Page 15 of Deadly Little Games (Four Ways to Fate #2)

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I stormed out of the walk-in, the heat right outside the door feeling suffocating. Or maybe it was just the emotions that swam within me. He knew why she left. He knew why she abandoned me, and he had let me think that she didn’t want me.

Theresa hurried out after me. “You must understand, Eva. It was for your own protection. Anything you knew could put you in danger.”

I spun on her, tears stinging my eyes. “I have been looking for her for years . I have been looking for her most of my life.”

She glanced at the grill, but Alfred was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he’d sensed us coming. “There’s more you need to know.”

“More?” I choked out. “How could there be more?”

She grabbed my arm, pulling me back toward the walk-in, but not inside it. She tugged me close, then lowered her voice. “Not long after your mom left, someone came looking for her. I think she had hoped that no one knew about you and your father. She left as soon as she thought someone might find her, but she left too late. The woman who came was clearly a celestial. Your father was human, but he said he could tell. When he told her your mother was gone, she asked about you.”

My emotions thrummed through me like electricity. I wanted to pull away, to go back to the city, but I remained rooted to the spot.

“He didn’t know what she wanted with you, but he feared she might try to take you. So he went to the fairies.”

My eyes flew wide. “What could he have wanted with them?”

She sighed heavily. “You know of their glamours.”

I did know of their glamours. I had seen them just a few hours ago, but—

“He made a trade with them. He asked them to fake your death.” She squeezed my arm. “Eva, I don’t know if your mother ever came back for you, but she wouldn’t have found you, because to her, and only to her, you look like someone else.”

“That’s why he changed our names,” I breathed.

She nodded, her face creased with sympathetic lines. “You look different to her, but someone living under her daughter’s name would have drawn her interest, and she would have figured it out. But your father covered everything. Your mother thinks you’re dead. It was the only way he could think to protect you. To make it like you no longer existed, so no one else would come looking.”

I inhaled sharply, refusing to let my tears fall. “She no longer thinks I’m dead,” I said evenly. “ Everyone knows I’m her daughter.”

But had she really destroyed the paths to the other realms? Was it even possible? Sebastian had claimed that she was old, but I just couldn’t quite reconcile the story in my mind with the previous idea I’d had of my mother. And of my father.

Theresa watched me, probably waiting for me to break down, or to at least react.

But I suddenly felt entirely empty. “Why are you telling me this now? Why after all of these years?”

“Braxton told me what happened. He told me about the bounty on your mother, and about bad people being after you. I thought you needed to know everything.” She squeezed my arm. “I only wanted to keep you safe, Eva. And that’s what your father wanted too.”

I pulled out of her grip. I knew her words were true. I knew I shouldn’t be mad at her. But I had also been lied to my entire life. “I just need a moment to myself.” I abruptly walked away from her, back out into the tavern, then quickly skirted the growing crowd and headed for the bathroom.

I locked the door behind me, then unclenched my shaking hands. In one palm the chocolate chips had melted into a brown sticky mess. I turned on the faucet, rubbing my hands vigorously beneath the cold stream of water, until finally I lifted my gaze to the mirror, meeting my eyes in my reflection.

It was a mistake. I wasn’t sure who the person was standing there. Did I even look like myself? Or was it a glamour?

No, Theresa had claimed the glamour was aimed at my mother. I would only look different to her, not to myself. And that was how Sebastian had originally recognized me, because in reality, I looked a lot like my mom.

I dried my hands with a paper towel, then pushed my hair back out of my face before dabbing at the few tears that had escaped my eyes.

Nothing was different, not really. Just now I knew that my dad had lied to me, and that my mother really had thought I was dead. When she tasked Lucas with killing night runners, she didn’t realize I would be at risk.

Of course, that didn’t change the fact that she was willing to kill innocent people to keep herself safe. Something like that simply wasn’t forgivable.

So why was I still protecting her?

I straightened my hair and clothing as much as possible, but there was nothing I could do about the red rims around my eyes. I left the bathroom, then headed for the table where everyone waited.

Sebastian was the first to notice me, and as he turned to watch my approach, I couldn’t quite read his strange expression.

Braxton noticed me next, and he watched me warily, comprehending the news I had just received.

As the others turned toward me, their expressions were a mixture of hope, curiosity, and the same wariness. Everyone but Braxton was depending on me, in very different, but also in some ways similar, regards. They had all gotten drinks. A beer for Braxton, what looked like hot green tea for Elena and Crispin, water for Gabriel, and black coffee for Sebastian. There were a few menus strewn about, but no food.

“Mom came out to take our orders,” Braxton said evenly, like he was speaking to a spooked horse. “I figured you’d be alright with a burger.”

I nodded, then slumped into the vacant seat beside him with Sebastian to my left. Gabriel had made the valiant sacrifice of sitting at the devil’s other side, with Ringo perched on the edge of the table beside him.

I looked across the table at Elena and Crispin. “Sorry for dragging you both out here. Once we eat, if you don’t mind dropping the rest of us off in the city, you can get back to Emerald Heights.”

Elena tried to act casual, but her green eyes were pinched with worry. “That werewolf woman told you something you didn’t like.”

I frowned. I was among friends… kind of. But that didn’t mean I was about to spill my guts. “I’ve learned a lot of things lately that I’m not terribly fond of. It’s nothing important to anyone else though.”

