.”
Irritation rolls off him in waves. I can taste it on my tongue. The power in my blood rises, begging me to alter his mood. I quash the urge. Anytime I’ve even attempted it, he’s checked me with his power—which is still infinitely more potent than mine.
“Dark and foreboding certainly attracts a mate,” he continues sarcastically.
Maybe this year will be different,a traitorous voice whispers in my ear. I bury it along with any hope I’ve ever had of outpowering my father.
The tailor finishes, and Baydel dismisses him with a flick of his wrist. The man practically runs from the room, skittish as a mouse. My father gives himself an approving look in the mirror before crossing to his desk. He scoops up his mask—made entirely of diamonds—and slides it over his eyes.
“If you called me up here for compliments on your outfit, you’re wasting your time, old man.”
“Watch your mouth.”
I smile—a sardonic, overstretched smile. The same smile that has been the last thing so many have seen before their deaths. The smile that earned me my nickname, the Nightmare.
He has the decency to look unnerved. “I called you up here to discuss tonight’s event—”
“Been to six of these Choosings,” I cut him off. “Nothing new to discuss.”
“You and the other Legends havefailedfor six years.” He stalks over to me. We’re eye to eye in height, but I can feel his power rising in the room.
I shrug. “I don’t see your mate anywhere,” I say.
He raises a hand but stops before he lands the blow. “If it was any other night than the Choosing, I’d slap that smile right off your face.”
