First And Last - By Stacey Kennedy Page 0,2

white hair and dark eyes that exuded power.

I released Kyden’s hand and stepped toward him. As I reached him, he bowed. I touched his arm, drawing his gaze back to mine. “Why did you help me?” He’d withdrawn the hold Magnus had on me. Without his help, it wouldn’t have turned out this way. I would have been lost to the darkness forever.

He held his hand out, an offering for me to read his thoughts. Just a neat trick the Spirit Element gives to me. I took his hand without hesitation and opened myself up to him so that I could get a grasp on what this was all about.

In an instant, visions flashed through my mind and I recognized the first one immediately. I’d seen this memory in Misa’s mind at the beginning of this mess. At the time, though, she’d pulled away so I couldn’t see more. Now, it became clear.

Azar and Misa wanted to change the path of their world, protect and make it different—better. But Magnus was set in his ways. Yes, they could have defeated him, but then Pye would have taken his place. This would have been worse. So, that’s where I came in.

Misa planted the idea into Magnus’ head to have Pye destroyed. Then, with him out of the way, they put the plan into motion to destroy Magnus. They believed I had all the qualities of a supreme leader and no longer wanted to live in the realm of evil. They would have stopped Magnus’ hold over me earlier if they hadn’t needed me to bond to him first. It guaranteed that I was next in line to rule.

The visions stopped and I released Azar’s hand. Stunned, shocked—I was speechless.

Kyden stroked my arm in a soft touch. “All right?”

I glanced at him. Still unable to speak. This was all very serious, but to be truthful, I had no idea what to say. Off all the things that I thought this might be about, this had never once crossed my mind.

They chose me to lead. Me.

“Nexi, you have to say something.” Zia’s voice filled my mind.

I glanced at her. She gave me a nod of encouragement, to say whatever needed to be said, but still I couldn’t. I seriously drew a blank. I’d never been without words before or so completely dumbfounded.

Misa cleared her throat, broke the silence. “Um…Lady…I mean to say, Nexi, needs some time to process. Let’s give it to her.”

Just like that, every warlock, demon, and witch stood in unison and left the auditorium. All that remained were Misa, Azar, Zia, Talon, and Kyden.

When the final Supe left the room and the door closed, Zia ran to me, hugged me with every ounce of her strength. “I didn’t think it was going to turn out this way.” Her voice hitched. “I love you, Sweetie.”

Still, I stood speechless.

Zia leaned back, then glanced worriedly at Talon. The Master of Guardians, and Kyden’s father, had just released his son from a tight embrace. He looked a lot like him—had the whole ‘slay my dragon’ thing going on. “I think she’s in shock,” she said.

“Help her.”

Zia glanced back to me, kept her hold tight on my arms, and released her magic. A rush of ease filled me.

I exhaled deeply, then gave my head a shake. It relaxed me enough to ground myself again, but I was still unbelievably shocked. Clearly, Zia didn’t want to take away the sense of what was going on here, knew I needed it to make good decisions, but took the edge off.

“So…” I hesitated. Everyone looked at me, waited for me to continue. “You do know that I’m a White Witch?”

Misa nodded, a sweet smile spread across her face. “Yes, we know.”

“And you do know I won’t accept Black Magic, right?”

“Why do you think I didn’t allow you to accept it after the bonding ceremony? We don’t want you to change.” Azar smiled.

Now it made sense. At the time, he suggested that Magnus and I wait until we were alone for me to accept Black Magic. With all types of sultry promise, Magnus had agreed. A deep shudder erupted within me as I remembered the way he looked at me then, the way I felt and wanted him. Just yuck!

I shifted my focus away from thoughts along that line and got back to business. “Why?”

“We like how you are,” Misa responded.

I gave my head a shake, tried to understand all this, but nothing seemed to make sense. “I’m so