Their second attempt at the routine was perfect, but Victor's heart wasn't in it. Still, it impressed Marta, who nodded her head in a genteel manner. A cheery Adam promised he would arrange a practice session between Victor and Danny as soon as possible, claiming their partnership would be the greatest rumba the ballroom world had ever seen.

Kristy seethed but said nothing. 

Marta vetoed any inkling Adam had of pairing Victor with Danny permanently, something Adam took with a good nature. Somehow, it made Victor feel worse than before.

"Congratulations, Victor. You and Kristy are officially partners." Marta patted his cheek. "You waited as I asked, and now you see it was worth it."

Adam chattered on about past routines he choreographed before throwing up his hands. "I'm feeling a tad poorly. I'm going home, having a bubble bath, and cuddling up with Jack."

Marta gave him a sly smile. "Jack? Someone new?"

"No, dearie. My bottle of Jack Daniels, the Tennessee whiskey. We've always had a very stimulating relationship."

Marta gave a well-breed titter of laughter before returning to the younger set.

Victor faked his interest in the exchange. However, he could tell Kristy knew otherwise, that he held his sanity together by a thread.

He'd almost killed a man.

"Victor, we'll need to plan─" began Marta. But Kristy cut off the conversation by grabbing Victor's arm as she stepped backward, giving the impression of urgency.

"I've got a study group meeting in less than an hour," she lied, smiling to excuse the interruption. "Sorry to cut things short."

Victor, his eyes hooded, gave her a grateful nod. "Marta, Adam, see you in a bit." Before either could reply, he snatched up the dance bags and headed for the door. Kristy hurried after him, not bothering to button her coat or secure her scarf in her haste to catch up with him.

His mind played back the harrowing scene in the ballroom. Adam's words, words he said in a fit of anger. Words were just elements of speech and writing. They were not, in his eyes, justification for murder. What kind of monster have I become? he thought.

They left the studio with Victor in the lead, Kristy almost breaking into a jog to keep up with his long strides. His face was one of torment. The same thought rolled around his head, biting, gnawing, and twisting. He began walking faster as if he could outrun the scene imprinted in his head before choking back a sob.

He'd almost killed a man.

The hood attached to his jacket pulled him backward, then sideways—his back shoved against the wall in one of the nooks set between the buildings. The impact caused him to drop the bags as he fought to catch his breath and stop the tears threatening to escape.

The cause of his waylay moved to him, her body blocking him in. Duffle-coated arms slid around his neck, and her fingers stroked his hair. Victor hesitated before wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in the curve of her shoulder. He began to shake as the tears flowed. Kristy molded her body to his as she provided much-needed support and comfort.

Pedestrian traffic on the pavement had increased, but most did not see the two entangled in the nook. Several children ran ahead of their parents, shouting and peering into every crack and crevice. They discovered the pair, pointing them out before searching out new prey. A few parents smiled, remembering their own love tryst from days gone by, while others mistook the moment for a disgusting public display of affection. "Get a room!" they shouted before grabbing their offspring and hustling away.

Neither paid attention as the desolate teen and his comforter held on to each other—one to console, the other holding on for dear life.

Several moments passed before he spoke. "Kristy," he said, his voice laced with agony. "I almost killed him."

Her breath warmed his ear as she spoke. "Almost means just about but not exactly."

"Adam could've died because of me," he muttered.

"But he didn't," she replied, fingers caressing his tousled hair. "You fixed your mistake."

"I should've thought before I lost control," Victor mumbled.

"Shoulda, woulda, coulda never happened because they aren't meant to happen." Grasping his hair, Kristy tugged until his eyes, wet with tears, met hers. "If they were, Arabella would be celebrating because you'd be my baby's daddy about now. And Adam will never die. He's so toxic he'll just nasty away."

Despite the moroseness he felt, Victor chuckled.

"And if shoulda, woulda, coulda, were meant to happen, I wouldn't be here. I would've been Cataran's concubine, my only value being flat on my back."

Victor's eyes widened as his hands slid upward, cupping her face. "What do you mean?"

"You don't know what a concubine is?" Her grin was mischievous.

He let out an exasperated sigh. "Of course, I do. I'm not totally daft, love. Why?"

"Had my father's affair been with a witch, my value would have increased, and I could have been gifted to someone of higher rank as a wife. Fairies are beautiful but considered weak, which is why we mutts never become husbands or wives. The half-fae are only valued for their supposed sexual prowess."

His eyes never left hers. "I can't believe a father would give his child away."

Kristy tilted her head. "Do you think I'm beautiful, Vic?"

He nodded, the smell of vanilla filling the air.

"And that would be the only worth my father sees in me. I have the Allure of Desire, pink hair from my fae mother, and my eyes, sapphire blue, a rarity among the genie. My lowly but beautiful status should have turned me into a mattress, which is why I escaped before it could happen." Her glorious eyes locked onto his. "That's why shoulda, woulda, coulda, lack any basis of reality. Your behavior didn't lead to a negative outcome, Vic. Just like me, you took control and overcame it."

Victor studied the beautiful face before him as her words sank in. In retrospect, she was right. He could have seriously hurt Adam, but he hadn't. He'd lost his temper, but never in a million years would he have considered murder as validation for a bloody battle of insults.

"Wait, Tams, isn't that Kris and Vic?"

