Page 99 of When the Woods Go Silent

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

TORRENCE

Ruby stares up at me with those big onyx eyes, shimmering with tears, and the words just fucking fall out.

I can’t take them back now, and I find I’m actually relieved to have it out in the open.

“You were right,” I repeat as she struggles to find words.

“Are you a vampire?” she whispers then, and Goddess help me, I laugh. She scowls, and I hold her tighter.

“I have a lot to tell you, but no, Ruby. I am not a vampire.”

She smiles a little, her lower lip quivering enough that all I can do is pull her closer and kiss her, sucking that full lip between mine until she melts against me.

This isn’t how I would have liked to tell her, even if I’d been planning to. But part of me knows that Ruby would have figured everything out eventually. And if Rose wouldn’t tell her? Then I’m fucking thrilled to be the one who gives Ruby the biggest news of her life.

Her stupid phone dings again, and she pulls away from me to check it, deflating in my arms.

“I should probably check in with her.”

“Tell me what happened first. With Rose.” I try not to be pushy, but Julianna‘s looking for this changeling too, and I needto know what’s happening. If I could find the changeling before any of them do...

Ruby thuds her forehead against my chest, silent for a moment as her stuttering breaths calm. Then she gives in.

“There was a guy in the shop this morning. He said some things to Rose and I overheard them.”

“What guy?” I’m already plotting his murder, if he upset Ruby like this.

Ruby shrugs. “I’ve never seen him. But he knew Kier. Tall, dark hair. Pretty, like all of you are.”

All of us? My eyes narrow at that. None of my gobbelins should know Kier.

“And he was talking about magic?” I ask, not quite believing it would happen so casually. We all know telling humans about magic leads to trouble, but maybe someone found out what Kier had shown Rose. Maybe someone was checking up on him.

And then it clicks in my head. FuckingRonan. It has to be. But if he’s involved, this is already much worse than I thought. I can’t let Julianna get wind of it. If she finds the changeling before the fae do, then Idris and I will have no shot at reviving Magriel.

“So what is this about magic being real?” Ruby asks, pulling me back from my spinning thoughts and giving me the look. The one that says she won’t accept a single word of bullshit.

“It’s not something humans are supposed to know. But yes, killer kitten, magic exists.” I chuckle as so many emotions flash across her face. Stepping back from her a bit, I hold out my palm, forming an icicle and handing it to her.

“I knew it,” Ruby yells, grabbing the ice and holding it to the sky like a damn sword. She’s lost the shell-shocked look she had a minute ago, and now she’s glowing with excitement. “You made ice in the kitchen, too, didn’t you?”

I nod, a smirk tugging at my lips as I remember teasing her nipples with the ice. She liked that, didn’t she?

“Are you... are you a fae?” she asks, and the plain hope in her eyes almost kills me.

I could lie, but what would be the point? “My father was fae. My mother only part. I’m also part gobbelin.”

“Gobbelin?” There’s disbelief in her voice, and I assume she’s thinking of the short, gnarled figures in human folk tales that have green skin and huge ears. They’re usually stupid and clumsy, not much better than angry children. And of course, she can’t see past the gobbelin magic to my true form. I shudder at what she’d think of it, and I hope I never have to show her my gobbelin face.

“LikeGoblin Market,” I offer instead, and she hums, accepting it easily, even though I know she has a lot to learn.

“What else can you do?” The ice is melting against the heat of her skin, and I open my palm to call up the fire that runs in my fae blood. Ruby gasps, running her fingertips quickly through the flame and snatching them away as she understands it’s very real.

“This is so freaking cool. I fucking knew it,” she murmurs again, and I grin at her cursing.

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