“I know seeing Mal and Ines together hurt, and I’m all about revenge dating, but how about you put yourself out there and find someone you actually click with?”
“Hey, you were all for Fi’s matchmaking.”
“I know, but after last night, after seeing how Cillian looks at you, I guess I’m a little worried.” She grips her lower lip with her teeth. “He’s really sweet, and you’re…”
“A bitch?” I supply.
“I was going to say,you’re in love with someone else.” The corners of her mouth twitch with a smile that wanes fast. “Look, I trust you know what you’re doing, but Cillian’sreallyinto you. Like,burn-the-world-downinto you. LikeTarian-intensityinto you. If you’re not attracted to him even a little bit, then maybe don’t start anything.”
I don’t have the slightest clue what I started, mainly because I can’t remember how the night ended.
“But whatever you decide, Elle, I’ve got your back.”
I swallow. Who needs a man in their life when they’ve got someone like Calanthe?
“Are you about to weep?” Her smile is back with a vengeance.
I lift my duvet-cloaked feet and shove her off the bed. “Bad bitches don’t weep. Now, go tear up the dancefloor with Boogeyman.”
“BoogieBoo.” She stands. “And I’m not leaving without you.”
“Then get comfortable, because there’s no way I’m going out there to dance.”
“Fine.” I think she’s about to flop down beside me and sit out the Zumba lesson, until she says, “Don’t dance, but at least come watch me make a fool of myself.”
“Now,thatI can do.” Not to mention that I need a word with Cillian to learn what I might’ve said to him last night.
I pray to Gaea I didn’t take him up on his deal.
Chapter 6
Cillian
We’re into the fourth song when Electra finally emerges from the hallway that connects the loft’s bedrooms to the open space living area.
The only reason I know where the hallway leads is because I once escorted Mrs. Murphy to her bed after she sprained her ankle during one of her first dance lessons. I quickly realized her ankle was fine, and that the old lady was looking for a different sort of care. One I wasn’t willing to give.
To avoid ruining my carefully hatched plan of easing myself into the Atlanteans’ world, I’d let her down kindly by telling her that I was seeing someone, but that I was flattered. Both lies. The attention of someone close to the Atlanteans didn’t flatter me; it disgusted me.
“Joining us?” I ask Electra as I lead Fiona, Lisa, and Calanthe in a grapevine sequence to the sound of a Latin tune.
“Nope.” She heads straight for the coffee machine and pours herself a mug.
Note to self: she doesn’t hate coffee.
Since Electra has bound her black hair into a ponytail, her runes are on full display. To think that most of the world believes them made of ink. When she turns, our eyes meet. I hold herstare, since nothing is shadier than averting one’s attention when caught.
She perches on one of the tan suede counter stools and watches, assessing me with those penetrating eyes of hers, tracking my footwork and the way I cue.
Her scrutiny feels uncomfortably intense, surgical almost. I reassure myself that, although she has the power to move things without touching them—like the rest of her kind—she doesn’t have the power to lift thoughts.
Tarian apparently does, though. He can do a great many things that others cannot. Save for Calanthe. From what I was told during my refresher course on all things Atlantean, the fabled mine gave Tarian’s fiancée more runes, and therefore more power than the others. I’m just not sure what they are.
“Come join us, Elle!” Lisa attempts to coax Electra off her seat, but the girl is as stubborn as Cash, the rescue Pitbull Mom gave me after Dad died.
God, how I loved that mutt. So loyal. So smart. Such a fighter. Even after Trenton ran him over with his truck, Cash had clung to life. The memory of his trembling, broken body makes my fingers itch with the need to sink a bullet inside my stepbrother’s skull.
Soon, the asshole would die. Soon, my best friend would be able to get her true revenge and rid the world of my evil stepbrother.
