Page 32 of White Little Lies

I stopped in my tracks and turned, my shoulders stiff. Though the king had granted me passage into his lands, I had not expected to meet him in person. I forced myself to appear calm, though everything inside me begged to continue on.

King Francis stood in an embroidered blue coat, his arms crossed, his long red hair draped across his shoulders. “I’ll ask again, just where do you think you are going with my daughter?”

Eva

We had founda narrow deer path to walk on. It was a small blessing, because Crispin still had no idea where we were.

“You could try jumping us back,” he said from behind me. “It would be a good lesson. Just envision my tower, and I’m sure you’ll get us there.”

“Or end up somewhere worse.” I glared at a purple butterfly fluttering past my face. It had been haunting me, wanting to lick the sweat from my skin.

“You could think of Gabriel. That has worked for you before, has it not?”

I ignored him. I had shared a lot of details in the past week that I would have rather kept quiet. But if we were going to figure things out, Crispin needed to know everything. Well,mostlyeverything. Some things I was certainly not about to share, especially in front of Sebastian.

“Eva?”

“That only worked when I was drawing on someone else’s magic, apparently. I was pretty charged up when I found Gabriel before.”

Charged up by having sex with Mistral in an open field, butthatwas one of the details I wasn’t sharing with anyone else. Especially not since the state of the Bogs was supposed to remain a secret. Sebastian knew the magic there was unstable—he had been the one to bind Mistral to the land in an attempt to control it—but the elves and other factions had no idea.

Crispin jogged to catch up to my side, a smoothsmile on his lips. “You can use my magic to bring us back.”

“Nope.” I walked faster. That was what had gotten us into this predicament to begin with. I had been picturing trees near the palace, not some place out in the woods I had never been before.

He caught up again, matching my pace as we continued walking. The purple butterfly was back, trying to land on my forehead. “It does not always have to be sexual. You have been using Sebastian and I to jump all over the castle for weeks.”

“Unknowingly, and usually just once Sebastian pisses me off enough.”

I glanced at Crispin as his expression turned thoughtful. “True. Your sexual tension with him does seem to be tied to anger.”

I glared at him.

He quirked a brow in return, the soft sunlight making him look like some sort of mischievous forest god.Follow me down this path, my dear. Nothing bad will happen.

Yeah right. “If you’re trying to make me angry, it’s not going to work.”

He gave me a dazzling smile, his blue eyes twinkling. “Then I suppose we should just settle in and enjoy our walk.”

“If we’re even going the right way.”

He pointed at the sun. “It was well after noon when we jumped, so I do know roughly what direction we’reheading in. Plus the moss.” He ran his finger along a tree as he passed it. “It mostly grows on the north side because it enjoys the shade.”

I looked up at the sun, but I still wasn’t sure what direction we were going in. Of course I didn’t even know what direction I was heading when I was in the city. “Okay, so we know what direction we’re going in,” I conceded. “But how much farther do we have to go?”

“That is indeed the question.”Although it was a question he didn’t seem terribly concerned with.“The Elven lands are not quite as expansive as the Bogs, or so I’ve been told, but we may be walking well into the night.”

“Lovely,” I huffed, my legs already tired and my mouth longing for some water. I glanced at him. If we were going to be walking for a while, I may as well get some questions answered. “How long have you suspected that I’m a conduit?”

His shrug was just as graceful as any elf’s. It was hard to pinpoint exactly why, but their movements always seemed a little more fluid than anyone else’s. “For a while. Your proximity to others each time you have jumped was a big clue. I was not aware that you had slept with the goblin prince shortly before your first jump though.”

“You knew he,” I twirled my hand in the air searching for the right word, and got a butterfly on my finger instead, “unlockedmy magic though.” I loweredmy hand in front of my face, giving in to the butterfly’s ministrations.

“Yes, but that’s not as uncommon as you might think. Magic is a funny thing. It can react to all sorts of circumstances. Many elves come into their gifts after an intensely emotional experience. A loss, a triumph, and quite often, sex for the first time.”

Having its fill, the butterfly took off and I lowered my hand. “It wasn’t my first time,” I grumbled. Sure, the other times had been with humans and once with a werewolf, andnothingthat compared to being with Mistral and Gabriel… But once again, that was privileged information.

Our path faded away, and he took a moment to look at the sun and the moss, then pointed us in a new direction. “But it was your first time with an intensely magical being, as we have established. I thought that was simply the case for unlocking your magic, but with truly jumping for the first time so shortly afterward. You likely maintained some of the charge you took from Mistral.”

---