She choked out a laugh. “Don’t tell me what he’s like. I know. I carried him inside me. I raised him.”

“No, Lon raised him.”

“I was there whenever I could be—I had a demanding career. And I made a few mistakes. I can’t keep paying for them.”

“Then stop making them.”

“Who the hell are you to be passing judgment on me? How long have you even been in the picture? A few months? You think because you’re Lon’s newer model, you can just waltz in here and take my place? A twenty-five-year-old bartender? Think again, honey.”

Dark anger coursed through me. “You should be grateful for every second you spend with him, because you don’t deserve him. And you’re breaking his heart.”

“Spare me.” She wriggled against the bonds on her wrists. “Jupiter’s always been emotional and needy. He’ll do whatever it takes to get attention. He used to fake tears all the time when he was little.”

“He’s not little anymore. But you wouldn’t know that, because you don’t know him.”

“I know he’s more like me than anyone cares to admit. He’ll do whatever it takes to get what he wants. And what are you going to do when he comes into his knack? What if he inherits mine? If the whole family treats him like they’ve treated me, he’ll come running to his mother, because I’m the only one who understands what it’s like to wield this kind of power.”

Jupe hadn’t told her about his knack? I was stunned. I thought surely that would be the first thing he spilled when they spent time alone. He brags about it whenever he gets the chance. Hell, he’d have it printed on a T-shirt if he could.

Then it struck me: Jupe doesn’t trust her. Lon has told him time and time again to be careful about revealing it to people who might use it against him. Jesus. For all the dumbass mistakes that kid made, there were just as many times he made smart decisions.

“Maybe you don’t fully get what I can do,” she said, misinterpreting my silence.

“Believe me. I’ve heard all about it.”

“Seeing is believing.”

Her halo flickered. The air shuddered, just like it did when Lon transmutated. It felt like a cavalry of galloping horses—something enormous approaching. I knew it from the first beat, when the gold in her halo began to dominate the green and rose up over her head and shoulders like a gilded campfire.

Her blindfold ripped as milky brown horns sprouted into existence. But where Lon’s came in above his temples and looped into burnished spirals, hers were straight and tilted back and up toward the crown of her head, maybe a foot or longer in length.

Impressive. Even more so when her torn blindfold fell to her neck. Her green eyes were now golden. She was stunning. So incredibly beautiful. Dazzling. A rapturous shudder went through me.

And if she hadn’t snapped her wrist bonds, I might’ve fallen under her sway, despite the ring. But that simple motion caught my gaze, and the second my eyes dropped from hers, I came to my senses.

The Moonchild power roared toward me. I embraced it like a friend, delighting in the darkness that fell. Just as I had in Hajo’s elevator, I felt a foreign coolness rippling down my torso, and God help me, I felt the freaking tail sliding out from the hem of my shorts. Now that I knew it was coming, it wasn’t so bad . . . weird, but not bad. Weird I could handle, especially if it made me feel this crazily alive and powerful.

Very, very powerful.

No blue dot appeared. But within a blink, my vision morphed. It was still dark, but everything solid was swathed in silver, as if someone had dumped a vat of mercury over my surroundings—the cars, the trees, the circle of Lon’s driveway and every bump of gravel that paved it.

I didn’t create the silver light: I was the light. And I cast myself over the landscape, illuminating everything in my path.

Including Yvonne.

Her skin gleamed like Priya’s, bathed in an unearthly quicksilver glow. Her horns jutted backward like two slender candlesticks molded from pewter. And when my gaze locked with hers, I watched emotion play over her eyes in quick succession. Certainty slipped into confusion . . . confusion dimmed to fear.

She should be afraid. I was dangerous.

“What is this?” I heard her say in a faraway voice. She tried to retreat, but there was nowhere to go. Her back hit the car. I took a step toward her and she bolted.

She darted across the driveway toward the tree line, racing into the shadows. I flew after her like a bullet, with no thought to her long legs outpacing mine. I lunged and snagged her mid-thigh, tackling her to the wet grass. She shouted angrily. Screamed. Twisted in my grip to face me. To fight me. Her arms flailed as I straddled her. She reared back and punched the side of my head. The pain was shocking, but not enough to distract me when she tried it again with her other hand. I blocked her with my arms and quickly pinned both of hers to the ground.

Heka flew out of me and came back fully charged with moon energy. I was vaguely aware that my mother might be listening somewhere in the Æthyr. Best to be quick about this, before I heard her horrible voice in my head.

Or before I fell prey to Yvonne’s knack.

Already, the soft perfume of her skin and hair were worming their way inside me like a siren’s call, beckoning me to succumb to her. I squeezed my eyes shut and concentrated.

How to remove the transmutation spell? Shit. I didn’t know. I pushed kindled Heka through my hands into Yvonne, sending out a magical search party inside her veins, poking around for the transmutation magick.