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“Which is where I come in.It says King Lenneck buried your dad in the deepest goblin mine.”
“My father deserved to be erased from history.”She squared her shoulders, refusing to flinch under his gaze.
“Do you truly think you can go home for a quick visit?Your uncle is king, and he’ll want you to stay.As his niece, if not as crown princess.”
“His queen might not.Politics and power plays rule the goblin court.”She kept her voice level, not giving in to the instinct to slip skins back to her supermodel form.“Have you finished inspecting me yet?”
“I haven’t run from the room screaming.”
“Bully for you.”
He laughed, not the mean, judgmental kind.The rich, sexy baritone kind that had her wondering what they could’ve been if things had been different.He still walked with a limp, but the charms strapped to his wrist pushed a witchy version of medicine more powerful than any IV through his veins.He’d lost some of the hollowness in his face, making those chiseled cheekbones and carved jaw look hot instead of haggard.
Flipping through the end of the book, he shook his head.“No other details.Not for now, at least.Can we take the book with us?”It snapped closed and rushed to Vori’s side.
“I think it votes yes.Obviously it’s not scared of my goblin form.”
Perry lifted his chin.“I won’t be either.You’re still you—just green with bigger biceps than most men.”
“Thanks?”She let the last part go.“You’re an accomplished liar.You could be secretly horrified.”
“Nope.”
“Wow.Score a point for you.Can I change back now?”
“Sure.”He turned, waiting for her to slip skins and get dressed again.“The book?Think its magic will work in Kradnovtl?”
“It should.I mean if your witch magic can travel as part of you, it’d make sense the book can do the same.”She tugged her hair out of her collar.“We should probably keep your powers on the down low while we’re there.No need giving them more fuel for pushing the queen prophecy.”
“Fine by me.So goblins really don’t have magic except for cursed stones?”
“Nope.”She wouldn’t mention her shadow powers.Not now.Besides, shadow-walking had been a fae gift, not a goblin ability.
“And that first time you took on my magic, you didn’t know what would happen?”
“Not exactly.”Or at all.
“My powers have been burning me alive from the inside out.I could’ve shocked you, hurt you, killed you.”His tone sharpened with each possibility.
“But you didn’t.My gamble paid off, and I didn’t hear you complaining about the benefits.”
“It’s amazing.A rush better than a dozen healing charms.”He shook his head.“But spontaneity won’t get us through everything.”
“Neither will overthinking things.”
“Let’s go over the plan to catch the killer again.”
“This isn’t a court case.She won’t play by any rules of procedure.There’s something else, something I haven’t told my cousins.Baba Yaga told me she’s closing the goblin glass for good at the end of my trip.If I don’t get back to the human realm in time, I’m stuck on the other side.”
“When were you going to tell me?”
His words and the suspicion in them stung.“I wasn’t.But now, when you’re not being awful…I can’t let you make the trip without knowing.We can find another way to protect you and your dad.”She’d already made arrangements to keep him safe in case he changed his mind.Or worse, if she didn’t make it back.“The glass will stay open on this side for a few hours to anyone of royal blood.But it’ll close on the other end.We’ll be stuck in Kradnovtl for five days before it opens again.Now you know.Your call.”
His powers flared, and the book bristled in a rush of flipping pages.“I’m still going.What’s our plan step-by-step?The backup plan?The backup to that backup plan?I need to know every possible outcome.”
They went through the details so many times that she could recite them in her sleep.Each version of “follow the killer until they could grab the amethysts” drummed through her mind when her cousins pulled out of the parking lot, leaving her with Perry on a trail below the Hollywood Sign.
“Ready?”he asked.
