Page 6 of White Little Lies (Four Ways to Fate #3)

6

We had learned that the nymph’s name was Aaliyah, just before she lost consciousness. I walked slightly ahead of Sebastian, following his directions, keeping lookout for anyone who might ask questions about the unconscious woman in his arms. We had taken a maze of back alleys where any denizens knew to mind their own business, but occasionally we had to step out into the light.

Where we were going was anyone’s guess, but I knew Sebastian had connections. He was far more capable of finding help for Aaliyah than I was.

I noticed out the corner of my eye as he stopped abruptly.

I glanced around, wondering if we had reached our destination, but all I could see was a dirty alleyway and a few dimly lit windows high above us. “You better not be planning on tossing her in a dumpster,” I whispered .

He lowered his chin, his annoyance clear, then he tipped his head back, gesturing toward the stretch of alley behind us.

“What? I asked, flinging out my hands, feeling tired and annoyed myself.

He sighed heavily, gesturing once more with his eyes that there was something behind us.

With a huff, I marched past him back down the alley. I wasn’t really looking for anything, so I nearly screamed when I walked past a woman crouching behind a pile of discarded boxes.

“What the hell!”

Gladiola lifted her purple tinted palms. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I was trying to keep my distance, but these alleys are like a maze. I didn’t want to lose you.”

I crossed my arms as the goblin woman stood to her full height, which was about my height. “And why are you attempting to not lose me?” I held up a hand. “Wait. Don’t even bother answering that. Gabriel told Mistral about my delivery. You all need to stop worrying so much.” I cast a meaningful look back at Sebastian as I said it, but he only watched us blandly, the nymph still cradled in his arms.

Gladiola straightened her silvery hair, then tugged the collar of her black coat up around her neck. “Hey, I’m not worried. I’m just following orders.”

My annoyance quickly faded as I realized something. “You were at the park. Did you see what hurt her?” I held a hand back toward Aaliyah as Sebastian moved closer.

Gladiola’s brow furrowed. “No. I was on the bus with you, and got off each time you did.”

My eyes narrowed. “You weren’t on that bus. I would have noticed you.”

She lifted a brow. “Honey, you weren’t noticing much of anything with that one putting his hands on you and whispering in your ear.” She nodded toward Sebastian.

Was that a hint of accusation in her tone? “Whatever,” I grumbled. “You did your job, now you can leave. The nymph is injured and we need to take care of her.”

“My job is to make sure nothing happens to you .” She squared her shoulders. “I’m not leaving.”

“Let her come,” Sebastian sighed.

I balked at him. “Seriously? You’re going to cooperate with a goblin?”

He wrinkled his nose as his eyes lowered to the nymph in his arms. “I for one do not plan on caring for this woman myself. It will surely take more than the remainder of the night, and you’re busy tomorrow.” He gave me a pointed look.

“I’m sure Crispin will understand if we have to postpone.”

“We have wasted enough time.” He turned away with the nymph in his arms and started walking.

I wasn’t sure if he meant we had wasted enough time tonight, or wasted enough time not finding my mother, but at the moment, it didn’t really matter.

I shrugged at Gladiola. “Let’s go, I guess.”

“How do you stand him?” she whispered.

“I heard that.” His voice echoed from around the next bend.

Gladiola flinched. “You don’t think he’s gonna curse me, do you?”

I started walking. “Devils don’t curse you. They just trick you into infernal contracts and then they annoy you for all of eternity.”

“Duly noted.” She caught up to walk at my side, our steps echoing around the narrow alley. “So what’s the deal with the nymph? Why are we helping her?”

“She’s a client’s sister. Hopefully we’ll find out the rest when she regains consciousness.” I glanced at her. “So why were you sent instead of Gabriel?”

“Because Gabriel didn’t want to piss you off, and it was agreed that you wouldn’t be mad at just little old me.” She waggled her eyebrows at me.

I rolled my eyes as we turned in the directions Sebastian had gone. She was right, of course, but I wouldn’t say so out loud. “I wouldn’t have thought they would worry so much about it.”

“We all worry, Eva.” Her tone sobered considerably. “We all know what happened at Evenlee, and what hangs in the balance. You’re the best hope my people have.”

I blanched at her words, my steps faltering. “You all know?” As in they all knew I’d had sex with Mistral out in the open to help him control wild goblin magic before it could swallow a village—

“Your face right now,” she laughed. “It is so very clear you were raised amongst humans. Goblins are not so rigid about such things.”

“Yeah, I’m beginning to realize that.” Like how Mistral didn’t mind at all that I was also sleeping with his closest friend. And how he didn’t seem to mind that I had kissed both Crispin and Sebastian. Well, the latter he minded only because he hated the devil in question.

We took another turn to find Sebastian waiting for us.

“Do I even want to ask what you’re thinking right now?” Gladiola whispered, studying my expression.

“It’s complicated,” I muttered.

She turned her attention to the devil watching us impatiently. “Yeah, I don’t doubt that. Not in the slightest.”

“If you’re both through,” Sebastian said tersely. “We have arrived.”

I glanced at the solid brick walls on either side of us. “We have arrived where?”

“At one of my dwellings.” He turned toward the nearest wall, shifting his grip on Aaliyah to wave one palm in front of the bricks. Shadows swarmed across the wall, and when they cleared, there was a door.

I walked toward it, my jaw hanging open. The door was ornately carved dark wood, completely out of place amongst the stained bricks and nearby city sounds. “ That was not there a minute ago.”

“How astute of you. Now if you would open it, I would greatly like to disencumber myself.”

