Page 107 of The Cursed Fae

Archer shook his head. “Not tonight. Tomorrow, if you want.”

“I do,” I said.

Amusement flit across his features. “Me too.”

I held his gaze way too long, letting his eyes stare past the barriers and into my soul. Something stirred deep in the recess of my mind, like a forgotten memory from my childhood. Had we met before, on one of my trips to visit Nana?

“Get some rest, Winter. It’s late,” Archer said.

I hesitated. “Tomorrow. You promise?”

His finger crisscrossed his heart. “I’m a man of my word.” His playful tone vanished when he added, “Can you say the same for your boyfriend?”

Archer’s question kept me up long after Tina went to bed. All of Laz’s little white lies ran through my head. I could rationalize most of them, and others Laz had explained away: dimensional fae were rare—even a much older and more experienced person might’ve misclassified my magic; maybe he really didn’t think anyone would notice the missing ingredients we used for the ghost summoning; and I had to believe he wasn't aware how dangerous that spell had been.

When I met up with him and Astrid the following morning, I failed to mention my lesson with Archer. There was some sort of bad blood between the guys, and I didn’t want to complicate matters with our little trio of trust. Plus, Archer’s slow and cautious approach to portal making left me dubious that I’d be able to open one to California before the new year.

While they dove into ancient tomes looking for anything to help us, I studied the Gemini Fae to prepare for my quiz in Professor Tartan’s class. Astrid kept giving me suspicious glances, but it wasn’t until we were alone in the hallway later that she brought it up.

“I thought you were doing homework last night,” she said. “Isn’t that why you didn’t come to Morgan’s thing at the Omega house?”

Busted.

“I know you weren’t with Laz,” she continued.

Shit. He’d mentioned coming by my room and finding it empty.

“So?” Astrid stared at me expectantly. “What gives?”

Because I couldn’t muster up a semi-plausible lie, I told her the truth. Sort of.

“I was trying to make a portal,” I admitted.

She grabbed the sleeve of my sweater and pulled me to one side of the hallway. “Seriously?”

I nodded.

She lowered her voice. “And? What happened?”

“Nothing substantial.”

She squeezed my arm. “It takes time.”

I forced a smile. “Yeah, I understand that. It’s just frustrating.”

Once again, I didn’t mention Archer. Missy had warned me away from him. What if Astrid shared her thoughts? All my friends were trying to help me save Lena, but Archer was my best shot at pulling it off. I had no time to deal with outside opinions, so I kept him my secret.

My quiz on the Gemini was a cakewalk. Either my crash course in the library had paid off or enough of Mom’s ramblings had sunk in over the years.

Since it was Friday night, Astrid wanted to blowoff steam downtown at Faenanigans. Morgan and Chance had left campus for the weekend to celebrate their birthday with family, and Belle had plans with a bartender she met online. I felt bad saying no, but practicing magic with Archer was much more important.

Wiggling out of a date with Laz wasn’t nearly as easy. I caved under his persistence and agreed to dinner before supposedly going to spend the night at Nana Essie’s house. I checked in with Lena while I did my makeup and found her curled up in bed with a pint of ice cream.

“Why hasn’t he called?” she asked.

I shrugged and tried to sound sympathetic. “If he didn’t realize how exceptional you are, fuck him.”

Lena laughed and scooped a heaping spoonful of chocolate and caramel into her mouth. “Do you think I should call him?”

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