“Nobody spat in the berries, if that’s what you’re asking.”He finished buckling the cuff and laid his hands flat on the table, regarding her with that strange, distant look.“I left the yogurt unopened so you’d know it isn’t tainted.Neither is the water, but I can get you sealed bottles if you want.”
“I want to go home.”Her chin jutted out, what Gramma Poe would have calledsullingup.As in,don’t you sull up, little girl, I don’t hold with that.
God, if she could just channel her redoubtable grandmother long enough, she might get out of this in one piece.
“You are home.”Patient and even, as if talking to a tantrum-prone child.“We’re protecting you.”
“Bullshit.”She gripped the edge of the table, her fingers bloodless, aching.
“How do I know about your dreams, Livvie?Answer me that.”
That was the problem.She’d gone for a psych degree to try and figure out if she was crazy, or just… imaginative, like Gramma sometimes said.
Liv fixed the dark-haired man with her mother’s patented Hairdresser Glare, the one that warned clients, overbearing attorneys, or prospective boyfriends they had Gone Too Far.“You don’t know fuck-all about my dreams,” she lied.“Fuck you, fuck your breakfast, and fuck your funky-ass tattoo.”
She pushed her chair back, rose with as much dignity as she could muster, and stalked for the bathroom.She didn’t try running for the open hall door again.
Maybe that was why he left, closing and locking it with a sound like a tiny bone snapping.
Dangerously Smart
“How did breakfast go?”Jake’s grin suggested he suspected, but youngers had to pester.It was in their nature.“You milady’s favorite yet?”
“I’m supposed to betray her to the Flame.”Erik folded his arms, his back to the wall.Theliraimdoor to his left almost glowed with the force of its trapped inhabitant, or maybe it just seemed so because he was exquisitely conscious of every small sound brushing the protective muffling from her side.“What do you think?”
“Can’t betray what doesn’t trust you.”Little brother sobered quickly, at least, and shoved a hand back through his bright hair.“Father says it’s time to teach her caution.”
“Great.”Erik sighed.“I told her as much as I could.Don’t think she believed me.”
“But she’s a Dreamer.”Jake had apparently forgotten everyliraistarted out unconscious of the night’s underside.“It’s all over her.”
“She’s also a traumatized civilian.”One who was holding up under the strain of what she considered a kidnapping for unknown purposes pretty damn well, in fact.“She doesn’t remember the shadowbeast.Probably never even saw it.”
“Well, it certainly saw her.Wouldn’t kill the girl to show a little gratitude.”Jake tipped his head from side to side.He rolled his right shoulder, too, testing range-of-motion.“So, you wanna break her out, or should I?”
“She’s gonna hate me anyway,” Erik said, and to his relief, he didn’t sound hopeless, just flat and informative.“You go ahead.”
“Spread the bad luck around, huh?”
Erik suppressed a frown.“You never know, she just might think you’re a hero.”
“Ain’t I just.”Jake turned to the baffle over theliraimdoor.“Wanna sprawl out?”
Yeah.Guess so.Erik folded himself down into a puddle on the floor, limbs loose and head turned as if he’d been hit from behind.The invisible baffle folded aside, the mark on his wrist burning as he pulled at sorcery, and he shut his eyes, letting his mouth fall slack.
Jake wasn’t making any particular attempt to be silent, but he was still much quieter than most mortals.Enough to surprise her, at least—he heard a muffled cry, a clanging, and a crash.Sounded like she’d thrown a bedside lamp at him.
Erik had to banish a smile.Oh, she waslirai, which meant she was far above such things as a Son’s personal feelings, and she had so much potential it about popped your eyes out of their sockets to stand near her and feel the pressure wave.But still, helikedher.
He hadn’t expected that.He hadn’t expected any of this, just a long slow slide into madness.He hadn’t seen a potential, let alone alirai, in years.
Not since his own excruciating, terrifying brush with the Flame.The touch of that fire gave a Son enough strength to stave off the worst of the Mad God’s whispering inside his skull, but it took a Dreamer’s presence to keep the noise fully contained.Best of all was being chosen as a seal, of course.
Erik had long ago made his peace with the fact that anyliraiwould have far better options than his own brick-dumb self.It didn’t even sting anymore.
Not much, at least.
Jake’s job didn’t take very long; maybe she didn’t need much convincing.“—to the front gate,” Erik’s little brother said, softly.“Then you’re on your own.”Was he holding her the way Erik had?
