Page 6 of Incoronate
“Yeah, I know we did, but…” I dug my fingernails into my palms, grounding myself in the sting. “That was before. We were under a spell, Trace. Weareunder a spell. We don’t know how long it’s been influencing things or how deep it goes.” I glanced back to the bed without meaning to beforeaverting my eyes again. “What if none of us are fully in control right now?”
Dominic scoffed. “I’m always in control.”
“You know what I mean, Dominic. And that’s really not helping.”
He crossed the room to me in three strides, lifting my chin so I had no choice but to look at him. My skin all but purred under his touch, warming me in a way that almost made me break right there on the spot.
“Do you truly believe I’m here because of a spell?” he asked point blank. His voice was calm, almost amused, but there was something else beneath it. Something unyielding.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, my heart turning heavy and chaotic. “That’s the problem. How can any of us know anything right now after what William said?”
“Because I know,” he said simply. “I’ve been around long enough to recognize when my will isn’t my own, angel. You want to doubt William’s machinations, doubt them. Be skeptical of his manipulation. But don’t insult what’s between us by pretending it’s anything other than what it is. What it has always been.”
His unwavering gaze held mine, and for a brief moment, I almost believed him.
Almost gave in.
I tried to turn away but Trace stepped up on his other side, blocking my exit, his dimples pressing in on both sides like they were in on this too. “Come on, Jemma. You know he’s right.” His eyes moved across my face, slow enough to send an unwanted flutter of warmth curling in my stomach. “Do you honestly think we don’t know the difference? That I can’t feel it?”
“How?” The word came out more desperate than I meant it to. “How can you be so sure when I can’t trust anything right now let alone my feelings?”
“Because you’re my soulmate.” The words hit me with the force of inescapability. Of destiny. “That doesn’t come from a spell, Jemma. It can’t be erased or manipulated by anyone, not even the Order. What we have—” He broke off, his hand lifting to mine to intertwine our fingers. “It’s woven into who we are. It existed long before William ever laid a hand on you, and it’ll exist long after we level him.”
“You can’t know that,” I whispered, my throat tight.
“Yes, I can,” he said, his voice dropping lower, rougher. “I’ve felt you in every version of my life, Jemma. In every Timeline. In every possibility. You think a spell can fake that? You think it can replicate the way my soul recognizes yours?”
My breath caught at his words as something deep inside me stirred to life, like a commanding presence shifting just beneath my ribs. Rearranging things. Trying to make them fit again.
They were getting to me, chipping away at my resolve by the second, and I knew the second they saw it in my face I’d be done for. I couldn’t let that happen.
Not until we knew for sure.
Steeling myself, I drew in an even breath and forced myself to hold his gaze, even as my heart hammered against my chest. “And what if you’re wrong? What if you can’t feel it because whatever this is doesn’t work like that? What if the spell isn’t making you feel things that aren’t there but instead twisting them. Distorting what you actually want. Making you think you’re okay with sharing when you’re not.”
A muscle jumped in Trace’s jaw.
“You’ve both spent years wanting me to choose. Hating each other. Neither of you has ever been willing to share mewith anyone, let alone each other. And now suddenly you’re both fine with it?” My throat squeezed around the words, around the truth that was simmering just below the surface. “What if that’s the spell? What if it’s not creating feelings but warping them—making you accept something you’d never actually want just so William can watch us destroy ourselves from the inside out?”
Dominic’s expression hardened, the lazy amusement bleeding out of his features and leaving something colder in its place. “Is that what you believe, angel? That my acceptance of him was conjured by some spell?” His chin lifted, his gaze never wavering from mine, though his jaw had gone tight enough to cut glass. “That I requiredmagicto make peace with the fact that you love him too? That you have always loved him?”
“I…” I faltered, his words knocking the wind right out of my argument. “I don’t know what I believe anymore.” My hand came up to rub at the ache forming behind my temple. “But I know William. I know how his mind works, how he wields people like chess pieces. And what better way to destroy us than to make us think we can have something we can’t? To let us build it up just so he can watch it crumble when the spell breaks and you both realize you never actually wanted this?”
Trace stepped closer, his blue eyes locked on mine like he was trying to find me beneath all my doubt. “And what about what you want, Jemma? Do you think it’s the spell making you want both of us?”
My stomach knotted at his question.My feelings for them had always been there and had always been real. Of that I was certain. But wanting them both? Being greedy enough to keep them both instead of choosing one? That was the part I couldn’t fully reconcile no matter how hard I tried.
What if the whole time it had just been the spell whispering in my ear, telling me I could have everything I wanted when I was never supposed to?
“I don’t know,” I admitted, dropping my eyes. “I don’t know how much of this is the spell and how much of it is really us, and that’s exactly the problem.” Wrapping my arms around myself, I forced a firmness into my voice that I didn’t feel. “I need to slow this down. At least until I know what’s real and what isn’t. Until I know what parts of me are still…mine.”
Trace crossed his arms. “So what does that mean right now?”
“It means I need space. I need to figure out what I’m feeling without you both right there making it impossible for me to sort through any of it,” I said, hating the way the words sounded out loud even as I forced them past my lips.
“That’s a charming notion, angel, but it’s out of the question.” Dominic’s eyes had darkened to pitch black. “You were just anointed as the Fourth Horseman mere hours ago. Do you truly believe for one second we’re going to leave you alone after that?”
“You know he’s right. It’s not safe,” added Trace, the muscle in his throat moving as he swallowed. “What if something happens and we’re not here? What if the voices come back?”
