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“I have a bed not far from here with fancy sheets, excellent thread count.”
“Courtesy of me.”She lifted a hand.“Just because we’ll be fake married, don’t get any ideas.”
“Understood.But if we’re going to pretend, we might as well practice being in the same room.”
Again, he wasn’t wrong.Her alternatives would be Alexei’s house, which would invite an extended Q&A with her overprotective family, or driving downtown in LA traffic with no sleep to risk the paparazzi being staked outside her penthouse.“Don’t get any ideas, Sparky.If I’m closing my eyes, it’ll be without your can’t-stand-goblins self.”
“Well, then we can practice not speaking to each other while staying in the same building like most married couples.How about that?”
“Fine.Rest wouldn’t kill me.”Not like Baba Yaga might.Not like her return to the goblin world might.What if her father had somehow survived and still wanted her dead?What if the court hated her because she’d left?What if they chased her back through the glass before she could catch the killer and grab the amethysts?
He frowned.“You okay?If you’re going to vomit, aim the other way.”
Irritation put a quick stop to her spiraling worries.“Ugh, no.Stay here.Don’t touch anything other than the murder stuff, and don’t be an ass to the armed guards.”Walking into the hallway, she sent follow-up texts to her witch contacts and handed off her amethysts and a gold cuff to Alexei for setting.
Twenty minutes later, she lay in the big bed, surrounded by the smell of fabric softener and soap and Perry.He was right.Not that she would tell him.But the bed was comfortable, and she was exhausted.
Maybe her contacts would have answers.
Maybe she could catch their killer on the other side of the goblin glass.
Maybe she could finish her blood vows with Baba Yaga and return to her “normal” life.
The buzz of her phone woke her.
Diego confirmed the fall of most of the Senate, with the remaining witch senators and heirs scrambling to figure out their next move in light of a threat from a human organization.Her roommate texted the same.But the more interesting thread that tied their two responses?Both were dating or matched to elemental Legacy sisters.
The same sisters who had banished the demon leader of the Revelare.
The same sisters Perry had tried to kill.
The supernatural world was as small and interwoven as the celebrity one.She needed to tell her fake fiancé.But how?
She was still figuring that out when he knocked.Damn him for looking so good.
He held out one of the gold cuffs from Baba Yaga.“Your cousin said he set the stones for you.Mob boss, restaurant owner, goldsmith, jeweler—demon hybrid of all trades.”Perry smoothed a thumb over the empty setting.“I’ll find my dad and get you the amethyst I had.”
His gaze was warm, almost earnest.Nothing of the earlier suspicion.As though she hadn’t forced him into thistogetherpretense.No, he acted as if they were allies with the potential of friendship.
Maybe she could skip over telling him about the sisters, confessing that he might not need to run.That the Revelare and the Senate might both be gone.That he might be safe to stay here in Los Angeles without her promise of help, of an escape.It would be so much easier.But only on her.
She had to tell him.Now.Before he heard from someone else.“What news do you want first?The good, the bad, or the way worse?”
“Other than you’re a goblin princess and some crown jewels might kill us all if a murderer doesn’t get us first?”
“Other than that.”
“You pick.”
“Legacy heirs banished the Revelare’s leader, and the organization has broken down without her.The witch Senate spent the day tracking its dead, missing, and injured.The elemental sisters you tried to kill?They’re running the show.”
He ran a hand through his hair.“That’s a lot to process.”
“And all are reasons you could back out.The Senate won’t come after you if they’re so devastated.The Revelare is gone.You could be safe.”
“Other than a goblin killer.”
“One who is supposed to follow me to the goblin realm.”
