“You’re going to be okay, Elijah. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
An ache spread across his chest. “Hey, that’s my line.”
14
“You know,if you turned me into a vampire, you wouldn’t be freaking out so much right now because I’d be strong enough to take care of myself,” Odette spoke up from the back seat of the stolen vehicle.
Echo had half expected Elijah to put up a fuss again about the theft, but he seemed to have let go of his scruples in the face of their dire situation. Odette’s words distracted her from her thoughts on their conversation in the cargo hold. Not just about him not being whom she prejudged him to be, but about his jealousy. And what that meant.
How that made her feel.
How it complicated things when complication was the last thing they needed.
Echo turned around to look in the back seat at her little sister. Odette had been in a state of numb shock when she roused her to sneak off the plane. They’d landed at the Montpellier International Airport just after sunset and then stole an SUV from the long-term parking lot. Elijah had fried the security cameras before the theft. His powers truly did come in extremely handy.
Odette had remained quiet as Elijah drove them around the outskirts of the city and onto a freeway.
They were all silent and tired, the only sound in the car the rushing of the road beneath it, the traffic outside, and the French GPS that Elijah turned to English with a wave of his hand and a crackle of energy. He’d explained to them that his doomsday property was deep in the heart of Lozère, a rural region of the country. They’d drive two and a half hours north and then they’d have to walk half an hour through thick forest to get to the cabin.
Echo, despite her tiredness, couldn’t sleep at night for obvious reasons.
“I’m not turning you into a vampire. Ever. Certainly not when you’re only twelve.”
Odette stuck out her chin stubbornly. “I’ll find someone else to, then.”
“Really?” Impatience crackled in her voice. “So you’re going to live all of eternity in a twelve-year-old’s body? When your mind and heart mature and you want adult things, you won’t be able to have them because you’re in a child’s body. You’ll go insane. Remind me to let you watchInterview with the Vampire.”
Her sister, despite her youth and immaturity, was smart. She processed Echo’s wise words quickly and agreed. “Fine. You’re right about that. But Daddy promised he’d turn me when I was eighteen.”
“He isn’t your father.” Emotion clogged her throat. “Odette … you don’t know what he’s done.”
“Then tell me. I’m not a little kid. Orla was being super nasty to me, and Roark was all kinds of creepy. I can’t believe Daddy would let them treat me like that.”
“He did. He had them take you to get to me.”
“And you killed them. Why? Why did Daddy make them take me?”
Sighing, Echo turned back around, her fingernails biting into her palms. How did she explain this to her kid sister who was so much more of a little girl than Echo had ever been?
“Tell her,” Elijah prompted. “She deserves to know the truth. Even if it hurts.”
“Yeah, tell me. Tell me why the lead singer of the Strix is driving us to a safe house in France.”
The corner of her lip curled at her sister’s dry tone, but the smile fell away as reality set in. With a pit in her stomach, Echo unclipped her seat belt and started to clamber between the seats to get into the back.
“What are you doing?” Elijah asked, reaching for her.
“I need to be next to her when I tell her.” Echo grunted, trying to squeeze through the narrow space.
Then she stiffened when she felt a strong hand on her ass.
Elijah cleared his throat. “I was trying to help you.”
“Or copping a feel,” she replied sarcastically.
“Can’t it be both?” he teased.
Echo held back an unexpected snort of amusement. The fae had a natural way of easing the tension. She wasn’t exactly Little Miss Sunshine, so it was a big thing that he could make her smile.
