Page 27 of Deadly Little Games

I double checked the time again, then shoved the note back into my pocket. I had until tomorrow morning to decide if I would go, but deep down I knew my curiosity would get the better of me.

It usually did.

10

Gabriel heldme tightly against him as the horse’s hooves thundered beneath us. Ringo was buried down in my messenger bag with a handful of potato chips for the ride. There would be crumbs everywhere, but I hadn’t been able to say no when he spotted the bag of chips in a convenience store window. The stars overhead were mostly obscured by dense gray clouds, and I could already smell the rain. Hopefully we would make it to the Citadel before the moisture started to fall.

Gabriel’s deep voice sounded near my ear. “Letting a devil into one’s realm is unheard of. They must have had ulterior motives.”

I hadn’t told him about the first note I’d received, nor the second for that matter. For a moment, I debated letting it slip, but he seemed to be worrying about me more than enough already. “I already told you. The motive was to save Crispin.”

“You did that without Sebastian’s help.”

I had already told him pretty much everything else, including kissing Crispin. I knew it would come out eventually, so may as well get it over with. “You really think Crispin would trap himself in a parallel realm just to get me to kiss him?”

The horse slowed as we neared Mistral’s estate. “I would not put it past him,” Gabriel muttered.

Even though we had discussed my kiss with Crispin, we had not yet discussed our own kiss, as was evident by the sudden tension in the air between us.

Gabriel slid off the horse then lifted me down like usual, but this time, he didn’t release me.

I looked up into his dark eyes.

“You need to be careful, Eva. Did my warning truly mean nothing to you?”

I lowered my gaze. “It’s not like I’ve really had a choice in anything. Can’t you understand how insane this all has been for me?”

His hands flexed around my waist, his fingertips nearly touching at the small of my back. The sensation made me shiver. Made me want to move closer.

“Yes, I can understand that.” He leaned down toward my face. “But Eva, you must also understand. You already feel different to me. Different from only yesterday. Others will notice.”

I stiffened. Sebastian had said the same thing. Had Crispin already noticed something? Did he trap himself on purpose to lure me into saving him? I found myself not wanting to meet Gabriel’s eyes, so I looked at his mouth instead, which wasn’t much better as I instantly flashed back on our kiss. “If I don’t learn to travel to find my mom, everyone’s going to be after me anyways. I need to put an end to this.”

He waited until I finally looked up at him. “Letusbe the ones to help you.”

My throat went tight. “Us?”

He didn’t look away.

“You mean, you want to…”

“We should go inside,” he said softly.

He finally released me, then led the way toward the entrance. His horse waited obediently behind us. I wasn’t sure if Gabriel would return to tend to it, or if someone else would. I supposed it wasn’t really my problem.

Ringo popped his head out of my bag to look up at me as I trailed after Gabriel.

What the hell was that?I mouthed, darting my eyes up toward Gabriel’s back ahead of us.

Ringo shrugged his little shoulders.

Shaking my head, I followed Gabriel inside.Let us help you,he’d said, almost as if they already had a plan. Part of me wanted to run away. But I found a bigger part of me would never forgive myself for not at least learning what might be in store.

I scoopedanother forkful of blueberry pie into my mouth. It was delicious, and exactly what I needed. That, and Mistral’s calm reaction to learning what happened with Crispin.

Though Mistral sat at the dining table with me, he had only a glass of wine. Gabriel sat across from me, to Mistral’s right on the other side of the table.

The high goblin beside me sipped his wine, gray eyes thoughtful. “It is curious that Crispin would end up in a pocket realm like that. No dangers, where he could wait as long as was needed for Eva to save him.”