Page 46 of The Girl in the Forest

“But you don’t believe the story.” I was careful—where I put my feet—because Julien Visant had deposited me on the rim of a sheer ridge. One slip, and I’d fall a thousand feet to the valley below.

“It’s a wise child who publicly believes what his sire tells him.”

“What does daggering even mean?” My foot skidded over a loose pebble and my pulse jerked.

Julien’s hand was already on my arm, steadying me. “It means punishment. I’ll be pinned to the wall with a dagger only she can remove—or any other vampire with enough power to do it.”

I chewed on my inner lip. “I’d hate it if you were daggered just for talking to me.”

“I won’t be, my lady. I’m very good with secrets.”

We picked our way through loose shale until reaching solid ground, and as Julien walked ahead, I studied his leanly muscled back, wondering what century he’d lived in before his sire found him. Enticed him into immortality.

Julien seemed no older than Grayson, yet his courtly attitude was not of this century. He hadn’t lost his chivalrous streak along with his human existence, and strangely, we were alike. Each of us experienced a human life, then left it behind—although he’d been all human while I’d been not-human.

Carefully, I said, “Vampires can’t hear someone’s thoughts—or can they?”

I didn’t want him exposing secrets, but perhaps what I asked was common knowledge, and he’d be friendly enough to answer.

“Eavesdropping is a wolf trait, my lady,” he said. “Vampires prefer to mesmerize. Tease their toys into revealing the dirty desires before they play.” Julien smirked, then heaved a pretend sigh. “If only you had a wolf…”

I grinned. “You’d be scared of me.”

“Julien,” Grayson interrupted our banter, “thank you for bringing her.”

“Wolf, it was my pleasure.” Julien made his theatrical bow again, posturing for my sake—although the respect made me pause, seeing Grayson the way Julien did, not as my annoying nemesis, but as someone deserving the title of Wolf.

Despite that, irritation chafed. I’d made no secret of my fear of heights and decided the ridge was deliberate. Once Julien disappeared, I said, “We couldn’t meet on the flat somewhere?”

“The passage we need opens on this ridge.” Grayson turned away. “We’ll be an hour in the dark.”

That was all he had to say? An hour in the dark? After disappearing for more than a week without an explanation because he couldn’t get his way?

I glared at his rigid back. He disappeared through the magic, expecting me to follow, and I stepped into a tunnel that felt old and seldom used—dimly lit, freezing cold. At least it wasn’t wet. But a strained silence fell between us, and with every step, the length of Grayson’s stride increased until I was yards behind. If I wanted to talk, I’d be talking to his back, and I’d have to shout.

So, I decided not to talk at all.

I’d let him sulk because I refused to coax him into civility. We’d fought hard enough to get this far. Argued bitterly, said words not easily forgotten. I didn’t want him as my enemy, but I didn’t see how we could be friends when he made me doubt myself.

The argument was simple enough. We needed to read the book—a book protected by blood magic.

The Gemini Witches understood blood magic.

But they only answered one question per person, so if we needed two answers, the logical solution was sending two people.

Reasonable, right?

The goal ought to be what mattered, not pride. But if he chose to be unreasonable, I chose to be aloof. I wasn’t responsible for his feelings.

Brave words that kept me stomping behind Grayson until he turned to look at me.

“The path grows steeper,” he warned—the first words he’d said in more than half an hour. “The air is saturated with magic.”

Loosened pebbles slipped beneath my feet. “I’m used to magic. Aine’s world was nothing but illusion.”

“You’ve never encountered illusion like this.”

I shrugged against the cold—in the air and his voice. “Fallon warned me.”

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