Page 90 of The Cursed Fae

There was a clatter as she moved things out of the way and propped the phone on her vanity. Lena stepped back to show me a blue linen top and white shorts.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“Very cute. What’s the occasion?” I replied.

Lena turned to her shoe rack and chose a pair of tan wedge sandals. The sight of her familiar bedroom tugged at my heart. I missed our house.

“I have a date. He’s taking me out on his sailboat.”

“Fancy,” I teased. “Wrong shoes, though, go with flats. Where did you meet this guy?”

“The grocery store if you can believe it.” Lena’s laughter filtered over the line. After switching to loafers, she sat at the vanity and picked up an eyeshadow brush. “We reached for avocados at the same time, like some silly rom-com moment.” She held up a chandelier earring and a gold hoop. “Which one?”

“Hoops,” I said.

She fastened them through the holes in her ears. The faint sound of the doorbell echoed, and she flashed me a grin. “That’s him. Why am I nervous?”

“I’m guessing he’s hot,” I teased.

She picked up the phone and walked into the living room. “Wanna see him?”

Lena didn’t wait for my answer. She opened the door and turned the screen to show me the dark-haired guy standing on the stoop.

“Hey! Mat, say hi to my best friend, Winter. She abandoned me to become a New Englander.”

Lena’s date smirked and waved, and I leapt off my bed. The eternal wore contacts to obscure his ruby irises, but his stare was no less menacing.

“I just need to grab my bag,” Lena said, handing him the phone. “One sec, talk to Winter.”

I waited until her footsteps retreated. “If you fucking hurt her—”

His lip curled back, his smile morphing into a snarl. “Then it would serve you right. Defy me again. I dare you.”

The screen went black.

Chapter thirty-one

Psst, Please Ghost Me

My heart was in my throat as I sat and stared at the blank screen. The vampire had co-opted Lena. He wasn’t simply watching her anymore. He’d inserted himself into her life.

I debated calling Nana. The situation had flown out of control, and I needed help. Of course, I would have to admit I had been in contact with the vampire. After my Missy-bomb, the thought of my great-grandmother’s disappointment when she learned I had a second secret was too much.

Think, I ordered myself. There must be something else you can do.

The eternal wanted me to learn to use my magic. Once I did that, he would no longer be a threat to Lena. There was no way to ask Nana to teach me to use my dimensional power, especially not if she understood why it was so important to me. But there was one person who might help me—Archer.

The only question was—would he do it? Our last encounter hadn’t ended well. If I wanted to continue things with Laz, staying away from the droll Adonis in the attic was my best move. But this wasn’t about me. It was about Lena. Right now, she needed me, whether or not she knew it.

Archer was my only hope. I had plans with Astrid, but I could go up to the astrology room afterwards and look for him.

Phone still clasped between my palms, I wondered if I was only rationalizing. My best friend was dating a vampire. That alone should’ve sent me screaming for help. If he was an ordinary bloodsucker, I would’ve gone to Nana in an instant.

But there was nothing typical about him. When I’d spoken to Lena, it was light outside. Unlike most vampires, he walked in the sun proudly. That gave him one less weakness than most immortals.

I also worried that calling in the calvary would do more harm than good. If he heard I had gone behind his back to Essie, he might take it out on Lena before anyone could reach her. The vampire had eyes and ears everywhere.

I wondered again if I was simply rationalizing. Or were these legitimate concerns?

---