Except maybe Mistral. He had given my mom a place to hide before she left the realm. He claimed he didn’t know what she was hiding from, and it was a good thing. If she really destroyed the paths to other realms—

I cut off my own thoughts, reaching for Braxton’s beer.

“Hey!” One look at my expression and he stopped his protests, lifting his hands. “I guess I’ll be going to get another beer.” He pushed out his seat, then walked toward the bar.

Crispin lifted his white mug of tea. “Well I for one don’t mind this little side adventure. Most of us have never had the opportunity to enter werewolf lands.”

“They’re just like any other woods,” Elena scoffed. “Not like something behind a boundary.”

He leaned his shoulder near hers. “But it’s the culture dear princess. Look around you.” Mug in one hand, he swept the other around him, gesturing to the werewolves who had quickly gone back to minding their own business. “It’s fascinating. No magic necessary. They were born to watch over this land.”

“Keep your voice down,” Elena hissed when a particularly burly werewolf glanced back from the bar at Crispin’s words.

Crispin pouted. “But I was being complementary .”

When Gabriel finally deigned to speak, it was to say, “No boundary means no protection from the fairies.”

My gut squirmed at the mention of the fae. They were as long-lived as elves, maybe even longer. Some claimed they were truly immortal. That meant that whichever fairy my dad had made a bargain with, they were likely still alive. If I could find them, I could ask them the truth of what occurred.

Elena tsked. “Those particular fairies won’t be harming anyone else.” She inhaled deeply. “But yes, their people may be an issue going forward. We can only hope that they are simply working for Ivan, and have no interest in the bounty themselves. Once we deal with Ivan, they may go away.”

Braxton returned to the table, holding multiple bottles by their necks. He set one in front of each of us, then gave everyone a dark look. “Apparently our pack alpha welcomes you all to our lands. I would advise against refusing his offerings.” He gestured to the beers.

My eyes widened, but Sebastian chose that moment to lean in near my shoulder. “A word?”

Gabriel’s eyes darted toward us, but I shook my head. I appreciated his protection, but I didn’t need it from Sebastian. At least not yet. “We can go outside.”

He stood, offering me his hand, which I ignored. I stood and walked past him toward the door, and soon we were out in the fresh air, beyond the parking lot standing amongst the trees.

I felt a surge of his magic, then opened my mouth wide enough for my ears to pop. I realized he was probably protecting us from any eavesdroppers, just as he had done before at the café when he’d first offered me a job.

He turned toward me. “Learning that your mother may have destroyed the paths to the other realms is a good step in our search. It narrows down the people who would want her dead.”

My jaw dropped. “Were you spying on me?”

He gave me a tired look.

“You asshole!” I balled my fists. “Theresa said what she had to say in private for a reason.”

“Just as I eavesdropped on your conversation for a reason . And now we must consider a rather blatant contradiction.”

Still fuming, I grumbled, “Oh yeah? And what is that?”

He sighed. “Sometimes I give you far too much credit. If your mother really destroyed the paths to the far realms, she would have needed the Realm Breaker to do it. And yet, it is being offered as a reward for her deliverance. So she had it back then, but not now. Now, we just need to figure out who could have taken it from her.”

I blinked at him. He was right. If he’d seen the blade himself, presented to him from behind a strong shield of glamour by the person offering the bounty, then my mother no longer had it. The sword’s power would be unmistakable to someone like Sebastian. If he thought it was the real deal, then I believed him.

But just how had my mother come across it to begin with? And why would she have destroyed the pathways?

“I see you understand. I believe our first step should be figuring out at what point she lost the blade. And I think you know exactly who to ask.” He lowered his chin and lifted his brows.

I glared at him. “If she had the blade when Mistral helped her leave the realm, I’m sure he would have noticed.”

“Perhaps he did, and he simply neglected to tell you.”

I started to shake my head, then stopped. It was a possibility that he had chosen just the right words to avoid a lie, but I didn’t think so. He’d said he didn’t know why she was running. If she had the blade, he would’ve known exactly why. Of course knowing something for a fact and thinking it only a possibility were two very different things. So he could have said he didn’t know why she was running without breaking our bargain.

But I really didn’t think that was the case. Not now. “I’ll ask him, but I’m pretty sure she lost the blade before that point. And it’s been a long time since the pathways were destroyed. She could have lost it at any point before then.”

“Then the question is, who would have not only had the means to procure the blade, but the motivation to punish her for using it? For this person to have hunted her for so long, it is clearly personal. My first guess would be a family member.” Harsh light cut across his face as the sun began to set.

“You think her own flesh and blood has hunted her for years, forcing her to abandon her husband and daughter?”

He shrugged. “It is not such an unusual concept. A mere rival would have given up long ago. As I said, this is personal. What did you learn from the celestial woman this morning?”

“You mean you weren’t spying then?”

He wrinkled his nose. “I learned of the fae plot shortly before my arrival to thwart them.”

I smiled. “Ooh, I like having something you don’t know.”

His eyes darkened. “Do not play games, Eva.”

“Why not? You always do.” Grinning, I turned and sauntered back toward the tavern, brushing against his dark magic as I exited the bubble of privacy he had afforded us.

Normally Braxton was the one to cheer me up, but messing with Sebastian did the job quite nicely. I still had a sick feeling in my stomach, but I needed to move forward. After so many years of searching, I was finally getting answers. That’s what was important. At the end of our road, was the truth.

And I would continue barreling toward it, letting the chips fall where they may.