Page 1 of White Little Lies (Four Ways to Fate #3)

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Crispin gripped my arms, steadying me. His fresh scent, like the first new leaves of spring, filled my senses. “Easy now, you didn’t make it too far this time.”

I took a deep breath, willing the dizziness to subside. He was right. We were still in his tower, sparkling sunlight cutting a long line across the floor through a stained glass window. Stacks of books teetered haphazardly around us.

“There, that’s better.” Crispin released me, then turned back toward his workstation to scribble a few notes.

I watched his broad shoulders, clad in a periwinkle button up, as he continued writing. On anyone else, the color would have been too much. But on him it just sort of… worked. The plaid pants and dapper suspenders probably helped.

One of these days I was going to get a peek at that journal and see that he was just scribbling Eva is a failure over and over again. He was doing his best to help me learn how to travel to the near realms to find my mom, but so far I hadn’t managed to go far. The only time I had made it anywhere impressive had been to save him, and that was because he had already forged the pathway. I had something to focus on to get there.

I glanced at Sebastian, leaning against the wall near the window, watching us with a bored expression. He was dressed in his usual black and white, the creases in his trousers as sharp as his cheekbones.

Scowling, I put my hands on my hips. “You may as well leave if you’re just going to stand there like that.”

“It’s only been a week since an elf tried to kill you, and you would like me to leave you unprotected in Emerald Heights?” A flash of fire in his eyes emphasized his words.

I frowned. “Zenith is rotting in a dungeon somewhere. No one else wants to kill me.”

“You’re being na?ve.”

Shaking my head, I turned back toward Crispin. His blond hair was mussed from raking his fingers through it so many times, and his blue eyes were weary. I seemed to have that effect on people. At least lately.

He set his journal aside. “I hate to agree with the devil, but there is no sense in throwing caution to the wind. I myself did not exactly enjoy being run off the road by crazed fairies with poisoned blades.”

I shifted uncomfortably at his words, remembering how one of those poisoned blades had pierced Gabriel’s chest, which led to me to think of what had happened after that. Waking up in the arms of two different men had been a new experience for me, one we were yet to repeat. One I wasn’t sure we would repeat if a life wasn’t hanging in the balance.

It was also an experience I was avoiding discussing with either of the goblins because my cheeks burned like fire every time I thought of it.

“Earth to Eva.” Crispin’s intelligent blue eyes sparkled. “Care to share what secret thoughts have you blushing in the middle of our lesson?”

I cringed. “Nothing important. Now let’s try again.”

Crispin sighed. “As fun as it is having to find you when you shift to an unfamiliar area of the palace, I think we should perhaps call it for the day. I’ll try to come up with something else for next time.”

I gave him a wary look, and he lifted his hands. “No forging my own paths, I promise. Nearly getting trapped in that tiny room last time was enough to scare me straight.” He lowered his voice to a whisper, though Sebastian would hear him regardless. “Not that I minded the rescuing .”

My entire face heated. The make-out with Crispin was also a one time thing. I had only done it to save him. With both Mistral and Gabriel, and hells, sometimes Sebastian, my dance card was more than full.

My eyes flicked toward the devil in question and he smiled at me like he knew exactly what I was thinking. We had only kissed a handful of times, and each time I boldly declared to myself that it would be the last. But would it? My magic reacted differently to him than it did to the others, and each kiss always left me wanting more, even though I wanted to punch him just as badly.

“And now you have that same look for Sebastian. Curious.” I turned to see Crispin stroking his chin.

“Not curious,” I grumbled. “Annoying.”

Crispin lifted a brow, but didn’t comment further. “Elena asked if she could escort you to the border today. I promised I wouldn’t tell her father, though gods help me if he finds out.”

I rolled my eyes. “She can gallivant around the city shooting people with arrows, but she gets drunk one time and that’s what her father is hung up on?”

Crispin shrugged. “I think it was the getting drunk with werewolves part that has him on edge.”

I pinched my brow and shook my head. Perhaps it had not been my wisest plan bringing everyone to Willowvale, but it had worked out okay in the end. Save for Braxton’s cousin Warrick pestering me for Elena’s number. I had told him that I wasn’t sure if elves even used phones, but that was yet to dissuade him.

My head whipped up as Sebastian suddenly appeared right beside me, instead of leaning against the wall. Since there was no telltale flash of darkness, he had probably just walked over. Man, I was exhausted. Shifting uselessly around the palace could really take it out of a girl .

He offered me his arm, and I narrowed my eyes at him.

“You’re going to fall down the stairs if you try to walk on your own.”

My eyes narrowed further, but he was right. I was dead on my feet. I took his arm, trying to not delight at the little thrill of dark magic prickling up my skin, instantly tightening things lower.

By the gods, I really needed to find the Realm Breaker to fulfill our contract and get me away from him.

Considering he was a devil, my very soul might hang in the balance.

“So listen,” Elena said as we rode our bucks toward the gates. “I’ve been thinking about the fairy who cast the glamour to fake your death.”

My eyes whipped from our green surroundings to study her face. Part of Sebastian’s new contract with Elena’s father was to share whatever information either of them had on my mother. Even though Sebastian had garnered that information from spying on me, it was technically necessary to share it. Since it would come out anyways, I had told Elena about it too.

“You want to go to the Crystal Vale, don’t you?” I smoothed my hands across my buck’s fur. At least I was finally trusted to ride on my own after the past week visiting Crispin.

She rolled her eyes toward me. “Well I can’t go there.”

“Only Eva can go there,” Sebastian said from my other side. “And it’s far too dangerous.”

“Those fairies only tried to kill her because they believed Ivan was paying them!” Elena argued.

Sebastian took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “There are many others in the city who still want Eva, and the fairies have made it obvious they will work for the highest bidder.” His buck shook its head, unsettled by his irritation.

“It is the best lead we have on my mom,” I interrupted. “The glamour was aimed specifically at her. Whoever cast it would have needed to know her.”

“And what makes you think they’re still alive?”

I shrugged. “Until recently, my mom still thought I was dead.”

“That does not mean the glamour is still active, only that she stopped looking.”

My shoulders hunched against the sun heating my back. “It’s still our best lead,” I muttered. “Either that, or Lucas.”

Sebastian had claimed Lucas was just following orders, that he had no true contact with my mother, but was fulfilling an old debt. Even if it was true, it had to be some debt for the effort he’d put in, not only killing night runners, but harassing me, and even threatening to hold me prisoner in the Silver Quarter.

The latter had convinced me to stay away from him, but I might have to confront him eventually. Even if I could learn to travel to the near realms, I would still need to have a rough idea of where my mother was hiding.

“Just work on your realm jumping,” Sebastian said tersely. “Without that, none of the rest of it matters.”

Elena chewed her lip like she wanted to say more, but she kept quiet. I had a feeling I would be hearing all about it once Sebastian wasn’t around, but that might take a while. The only place I could go to escape him now that the elf king had given him a free pass was the Bogs, and Elena couldn’t go there.

And if I went there…

I’d had communication with both Gabriel and Mistral since that night, but I hadn’t gone long enough to stay within the Citadel. I would have liked to say that maybe I didn’t fully trust them, but it wasn’t true.

In reality, I just didn’t fully trust myself.