Page 60 of Heart of Mischief

“It was homecoming,” he filled in. “Right?”

“No,” she said quickly. “There was definitely…”

Elias waited, one foot tapping infuriatingly.

“Okay, fine,” she snapped. “It was homecoming. But that was only three weeks ago!”

“Only three weeks, she says.” He tutted, shaking his head. “Not to mention that homecoming barely counts. You didn’t even make it to the after-party.”

Charlie shoved him lightly. “And whose fault was that?”

Grinning, he caught her wrist, holding it in his warm grasp. Charlie inhaled. His touch sent sparks dancing down her arm.

“Okay. Guilty as charged,” he said. His smile faded, and he tilted his head. “Well, if your obvious lack of fun isn’t plaguing you, what is?”

Charlie’s chest felt tight. The feel of Elias’s skin on hers and the intensity with which he was studying her was making it hard to breathe. “What do you mean,plaguing me?”

“Oh, come on. You’ve been moping around this parking lot the last fifteen minutes, barely paying attention to what you’re doing.” Smirking, he released her wrist, and she could barely hold in her exhale. “Even Henry is feeling your bad mood.”

She looked down at her vätte, eyes wide. “Is that true?”

Henry nodded solemnly.

Charlie groaned. “Fine. I’ll cheer up.”

“I’m not asking you to cheer up, Charlotte. I’m asking you to tell me what’s on your mind.”

She blinked, startled. That didn’t sound like something Elias would say. That sounded like something someone who genuinely cared about her would say.

He must have had the same realization. “I didn’t mean it likethat,” he said quickly. “I just meant…” Scratching the back of his head, he sighed. “It… bothers me. When I can’t tell what you’re thinking.”

“Itbothersyou?”

“Yes,” he said impatiently. “Now, can you please just answer the godsdamned question?”

Charlie hesitated, weighing her answer. She could tell him the truth. Could tell him exactly how much it unnerved her when she jumped right to his defense, shoving him out of Mason’s reach evenwhen she knew her brother’s fist would barely have made a dent in Elias’s inhumanly resilient being.

Or… she could give him half the truth. Could share something that reallywasweighing on her mind, even if she hadn’t been thinking about it then.

“It’s… Mason.” She sighed. “You were right this morning. Thereisa lot of tension between us right now. And in a way, I’m afraid. But notofhim. I’m afraid that… after everything that’s happened… after I didn’t tell him about Sophie still being alive…”

“You’re afraid that he’ll never forgive you,” he filled in.

Charlie nodded, pressing her lips together.

If she hadn’t known better, she would haveswornthat she saw Elias’s eyes soften. As if he knew exactly what she meant. But that couldn’t be right—whose forgiveness could he possibly be waiting for?

“Look,” he said, giving her a half smile. “I may not know much about human emotion anymore, but I know this: Mason is going to forgive you. He probably already has but is too stubborn to admit it.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I know what it’s like to be an older brother,” he said, eyeing her meaningfully. “And an older brother would do anything for his little sister. Even when she annoys the Hel out of him most of the time.”

Olive. He was talking about Olive, the little sister he gave up his humanity for.

A lump formed in Charlie’s throat. Her eyes stung, and she was suddenly terrified that she was about to cry in front of Elias.

She cleared her throat, looking away. Her eyes landed on the equipment shed. Its front door was postered with twice as many flyers as it had been the week before. There were the old ones—theMISSINGflyers for Robbie, Maisie, and the Peterson twins. But several new posters had appeared in the last two days. Some advertised the town-wide memorial being held for the Morris and Fieldschildren this coming Saturday. Some bore lists of safety tips that the school had already repeated on multiple occasions, like never accepting rides from strangers. And some were bright orange papers with stark black letters that said,NEW TOWN-WIDE CURFEW: 9:30 PM.