Page 36 of The Hopeless Romantic’s Guide to Enchantment

A deep sigh. “You are looking for my cousin. As am I. Your name is Marielle, yes?”

Now I’m the one who startles.

His chuckle is low and strained. “I know who you are, and I know you are hunting my cousin.”

“And so you seek to stop me?” I dig the blade tip in.

“I seek to stop her. We chase the same killer.” A wry smile. “You’re better at it, so I have been following you. You came out of that house quicker than I expected, which made me think my cousin had not taken a victim there. Given your speed, I also did not have time to transform. Then I thought, perhaps, we might go for a drink and I could see whether you are someone I could work with.”

“Work with?”

“To stop my cousin.”

I shift my weight. “Because you are here to stop your cousin.”

“That is what I said.”

I lean closer, blade tip drawing blood. “I know how rare your type is. If you had a cousin, which I doubt, you are not going to kill her.”

Grief shadows those blue eyes. “I would prefer not to, but I will see her stopped, one way or another. When I say she is my cousin, I mean only that we are distantly related.”

“So you did not kill the young woman in that house. It was another doppelgänger.”

“As I said.”

“Then why is there blood on your boot?”

He frowns downwards at the red droplets across the toe. “It must be pig’s blood. I was in the market, looking for my cousin—”

“The market closed hours ago.”

“Then I got the blood on there hours ago.” Frustration laces his voice. “I am not the killer you seek. Do you understand what she is doing? The deep magic she’s attempting?”

“To compile a body for a witch, whose magic will make it whole and allow the doppelgänger to take permanent form.”

“Good. You understand. Why would I want the form of a young woman? I’m male. I like being male. If I were to attempt the magic – and I don’t see the point in it – I would be killing young men.” His chin rises, as if he’s made an indisputable point.

“Can you shift into the form of a woman?”

“Of course, but only when I need to. I like being what I am.”

“But if you can shift into the form of a woman, then you could be a female doppelgänger currently in the form of a young man. You’re spinning stories as fast as you’re able, and this could be another one. Telling me you’re not the killer. That the killer is your cousin. That you’ve been following me so you can kill her. Flip that around, and you are the female doppelgänger. You are the killer.”

“But I’m not.”

“Prove it.”

His head tilts one way and then the other as he studies my expression. “How do you propose I do that?”

“I don’t know, as I am not a doppelgänger.”

“What if I told you that you are seeing my natural shape, which is male?”

“Then I would know you are lying. Doppelgängers do not have a natural shape.”

“We do. It is just… not exactly this. If you promise not to startle and stab me, I will show you, though I would appreciate it if you moved that blade from my throat, as I would not like to accidentally stab myself shifting.”

“Oh, of course I’ll take the blade from your throat. Should I step a few feet away as well? Maybe turn my back to give you privacy?”