Lucian nodded. “The first female one, at that.”
Effie chewed on the inside of her cheek. “Are you going to get in trouble?”
He gave her a pointed look. “Do you really think I care?”
She laughed. “No, I guess you wouldn’t.” There were still so many questions, and her head was starting to hurt trying to process everything all at once. She was a Guardian . . . she may not have visions anymore . . . the Guardians were the Triumvirate . . . Lucian was Smoke. Mother’s tits . . . Lucian is Smoke. Her eyes were wide when they met his once more. “So . . .”
Lucian looked up at her with fathomless eyes, his mouth and mind silent while he gave her a chance to process.
Effie’s cheeks burned as she realized just what the connection between the two men meant. Lucian knew everything. He’d lived her past through the memories Smoke had acquired. He was the one she’d revealed her feelings to, the one who warned her to have more faith in her Guardian. She should have been embarrassed, but after all they’d been through it wasn’t like she wanted to keep anything from him anyway. Besides, her feelings for him certainly weren’t a secret any longer—if they ever had been to begin with.
Suddenly, it wasn’t so hard to picture them as one and the same. Smoke had always been her mentor, protecting and guiding her as best he could. As Lucian, he’d done the same, albeit in a more hands-on way. As both, he’d challenged her, accepted her, believed in her. Lucian, in any form, gave her the space to grow and evolve, while being exactly what she needed to achieve it.
In the end, the face he wore didn’t matter. She’d take him any way she could get him. Although she’d be lying if she didn’t admit she had a definite preference for this form.
Lucian’s eyes glittered as he followed her line of thought, his smile turning wolfish. “I wish I could have told you sooner. I was bound by my vow to keep the secret.”
“But you don’t have to keep it now?”
“You’re a Guardian. The rules no longer apply to you.”
“Not to me, but to everyone else.”
She could feel Lucian’s regret, his voice full of apology as he said, “No one outside of the four of us can know who or what the Triumvirate really are.”
“I understand. Your secret is safe with me.”
“Our secret,” he corrected. “You’re one of us now.”
“I don’t feel any different,” she said, but even as the words left her lips she felt the lie of them. There was something new, foreign and yet familiar, running through her. It was just out of reach, like a forgotten name.
“You will. Your power is still banked.”
“Banked?”
“You have to call it forth; activate it.”
Effie held up a hand, staring at it hard like it was going to change before her eyes.
Lucian laughed, weaving his fingers through hers and bringing their hands to his lips. “It might take a few tries, but you’ll learn how to access your power. You have the rest of your immortal life to practice until it’s as easy as drawing a breath.”
Immortal life.
Immortal.
The breath left her in a whoosh. Just when she thought she knew everything, something still managed to shock her. “I think that might be all the answers I can handle for now.”
Lucian nodded. “It’s a lot to take in.”
“You’re telling me.”
“Usually we have a chance to prepare ourselves for what the change means and come to terms with it beforehand.” His smile dimmed slightly. “You’re not upset with me? For making the choice for you?”
She could feel the waves of his guilt and uncertainty crashing into her and any teasing response she was about to utter vanished. Pressing her free hand over his heart, she looked straight into his eyes. “You saved me, Lucian. From a fate more horrible than anything I could ever imagine—and given my past, that’s saying something. So no, I’m not upset. Not even close.”
He studied her, his eyes moving over her face as if searching for any hint of dishonesty.
“More than that,” she continued, leaning down until their noses almost touched, “I’m grateful.”
“Grateful? For the power?”
Effie shook her head, her eyes dropping to his lips as she whispered, “I don’t care about the power. I spent years without any to speak of and made peace with it. No, Lucian, what I will never be able to stop thanking you for is that now I can spend lifetimes loving you instead of just what’s left of this one. The endless possibilities that come with an eternity spent beside you is worth more to me than anything.”
She kissed him, her heart near to bursting as he took over, weaving his hands through her hair and deepening it. Thoughts and feelings, both hers and Lucian’s, merged in her mind. Need clawed at her, her hunger for him rising once more. Just as quickly as it built, a thrum of tension sobered her, cutting through the fog of her desire.
“What’s wrong?”
“Someone’s coming.”
Lucian sprang up, the scraps of clothes that had been littering the floor forming around their bodies almost instantly. He held a hand out, and Effie grasped it as she got to her feet. Lucian shifted, using his body to shield hers as footsteps sounded down the hall.
“Luc, you alive?”
Lucian visibly relaxed. “Kael,” he murmured to Effie.
“Great move. If he’s not, you just gave the bloodthirsty fiend a heads-up we’re coming.”
“And Ronan,” Effie added, a part of her growing defensive at his use of the word fiend. Even though that’s exactly what she’d been mere hours ago.
Stepping forward, Lucian grasped the cell’s door and pulled it open with no more effort than he’d used to help her stand. The subtle flare of bronze in his eyes was the only sign he’d called and released his power.
“I told you it wouldn’t stop you.”
Lucian winked at her over his shoulder as he called out, “Here.”
“Lucian, thank the Mother,” Kael said, coming into view. Seeing Effie, Kael stopped short, gaping as he stared at her. “You did it.”
“Effie . . .” Ronan breathed, looking shaken.
“It’s me,” she said, smiling up at him. Her smile faltered as he continued to stare.
“Your eyes.”
Her brows veed, not understanding what he was referring to. She glanced up at Lucian, seeking an explanation.
“They’re like mine and Kael’s now.”
Her expression cleared. That made sense, those metallic flecks of color around their pupils were the only physical manifestation of a Guardian’s power. With everything else going on, she just hadn’t gotten around to really processing what any of this meant.
“Surprise,” she said weakly.
Ronan swept her up in his arms, his smile nearly splitting his face in two. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am to see those big blue eyes again.”
Effie hugged her friend tight, realizing he wasn’t put off by her becoming a Guardian at all. He was simply overcome with relief that the thing that most clearly marked her as Shadow-touched was gone.
Lucian not-so-subtly cleared his throat, and Ronan finally set Effie down.