Page 54 of Heart of Mischief

Something in his tone sounded off. False. But she let it slide, because she wanted to know the answer more than she wanted to push him on his emotions.

“Right,” he said, bending over to dunk his rag in soapy water. “Well. Remember what I told you about my family being killed?”

The way he said it—so lightly, so casually, as if he were asking whether she remembered what she ate for lunch, not about the murder of his entire family—was disturbing. Still, her heart couldn’t help but twist. Even if he felt nothing of his grief now, it must have once been enough to drown in.

“Of course I remember,” she said finally, dropping her rag into the bucket and sending a little wave splashing over Henry’s relaxed form. He shook out his beard but didn’t complain otherwise.

“Welllll…” said Elias, drawing out the word like a child who was about to admit to breaking a priceless family heirloom, “I sort of… lied.”

Charlie’s head whipped up from the bucket. Fury flared through her. “Youwhat?”

“Notlied,” he said quickly, wringing out his rag. “My parentsweremurdered. That much is true. And my sister—I lost her, too. But she wasn’t killed. Or, at least, the police never found her body.”

“Oh.” Charlie blinked, slopping her rag onto the car’s bumper and making circles while taking in this new information. “Why didn’t you just tell me that?”

“It’s simpler to lump two different horrible tragedies into one?”

“I don’t buy it.”

He shrugged. “That’s fine. I have nothing for sale.”

Exasperated, Charlie dunked her rag in the bucket again, sending yet another wave over Henry. He squawked in protest.

“You need to get out of there, anyway,” she said. “That water is going to be filthy in a second.”

Henry pouted.

She chuckled, shaking her head. “You’re so nasty. I’m not giving you a second bath tonight, so you better get out while you can.”

Grumbling unintelligibly, Henry pushed himself up over the rim of the bucket and splashed down onto the pavement. He shook himself, sending flecks of water flying. Then he scampered away, probably in search of a dry rag to steal and use as a towel. Charlie smiled as she watched him go.

“Your bond really is remarkable,” Elias said, drawing Charlie’s attention back to him. He too was staring after Henry, watching as the vätte snuck up on the clear plastic box of rags under the welcome desk. Abigail was manning the desk, which meant that even Henry would have a hard time getting in and out of the box unnoticed. “I learned all about the human-vätte tether from Loki but had never witnessed it in action until that night in the cave.”

“Right,” Charlie said, moving her rag to the car’s side windows. “Just after you stabbed him.”

Elias held up his hands, suds dripping down his forearms. “At least I wasn’t the one shooting people that night. That was all Lou.”

Fury flared in her chest. “Are youjoking?” She thrust her rag back into the bucket, whirling to face him over the hood of the car. “Lou wasn’t evenconsciousin that cave. The fact that you can even say something like that just shows how completely psychotic you are, and—”

“Yes, Charlotte,” he interrupted, eyes sparkling with amusement. “I am, in fact, joking.”

“Oh.” She cleared her throat. “Right. Well. It wasn’t a funny joke.”

“Oh, come on.” Sweeping big circles over the hood of the car with his rag, Elias gave her a lopsided grin. “It was funny.I’mfunny. In fact, I’m probably the funniest person to ever set foot in this town.”

“Stop trying to distract me. Tell me what you asked Loki for. Tell me what was so important that you gave up your human life to live as a monster.”

“I’m getting there, I’m getting there,” he said, flapping a hand. “So, the murders—like I said, the police never found Olive’s body. Social services put me in a foster home, but I ran the first chance I got. And I started to search.”

“For Olive? You thought she was still alive?”

“I did.”

“Oh.”

And all at once, she understood.

“Oh.Oh. That’s what you asked Loki for in return for you becoming a mare. To help you find your sister.”