Page 32 of Deadly Little Games

A third woman, dripping with water, regarded me from only inches away. She was older and plumper than the other two, and standing close enough that I could see her eyes were the deep aqua of a distant ocean. “You smell like goblin magic. How odd.”

I staggered back as she reached for me, bumping into the same tree I’d stepped around. Green tinted hands reached around each side of the trunk, grabbing my arms and locking me in place against the rough bark. Serene stars watched from overhead, offering me no help at all.

The eldest of the trio stepped close again, her eyes dancing with mischief. “Would you like to learn to swim, little star?”

I tugged against the hands holding me, but I couldn’t budge them. Even when I shifted slightly, they didn’t let go. “Gabriel!” I shouted, having no idea if he was near enough to hear me. “Mistral!”

No answer. But they had to be looking for me. They wouldn’t just leave me out here alone. Every time I was in the Bogs, Gabriel always found me.

The goblin woman in front of me darted her hand toward my face, then knotted her fingers in my hair near my scalp. She wrenched my head painfully to one side. “Let’s see if stars can breathe underwater. Maybe before she dies, she’ll sparkle for us.”

The other two women laughed somewhere behind me.

I pulled against the grip on my hair, but she was just as strong as the one holding me around the tree. “What did I ever do to you!” I gasped at the stabbing pain in my head.

The one behind the tree released me, then the one holding my hair yanked me hard enough that I lost my footing. She started dragging me across the ground toward the water. “Little star shined too brightly.”

I gripped her slick hand around my hair, trying to right myself. “Gabriel!” He had to be coming. He always found me.

Water splashed around me as the woman dragged me into the stream. It was ice cold, stealing my breath. She tugged me across the surface, then plunged me downward, putting my head under. I thrashed against her, unable to feel the pain in my scalp with the ice cold water making my skin go numb. My final breath whooshed out of me in the stream of bubbles, the grip on my hair unrelenting.

Panic struck straight to my heart. No one was coming to save me, and curse it all, I was not going to die like this. I had managed to travel to Sebastian just by thinking of him, and I could do it again. I didn’t need someone else to call outmy magic. Just as I was about to black out, I pictured Gabriel standing over me. He was far too tall and bossy, but he would protect me. I knew he would.

Lights sparkled around me, stars underwater. The woman yanked on my head, tugging me deeper, then suddenly her hand was gone. The stream and icy cold were gone too.

I landed hard on dry ground, coughing up water.

“Eva!”

I felt hands on me.Bighands. Gabriel gripped my shoulders, helping me sit upright. I tried to look at him, but water streamed from my hair into my eyes.

He pushed it out of my face so I could see him. He knelt before me, his horse a few paces behind him. “Gods, Eva, you can’t just go disappearing like that.”

“It’s not like I did it on—” I started choking, coughing up more stream water.

He held onto me until my choking fit was over, but now I was trembling. It wasn’t a warm night, and my clothes were soaking wet.

Before I could say another word, Gabriel lifted me into his arms.

“The village?” I managed to ask as he carried me toward his horse.

“Under control. Everyone is safe, for now.”

I huddled against him for warmth, pushing my wet hair out of my face again. “It’s too much for Mistral to manage. He can’t keep it up.” I didn’t understand everything, but I knew that much. My teeth started chattering and I buried my cheek against his chest.

Reaching his horse, he looked down at me. “I know. And he knows it too.”

“Sebastian told me about their bargain,” I chattered. “I know that Mistral took control of the land once his mother died.” AndI was starting to suspect something else. Something terrible. “It killed her, didn’t it?”

He met my waiting gaze. “Many of the creatures here cannot survive without the Bogs.”

“Is it worth Mistral dying over?”

“He seems to think so.” He lifted me onto the horse, then boosted himself up behind me.

“Well he’s wrong,” I muttered.

His arms wrapped around me, pulling me close. “At least we finally agree on something.”