I looked at the unconscious nymph, then back at the door. “Disencumber yourself. Sure.” I turned the doorknob, at first only seeing darkness, then warm light filled the narrow hallway.

Sebastian walked past me, momentarily cutting off my view. “Shut the door after you come in. It will disguise itself once more.”

Gladiola stepped up beside me. “We don’t have anything like that in the Bogs.”

“No you just have trolls, magical lighting, and women living underwater in your rivers.”

“Ooh, don’t tell me you met a merrow.” She stepped cautiously into the hallway. Sebastian had already gone up a wide set of wooden stairs.

“If merrows like to grab humans by their hair and drag them underwater, then yes.” I followed her inside, shutting the door behind me. I watched it for a moment to see if it would disappear, but nothing happened. Maybe it only disguised itself from the outside.

“Yep. That’s basically what they do.” She walked down the hallway, her head turning back back-and-forth as yellow lights behind glass sconces increased their glow with our passing.

She reached the wooden stairs Sebastian had gone up, then stopped. “I think I’ll let you take the lead here. ”

I snorted, stepping around her to go up the stairs. “Aren’t you supposed to be protecting me?”

She followed me up. “Yeah, but who’s going to protect me ? You have a contract to keep you safe.”

I reached the top of the stairs, then stood rooted to the spot, looking around a posh penthouse. One wall was all windows, but the view was too high. We had only gone up one set of stairs, but it seemed like we were twenty stories up.

Sebastian was at the other end of the open floor plan, beyond a gleaming chrome kitchen with white marble countertops. He had set Aaliyah on a fluffy white couch that looked soft as a cloud. It nearly swallowed her up.

“ Dude .” I walked past the kitchen, looking around at the rest of the furnishings. Dark wood with simple lines and more plush white furniture. “I have so many questions. But first, is that view real?” I pointed to the city lights that looked twenty stories down.

Sebastian gave me a bored look. “It is. Apartments like this are not uncommon. They are fabricated by the fairies.”

Gladiola had kept pace with me to stand close to my shoulder, as if she really did expect me to protect her. “So the stairs were the illusion, not the view?”

“Indeed.” He looked down at the nymph. “Whatever you intend to do with her, I suggest you do it soon. Her heartbeat has begun to slow.”

My eyes flew wide. “Why didn’t you say something sooner!” I fell to my knees beside the sofa, then felt Aaliyah’s pulse. It was slow like Sebastian claimed, but still there.

“Where are her injuries?” Gladiola asked.

I looked her over, but I couldn’t see anything externally wrong. “I don’t know. She lost consciousness before she could tell us what happened. She said someone was after her—” I shook my head, thinking back. “She couldn’t stand on her own. She could barely even sit up.”

Gladiola nodded along with my words. “Unless she has some sort of other internal damage, my guess would be poison. Something to slow the heart, make the organs shut down.”

I shuddered at her words, looking down at Aaliyah. She was already paler than when we first found her, save some light bruising beneath her eyes. “But she said someone was after her. What did they do, catch her and pour poison down her throat? Why not just kill her?”

Gladiola pushed Aaliyah’s hair out of her face, her brow furrowed. “All good questions, but we won’t get any answers unless we can reverse what’s happening to her.”

Completely out of my depth, I looked over at Sebastian.

Fire flashed in his dark eyes, making Gladiola gasp. “I suppose you expect me to somehow fix this for you?”

I didn’t know what to say. It was ridiculous asking a devil for help. But… he’d helped me before .

“It is a waste of time.”

I glared at him. “It’s not a waste of time. She could die .”

“You do not even know her.”

I stood, facing him. “That’s not any reason to let her die.”

We stood staring at each other, at an impasse.

I crossed my arms, maintaining my glare.

“Don’t even try threatening me with your silly timelines again. I know you won’t really delay in anything. Not after all you’ve learned.”

He was being vague in front of Gladiola, but he had a point. Now that I knew what my mom had gone through, and why she was being chased, I was intent on finding out who was chasing her. I was going to find her, and fix the mess she had inadvertently made of my life. But that left me with nothing to hold over Sebastian’s head.

“Please don’t let her die.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re begging me now? I would have thought you too prideful.”

Sensing an opening, I got down on my knees and grabbed one of his hands before he could pull it away. “Please Sebastian, please don’t let the nymph die?” I gave him my best puppy dog eyes.

“You’re being ridiculous.”

I held tight to his hand, doing my best impression of a puppy dog whimper.

“Stop that. ”

I whimpered louder, edging closer, still gripping his hand.

“You are absolutely infuriating.”

I wanted to say, Right back at ya , but I wasn’t about to let my groveling be in vain, so instead I whimpered even louder.

“Fine,” he sighed, rolling his eyes skyward. “But you’re coming with me.”

“Coming where?”

“A bargain will be needed. And I won’t be the one paying for it.”

I stood, finally releasing his hand. “Deal. Let’s go.”

Gladiola stood a few paces back, dumbfounded. “I’m not even sure what I just witnessed.”

“The question,” Sebastian said as he walked past her toward the stairs, “is not how she stands being around me. But how I stand being around her .”

“You’ll stay with Aaliyah, right?” I asked as I moved to follow Sebastian. “I don’t want to leave her alone.”

“But I—” Gladiola stammered.

“Please don’t make me whimper like a dog again, kay thanks, bye!” I practically jogged after Sebastian before Gladiola could argue, though I heard her murmuring curses under her breath as I rushed down the stairs.

I caught up to Sebastian at the door, where he simply gave me a final glare, then walked outside.

Maybe I was getting the hang of working with a devil after all.