The couple turned to see Tammy and Misty standing at the nook's opening. Both girls held Styrofoam cups filled with a steaming liquid.

Tammy wore a dark blue coat that added the right amount of pop to her brown skin. She raised her cup to burgundy lips and sipped. "So, still claiming yall aren't going together when we catch yall cuddling in an alley?" The girl raised an eyebrow, a smug look on her face. "Gotcha!"

Misty had swathed herself in an oversized coat that nearly swallowed her tiny figure. The hood was down so far that her eyes weren't visible from where Victor stood. Even though parts of the sidewalk were icy, the heels on her winter boots seemed anything but safe.

"Stop, Tams." Misty moved closer to the couple. Unlike Tammy, she noticed Victor's tear-stained face. "What's wrong, Victor?"

Victor released Kristy, who gave a shaky smile to the two girls. "Vic got some upsetting news."

Tammy's face was instant sympathy. "My bad, and here I am shooting off at the mouth. What happened, boo?"

Victor glanced at Kristy before blurting out, "My... pet had an accident."

"Oh, poor thing," replied Misty. "I didn't know you had a pet. What kind?"

"Cat," said Victor.

"Dog," said Kristy at the same time. She shrugged. "What we mean is he has a cat named Dog."

"Dope name," said Tammy. "What happened to Dog?"

"He ran away," exclaimed Victor.

"He was hit by a car," replied Kristy. She sighed. "What we mean is the cat... uh, ran away and was hit by a car."

"But it's at the vet, so we'd better get going." Victor reached down to grab the dance bags, and he and Kristy stepped out of the nook. "We've got to check up on the dog...I... I mean, Dog. Laters."

"Bye," said Kristy, tucking her arm through Victor's. They waved then strode down the sidewalk toward the car park.

As they turned the corner, Victor heard Tammy say, "Dang, Misty, they lie worse than me!"

They rode in silence, both occupants wrapped in their contemplations. Then, Victor chuckled. "I don't think they believed us."

Kristy glanced at him and giggled. "They'd be stupid if they did. At least I didn't mention fish." After a few moments of snickering, she placed a hand on his thigh. "Feeling better?"

"After the lecture you gave me, how could I be anything less?" He cast her a brief look of reassurance before turning his attention back to driving. "Everything you said was right. I didn't kill or hurt Adam. But I'm scared, Kristy. Because this magic is a part of me, like my beating heart, I don't notice it. I've used it a lot without consciously knowing it."

Kristy gripped his thigh. "I didn't know it was possible to manipulate time like that."

"I didn't consider if I could do it. I just did it." Waves of guilt flowed through him, freezing him from the inside. "And if I don't have limitations, it frightens me more."

"You're still human, Vic."

"The doctor said I need to focus on my humanity, and I haven't." He told her of the fire started by the Duo and what he'd done. "I didn't wade in with my brain. I defaulted to magic—exactly what Papa taught me not to do. Because I was such a superior arse, they're barely speaking to me."

The genie said nothing, only rubbed his thigh in solidarity. She squeaked when he removed her hand.

"Wha...?"

"I'll need to lay my coat over my lap if you keep that up." A reddened Victor didn't look at her.

Light sparkled in her lovely eyes. "Sorry."

"Are you going to tell me what's been bothering you lately?" He peeped at her before turning his attention back to the motorway. "It's not all about me. I care about your happiness too."

"I'm happier now than I've ever been."

He didn't believe her but dropped it as he pulled up to Kristy's home, pulling the car onto a driveway that had once resembled a rockslide. She had done quite a bit of work on the property. The gate leading to the back was new. Victor thought back to when he'd disintegrated the old lock to gain access to the backyard, right before the encounter with Arabella's henchmen, Beef and Brawn. Buck up and get out of the past, he told himself. There's enough to worry about in the present.

Victor put the car in park as he gazed at the house. "Tell me, love, why is the house a different color than yesterday?"

"It's been like that since December when I changed it." She shrugged. "Paint dries faster in the winter. The air is less humid."

His finger tapped a steady beat on the steering wheel. "True, but most people use contractors or do it themselves with a brush, not magic. Don't you think your neighbors will notice the sudden color change?"

Kristy turned in her seat and grinned at him. "I know that, silly. That's why the old color is an illusion on the house. You can see through it, magus, because you're paying attention." She waved a hand toward the bungalow. "I like the new pale green. It's better than that hideous dog crap brown."

"I'm nagging you about acting human after today?" A slow smile spread across his face. "I'm a bloody hypocrite."

She laughed and planted a gentle kiss on his cheek. "You know, Vic, slow and steady builds relationships and paints houses."

Victor wanted nothing more than to turn and meet those lips but asked, "How did you afford this place anyway?"

"When I found a way to escape my father's palace, I gathered up the things that held minimum value to magi—the diamonds, jewels, and gold." She plopped back into her seat. "By your standards, I'm quite wealthy."

Victor nodded, impressed with her forethought. His fingers intertwined with hers. "You used smarts and your own wealth to get the mortgage. Outstanding!" He kissed her hand before glancing at his watch. "I've got to go. Jason hasn't written his English essay yet. He's not speaking to me, but he doesn't need to talk to me to write."

Kristy smiled as she gathered her dance bag and hopped out of the car. She made her way to the porch before turning back to shout, "Hey, what's a mortgage?"

Baffled, he drove off without answering.

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