Page 48 of Vicious Little Vows
“So that you might tell him.”
I shook my head. Now Ireallywanted to see his face. “I don’t understand.”
I felt the air shift as he moved closer again, but when I flinched he must have sensed it, because he didn’t touch me. “Yesterday was my first time stepping foot in the Bogs. I did not realize how bad it had gotten. I could not let him fail so soon.”
“Because we need him.” I laughed, feeling bile at the back of my throat. “If we didn’t need him, you would have let himdie not knowing he had a way to fix things.” I felt unsteady on my feet. I knew Sebastian hadn’t created this contract with good intentions, but this—
I had wanted to think better of him.
“I wouldn’t have let him die. Not now.”
His hand touched my arm and I jerked back. “Don’t pretend you suddenly care if he lives or dies!”
“I do not care if he lives or dies, and I can guarantee he feels the same about me. Or perhaps he does care, but only as far as he wishes for my death.” He stepped close again, and this time when I backed away my shoulder blades pressed into solid stone. Sebastian’s breath was hot on my cheek. “But I promised to protect you. Letting him die would break that promise.”
A tear slipped down my cheek. I didn’t need this. Not now. “Because it would weaken me losing one point of the star?”
“No.” He stood before me, I could feel the warm line of his body, but there remained a hair’s breadth between us. “Simply because it would hurt you.”
My breath sighed out of me. Maybe he really did care, but I wasn’t stupid enough to believe it. He had manipulated us all far too much already. “When we get out of here, you’re going to tell him the truth. All of it.”
“And what will you do? Will you become his bride? Bind yourself to the Bogs to save him?”
Butterfly’s swarmed in my ribcage. My thoughts hadn’t gotten that far. If things got bad enough, Mistral would need a partner, but was I willing to fulfill that role?
I really wasn’t sure. There was too much to consider.
I knew Sebastian was waiting for an answer, but he could brood on it forever for all I cared. I grabbed his arm and thought of the guys. For now, I just wanted to go home.
TWENTY
It seemed wrong that it was only midday when we returned to the Bogs. It felt like so much time had passed, but in reality we’d only been gone roughly twenty-four hours. At least the sunlight was enough to dry our clothes after swimming out through the glowing pool, which was only slightly less terrifying the second time.
We were all silent as we walked, and I knew the guys were listening for any sign of my grandfather. If he was still in the Bogs, we had to evade him until we could find the vortex. Then we would destroy him.
ThenSebastian could tell Mistral how to save the Bogs, and he’d have to find someone to marry.
Was it wrong that part of me hoped the first two steps wouldn’t come any time soon?
Crispin fell into step beside me. He was the only one of us who wasn’t brooding. In fact, he’d found the whole debacle with the guardianfascinating.
With his hands in his pockets, he looked up at the sky as he walked. “So, are you ready to poof us all away if grandfather dearest shows up again?”
I wrinkled my nose. My body ached, my feet were killing me, and I really didn’t want to think aboutgrandfather dearest. “If necessary, butnotto the pool again.”
“At least no goblins were trapped in this most recent realm. There must have been none on a journey when the pathways were severed.”
It was a small consolation. I hated the idea of others being trapped, although if they were species not as long lived as elves, they might already be dead. “I wish I could ask my mom why she agreed to sever the pathways. The shadow creatures were scary, but I feel like it had to be somethingmore.”
Crispin’s smile wilted. “I believe what we witnessed was only a small demonstration. A wisp of smoke drifting from the larger darkness. I have some theories on what that darkness might be, but of course, there is no way to say for sure.”
Ringo scampered across the trail ahead of us and I scooped him up. “No one is spying on us,” he reported, feeling brave after he had woken alone in the estate and had so valiantly searched for me in the darkness.
“Good job.” I placed him on my shoulder, regretting even the negligible amount of extra weight. It was still a long walk to the Citadel, and if we were going to search for the vortex, we’d go even farther since it had been swallowed not far from the gates.
“Uh oh.”
I turned my attention away from Ringo to follow Crispin’s gaze. Mistral had been leading the way, but now Sebastian was with him, and they seemed to be arguing in hushed whispers.
