The forest hushed around us, leaves stilled, time thickened, and all I could do was stare, unsure of how to answer. “I don’t have any gales on me.”
“Of all the things I was thinking of for payment, gales weren’t even on the list.”
I shoved his shoulder. He stepped back but trapped my hand under his. I stumbled forward as he moved, falling into him. I threw my other hand up to brace myself, and he caught me with his arms.
I froze, suddenly so close to him. Too close. The smell of leather and dirt surrounded us, but also something else, something unique to Ace. He looked down at me in his arms and mischief flashed in his gaze. The quirk in his lips disappeared, his expression growing serious. My breath caught in my lungs, and I licked my lips. My whole body vibrated with the urge to rise on my toes and trap those plump lips with my own.
Ace knew I was a phaanon and he hadn’t tried to kill me. He’d known this whole time and he’d protected me. He’d waited for me to tell him and in the end, it was the magic of Phaantasia that confirmed the truth, not me.
But Ace didn’t appear angry. Instead…
Ace’s gaze dropped to my mouth, and he leaned down. No. We couldn’t make out on the proverbial doorstep of my magical ancestors, especially not when Ace wasn’t being fully truthful with me.
“No.” I backed up, pushing off his hard chest.
He dropped his arms and let me go, while I gaped at him from a safer distance. His smirk returned and something dark flashed in his gaze. He’d seen my desire, and he wouldn’t forget it.
“I never took you for a coward,” he said, his deep voice rumbling.
“You won’t tell me what you are.” I lifted my chin. “Yet, I’ve followed you into the land of phaanon to speak with a stranger, whose identity you won’t reveal for a payment you can’t name. I'm not sure if this is bravery so much as sheer stupidity, but it sure as shit isn’t cowardice.”
He dropped his head back to let out a bark of a laugh. His grin said more than his words, and he obviously found this entire situation hilarious. “Come on, Mouse,” he said. “Time to face your fears.”
8
I stood in front of the old log cabin nestled in a copse of evergreen trees. This wasn’t a cute log cabin radiating sunshine and happiness, twinkling under the dappling sunshine with fairies flittering around. No, not this cabin. The shadows of the trees played with the craggy, cracked exterior of the weather worn logs. Two small windows had been darkened by smoke stains, patches of moss and a dark green film, which was probably a mould of some sort. A soot-marred stone chimney jutted from the moss-covered roof, releasing plumes of smoke. Vines crept along the sides of the cabin as if trying to reclaim the building for the forest.
I turned to Ace and lifted an eyebrow.
He winced.
“This looks like the home of a wicked witch,” I said. “Like the ones I used to read about in books.”
Ace sighed, his shoulders dropping. He glanced up at the clouds forming overhead as if galeon intervention would swoop in and save him.
It wouldn’t.
“You need to be careful about what you say from now on,” he whispered. “There are many types of phaanon, Mouse. Not just the immortal kind, what the phaanons used to call High Phaan, but others as well.”
“Vampires, shifters and witches?” I said. I had heard the gruesome bedtime stories, but they had always been just that, stories. Tall tales meant to scare young children into behaving for their parents.
He nodded.
“Whose doorstep did you bring me to?” I asked.
“This is Hecate’s home,” he said. “I can only speak her name when I’m at her doorstep. I couldn’t tell you earlier.”
“Hecate?”
“Yes,” he hissed.
“As in the goddess of witches?” I asked. “Did she lay a spell on you to bring unsuspecting, innocent women to her doorstep?”
“The spell only prevents me from revealing her existence to anyone who doesn’t already know,” he said. “And I think calling yourself innocent is stretching things a bit, don’t you think?”
I narrowed my eyes. Really? He felt the need to comment on my innocence at a time like this?
“Also, she’s not actually a god,” Ace continued.
