Page 16 of White Little Lies

“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 placeamongst the stained bricks and nearby city sounds. “Thatwas 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 likethatin 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 letyoutake 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 protectme? 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 saysomething 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.”

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