Page 44 of Deadly Little Games

Except maybe Mistral. He had given my mom a place to hide before she left the realm. He claimed he didn’t know what she was hiding from, and it was a good thing. If she really destroyed the paths to other realms—

I cut off my own thoughts, reaching for Braxton’s beer.

“Hey!” One look at my expression and he stopped his protests, lifting his hands. “I guess I’ll be going to get another beer.” He pushed out his seat, then walked toward the bar.

Crispin lifted his white mug of tea. “Well I for one don’t mind this little side adventure.Mostof us have never had the opportunity to enter werewolf lands.”

“They’re just like any other woods,” Elena scoffed. “Not like something behind a boundary.”

He leaned his shoulder near hers. “But it’s theculturedear princess. Look around you.” Mug in one hand, he swept the other around him, gesturing to the werewolves who had quickly gone back to minding their own business. “It’s fascinating. No magic necessary. They werebornto watch over this land.”

“Keep your voice down,” Elena hissed when a particularly burly werewolf glanced back from the bar at Crispin’s words.

Crispin pouted. “But I was beingcomplementary.”

When Gabriel finally deigned to speak, it was to say, “No boundary means no protection from the fairies.”

My gut squirmed at the mention of the fae. They were as long-lived as elves, maybe even longer. Some claimed they were truly immortal. That meant that whichever fairy my dad had made a bargain with, they were likely still alive. If I could find them, I could ask them the truth of what occurred.

Elena tsked. “Thoseparticularfairies won’t be harming anyone else.” She inhaled deeply. “But yes, their people may be an issue going forward. We can only hope that they are simply working for Ivan, and have no interest in the bounty themselves. Once we deal with Ivan, they may go away.”

Braxton returned to the table, holding multiple bottles by their necks. He set one in front of each of us, then gave everyone a dark look. “Apparently our pack alpha welcomes you all to our lands. I would advise against refusing his offerings.” He gestured to the beers.

My eyes widened, but Sebastian chose that moment to lean in near my shoulder. “A word?”

Gabriel’s eyes darted toward us, but I shook my head. I appreciated his protection, but I didn’t need it from Sebastian. At least not yet. “We can go outside.”

He stood, offering me his hand, which I ignored. I stood and walked past him toward the door, and soon we were out in the fresh air, beyond the parking lot standing amongst the trees.

I felt a surge of his magic, then opened my mouth wide enough for my ears to pop. I realized he was probably protecting us from any eavesdroppers, just as he had done before at the café when he’d first offered me a job.

He turned toward me. “Learning that your mother may have destroyed the paths to the other realms is a good step in our search. It narrows down the people who would want her dead.”

My jaw dropped. “Were you spying on me?”

He gave me a tired look.

“You asshole!” I balled my fists. “Theresa said what she had to say in private for a reason.”

“Just as I eavesdropped on your conversation for areason. And now we must consider a rather blatant contradiction.”

Still fuming, I grumbled, “Oh yeah? And what is that?”

He sighed. “Sometimes I give you far too much credit. If your mother really destroyed the paths to the far realms, she would have needed the Realm Breaker to do it. And yet, it is being offered as a reward for her deliverance. So she had it back then, but not now. Now, we just need to figure out who could have taken it from her.”

I blinked at him. He was right. If he’d seen the blade himself, presented to him from behind a strong shield of glamour by the person offering the bounty, then my mother no longer had it. The sword’s power would be unmistakable to someone like Sebastian. If he thought it was the real deal, then I believed him.

But just how had my mother come across it to begin with? And why would she have destroyed the pathways?

“I see you understand. I believe our first step should be figuring out at what point she lost the blade. And I think you know exactly who to ask.” He lowered his chin and lifted his brows.

I glared at him. “If she had the blade when Mistral helped her leave the realm, I’m sure he would have noticed.”

“Perhaps he did, and he simply neglected to tell you.”

I started to shake my head, then stopped. It was a possibility that he had chosen just the right words to avoid a lie, but I didn’t think so. He’d said he didn’t know why she was running. If she had the blade, he would’ve known exactly why. Of course knowing something for afactand thinking it only a possibility were two very different things. So he could have said he didn’tknowwhy she was running without breaking our bargain.

But I really didn’t think that was the case. Not now. “I’ll ask him, but I’m pretty sure she lost the blade before that point. And it’s been alongtime since the pathways were destroyed. She could have lost it at any point before then.”

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