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ChapterTen
Perry ducked to follow Vori into the cave.His supermodel princess stalked through the creepy opening as though this was all some elaborate fashion show.Did the woman not know fear?They needed to cross realms, stop a killer, and make it back here without getting offed along the way.
“So this sex dungeon you went to?”Of all the questions he could ask, that one had been screaming through his mind.Why she’d gone.If she went often.If she’d like to take him once they’d survived Kradnovtl.Maybe one without her redheaded friend who hated him—Petra.
“I went there to take the amethyst from your ex-client.The killer got to him first.”
“Bummer.”On so many levels.“You and Petra?You two friends?”
“No.I only met her the one time I was there.She doesn’t like you.”
“Most people don’t.”He ran his hand along the cave’s wall that got rougher the deeper they went.They rounded a corner.Purple jewels sparkled in the haloed light that glowed from within.“What is that?”
“The goblin glass.”
“I thought it’d be a mirror.”His voice echoed in the claustrophobic space, bouncing off the tight walls to surround them.
Vori chuckled a soft snort, tense with nerves.“A mirror?In a cave?Hate to disappoint you, but this isn’t a fairy tale.”
“You called it glass, so excuse me for taking you at your word.”One of the sharp edges caught against his arm, scratching his skin but not breaking it.
“You’re thinking more of the fae method of travel.We goblins prefer the rare.”
“Amethysts.”The color of her eyes.“There must be thousands.”Gravel crunched beneath his feet.The bustling sounds of the city were quiet here.No helicopters thumping or sirens screaming or horns blaring.It smelled of earth and dampness, not of the normal Los Angeles mixtures of exhaust, restaurant aromas, and burned marijuana.“How isthishere in the city?”
She seemed to look past him to whatever lay beyond those glittering rocks.“It’s not.Not really.Baba Yaga transported an entire cave here for a few days.She’s that powerful.”
If her words hadn’t told him she was afraid despite her charge-into-the-void body language, the slight tremor in her voice did.Vori had faced a Senate prison, their kill squad, and meeting his father without flinching.Legend made Baba Yaga out to be the most hateful of hags.Scary enough to terrify Vori.
He needed to distract her.“Tell me three things you miss about your home realm.Not people.Not politics.Not what-ifs.Give us something to look forward to.”
She huffed a breath.“You’ll think it’s dumb.”
“Any dumber than the impossible ‘wait for a killer’ trap we’re about to attempt?Not a chance.Tell me.”
“There are woods outside the castle.Lush and tall and green all year round in Kradnovtl.I played for hours there.”
“What else?”
“The cook would make extra lemon tarts for me.My favorite.”
Like the lemon candies she sucked on.He’d sneaked a few in his bag in case she’d forgotten her stash.“That’s two things.One more.”Her face had softened with each memory, helping him to push down his own rush of nerves.
“The castle.It changes its lighting, its shape, its structure based on who is inside.As crazy as it sounds, it took care of me.”Sadness swallowed her momentary joy.“Until the end.”
Right.All her memories of home would be tangled in her mother and the murder.As hard as this was for him to imagine, it had to be a nightmare for her.“We get the stones.We stop the killer.”If he said it enough times, he might believe they could do it.“We hurry back before Baba Yaga shuts the glass forever.No problem.”
“What do you get out of this again?”she whispered.
“Freedom from being hunted for my crimes, and time with a woman who can stop the powers that were devouring me from within?”
“There is that.”The hesitant gaze she sent him might have been a trick of the shadows and shimmers, but it held him, pinned him with its rawness.
Something in his chest tightened beyond healthy fear of the unknown.She’d talked about returning to the human realm, about things going back to normal.But what would his normal be without her?
Maybe he’d been half in love with the memories he’d replayed from the night they met plus what he’d seen projected through her brand—the supermodel, the star, the fashion icon.Now, in the short time since she’d rescued him, he’d become far too attached for their soon-to-end arrangement.
She glanced up at him.“I can’t thank you enough for this.”
