Bree was looking at Killian with a calculating expression. “So you’re another Brit?” she asked.

“Yeah, we’re all over New York, a ruddy plague of us,” he admitted cheerfully.

His accent was different from Hunter’s and Sky’s. I was glad when Robbie asked, “Which part of England?”

“Oh, I’ve done the whole miserable U.K. Born in Scotland, went to school in London, spent time in Ireland, summers in Wales and the Shetlands. And in all those places it rains too bleeding much. I’m still damp.” He held out his arm to me. “Can you see the moss?”

I couldn’t help laughing, liking him. He was definitely appealing. His features weren’t perfect, like Cal’s had been, and he didn’t have Hunter’s classic, chiseled bone structure, but he had energy. There was something wild, almost animal, about him. I wondered which clan he belonged to. But I knew I couldn’t ask. Among witches, that question was considered very intrusive.

Killian got to his feet. “I’m going to get a beer. Anyone want one?”

“You’re twenty-one?” I asked, surprised. He didn’t look any older than the rest of us.

“Almost twenty,” he admitted with a grin, “but I age well.” As he spoke, he drew a sign in the air, and the planes of his face became softer and fuller. Lines appeared across his forehead, and a crease deepened between his brows. Anyone would have thought he was pushing thirty. “Now…beer, wine, scotch, anyone?”

“I’ll have a beer, too,” Raven said, looking smitten.

“A Sprite would be great,” Robbie said.

“Sprite it is,” Killian said graciously, but I could sense mockery.

“He’s good,” Bree said as Killian started off for the crowded bar.

“It was just a glamor,” Sky said dismissively. “A trick of the eye.”

Bree looked at me. “What do you think of him?”

I shrugged, unsure of how to answer. On one level, I couldn’t help liking him, his cheerful irreverence and the fact that he seemed to be having such a good time just being Killian. But there was also something about him that alarmed me, something dangerous in his raw, animal spirits. And there was the fact that when he cast that glamor, I felt pure envy. I knew I had the power to pull off magick like that, yet my lack of experience held me back. Alyce didn’t know how to cast glamors, and neither did I.

Hunter gave me an odd look. “What’s bothering you?”

“I don’t know.” I shifted in my seat, annoyed with myself for being so competitive. A good Wiccan would be able to simply enjoy Killian’s power for what it was.

“I’m not sure I trust him,” Hunter said thoughtfully. His eyes followed Killian as he scored the two beers and Robbie’s soda.

Raven lit a cigarette and blew smoke through her nostrils at us. “What is your collective problem?” she asked. “So Killian shows off a little with his magick. All it means is he’s different.”

“That’s one word for it,” said Sky, her voice acid-edged.

Killian returned then, his glamor dissolved, and gave Robbie and Raven their drinks. “How long are you going to be in the city?” he asked Raven.

Raven started to answer, only to be silenced by a warning look from Hunter. “Uh, I’m not sure,” she said.

“So, will I see you again?” he persisted.

“Maybe,” she said. She slid a quick glance at Sky, as if to ask, How far will you let me push you? before she added, “Why don’t you give me your number?”

He gave her a wide-eyed look. “Would you believe I’m staying with friends and I can’t remember their number? How about you give me your number?”

It was a transparent lie, and I wondered why he told it, especially since he didn’t make any real effort to be convincing. I could feel Sky reaching a silent boil. Raven must have felt it, too, because she shrugged, downed her beer, and got to her feet. “Same here,” she said. “Can’t remember it. Guess I’ll see you when I see you.”

Killian held out his hand and pulled her to him. Then he gave her a quick kiss, teetering on the edge between friendly and sexual.

I glanced at Sky in alarm. Her face was set, her nostrils flared.

“Raven, we’re leaving now,” Hunter said loudly.

Raven looked at Killian and shrugged. “Gotta go.”

Killian’s dark brows rose. “Must you?”

“Yes, we must,” Hunter said. We retrieved our coats and trailed out of the club into the frigid streets.

We started back to the apartment. Sky and Raven walked ahead, maintaining an icy distance between themselves and us. Robbie slung an arm around Bree’s shoulders, and they walked on like that, quiet and compatible. Whatever ups and downs they’d had during the evening, they seemed to have ended it on an upward trend.

Hunter was quiet, too, and walking slowly enough that we fell behind Robbie and Bree after a block or two. “Thinking about your job?” I guessed.

He nodded in a distracted way.

How could he focus so intensely on something so nebulous, so unformed? I couldn’t—especially not when I was around him. I felt the familiar rush of insecurity. Did he even love me? He’d never said he did.

Of course he does, I told myself. He’s just not as obvious about it as Cal was.

Feeling suddenly sad, I pulled my jacket tighter. Above us white stars blazed through a clear black night. The moon was gone, dropped somewhere behind the Manhattan skyline.

“Cold?” Hunter asked, pulling me against him.

“I’m not so sure I want to go to that club again,” I told him. “The amount of magick flying around was almost too much.”

“It was intense, that’s true. But it’s good to be exposed to lots of magick, coming from lots of sources. Besides just increasing your general knowledge, it will help you to recognize and deal with dark magick. Which, as you know, is especially important for you.”

I felt my chest tighten. We’d already talked about this more than once—about the fact that Selene had been part of a larger conspiracy, that her death probably didn’t mean I was safe from other members of her coven or from other factions altogether. I’m going to be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life, I thought bleakly.

Hunter pulled me to a stop under a streetlight. It cast harsh shadows on the planes of his face, making his cheekbones look razor sharp. “Don’t worry,” he said gently. “I’m looking after you. And you can look after yourself pretty well, too, you know. Besides, if Amyranth knows about you at all, they’ll know you’re high on the council’s radar right now.”

I thought of Killian. “Maybe I need to learn the art of magickal disguise.”

“That’s the least of it.” Hunter frowned at me. “Why are you so eager to be casting glamors, anyway? I could see it in your eyes tonight. They went round with envy when Killian did his little parlor trick.”

“It’s not just envy,” I said, thinking it through aloud. “It’s knowing that I have the power to be like those other witches, except I don’t know how to use it. It’s like being given the key to this fabulous palace and seeing all these gorgeous rooms lit up inside but not knowing how to get the key into the lock.”

“Is that bad?” he asked. “You’ve only been practicing magick for two and a half months. And learning to wield magick properly is a lifetime’s work.”

Oh Goddess, how sick I was of hearing that! I started walking again.

Hunter reached out, caught my arm, and pulled me toward him. “Morgan. You know that I want you to be able to put that key in the lock, don’t you? I’m not trying to keep you out of the palace. I want you to come fully into your power, to be able to use every bit of magick in you.” His fingertips stroked my face, and I felt myself moving toward him. “I just don’t want you or anyone else getting hurt in the process.”

“I know,” I breathed as he gently lowered his head to mine. Then his arms wrapped around me and our mouths met and I felt all the tension of the evening melt away. I opened myself to Hunter, and it was like a river of sapphire light poured into me, like he was washing me in his magick and his love. I felt my own heart open and my power moving, streaming through my body, twining with his. It felt like that spot on the Manhattan sidewalk was the center of the universe and the night and all its stars spun out from us. In that moment, in that place, I had no doubts, no insecurities.