Page 8 of Vicious Little Vows
“It’s okay,” he murmured, breathing heavily but not panting and hacking like I was. He paddled us a little further then said, “Put your feet down. You should be able to stand.”
Blinking water out of my eyes to look at him, I did as he asked, but wasn’t quite ready to let him go.
He smiled down at me, water dripping from his hair. “Youreallydon’t like water.”
“I don’t like beingunderwater with no easy way up,” I wheezed.
Gabriel and Mistral broke the surface behind Crispin, the rise and fall of their chests the only sign of exertion. Gabriel was at my back in an instant, dripping water on me. “What happened? I saw you struggling.”
I couldn’t see him behind me, but had a feeling he was glaring at Crispin. “I bumped my foot on the rock and scared myself.” Embarrassed, I stepped out of Crispin’s loose embrace, then wobbled toward the shore.
Ringo waited on the dry stone, his fur all puffed up and still a deep gray. He trembled as he watched me with wide eyes.
I stepped out of the water, then knelt. Then when I couldn’t quite maintain my balance, I flopped over onto my butt. “I’m sorry you got left here alone.” I coughed, then cleared my throat, turning my head to look at him. “Were you scared?”
Ringo blinked up at me, his eyes darting to the guys as they stepped out of the water. “There were voices outside after you left. I hid, but they didn’t come in.”
Goosebumps prickled up my arms, and not from being soaking wet. The cave was warm enough that my dripping clothes felt nice. “What sort of voices? What were they saying?”
“They said you must have realm jumped, and that they should leave before you returned.”
Mistral knelt beside me, his white hair iridescent with water dripping out of it. He addressed Ringo. “Did you recognize the voices?” When Ringo shook his head, he asked, “Could you tell if they were male or female? Young or old?”
When Ringo curled up into a little ball, clearly frightened, I interrupted, “What does this mean? Who would be watching you—watchingus—out here in the Bogs?”
Mistral stood, offering me his hand. “I do not know, but we should have a look around for any sign of them.”
I waited for Ringo to climb onto my shoulder before I took Mistral’s hand. I felt terrible for leaving him alone and scared, but at least now we knew that someone had been out here watching us. And they had seen Gabriel and I shift. All they would have known was that we disappeared, and they musthave assumed we went to a different realm rather than just somewhere else in this one.
Crispin moved to my other side. He had already put his pants back on and was buttoning his shirt. “Perhaps we should be more troubled that someone saw you shift. If they report it to Elizabeta—”
“Let us attempt to find them first,” Mistral cut him off.
“Yeah, finding them sounds good.” Gabriel handed me my boots, my wet socks stuffed inside so they wouldn’t get lost. I shoved them into my back jeans pocket then put on the boots without socks. I was definitely going to have blisters by the time we returned to the Citadel, but that was the least of our worries.
With my hand back in Mistral’s, we led the way toward the entrance. Hopefully we could figure out who had been out there, else we might soon have every vampire in the city breathing down our necks.
Orbitingour necks.
Crispin and Gabriel brought up the rear, all of us silent as we stepped out into the sunlight. It felt like hours since Gabriel and I were brought to the meadow, but really, not much time had passed. Everything looked just as we had left it, minus the vines, which had crept back to wherever they’d come from.
We all looked around, steadily dripping water as an eerie silence settled over us. Someone had been spying. They had seen me shift, noted it, and fled.
Saying that it did not bode well was a vast understatement.
I didn’t haveblisters as we reached the Citadel. Mostly because Gabriel had noticed me starting to get blisters, and had carried me the rest of the way, despite my weak protests that hisshoes were wet too. At least it didn’t seem like he was mad at me anymore, though I was still worried how he would react next time he saw Sebastian. Especially if Sebastian was a jerk about it all, which he probably would be.
Ringo had moved to Crispin‘s shoulder as soon as Gabriel picked me up, but I had still noticed him gazing into the woods for the entire walk, searching for our mysterious watchers. We had seen no sign of them on the journey back, and my stomach was twisted with nerves. Or maybe it was just hunger. It had been many hours now since I’d had that donut.
Gabriel let me down to my feet in the small, overgrown courtyard leading toward the entrance near the stables. Since it seemed like the land was no longer beinghelpfulafter our little trip to the meadow, Crispin and I would have to ride to the gates.
Of course, I could let Crispin go on his own and stay the night as Mistral had suggested, but it didn’t seem like such a good idea now that someone had seen me shift. If the vampires would be on our asses soon, it was more imperative than ever for Sebastian to find his sister and get her to tell us where my great grandfather was. Killing him wouldn’t help us with Elizabeta, but at least with the Realm Breaker it would be easier to run from her.
Mistral lightly touched my back. “Gabriel should go with you. I don’t like thinking any of my people would betray me, butsomeonesaw your shift. Better to assume the vampires might attack than to be caught unawares.”
I frowned, “But what about… you know?” Gabriel had headed toward the stables, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t hear us. While he was great in a fight, I didn’t think bringing him anywhere near Sebastian was a good idea.
Mistral gazed in the direction of the hulking goblin. “I think, perhaps, I did not give him enough credit before.”
