Page 14 of Immortal Sins
She inches closer to me. “Allison, dear.”
I tilt my chin up. “I told Daniel many times, and I’m telling you again. No matter how much you want me to say that Jules is in the dark, that she bought my story completely and will claim far and wide that Cole is a murderer, I’m not convinced.”
Mom skims Darkwood’s arm with her hand. “Theo, the little witch wouldn’t dare speak against you.”
The blood-red gaze brings a chill to my core, but the president ignores mom, his attention solely focused on me. “Go on.”
I square my shoulders. “Jules is like a dog with a bone. She got too close to Cole, and she won’t rest until she gets answers, no matter the cost.”
“What answers could she get? Cole killed the unicorn, no?” His voice is dangerous.
“Yes, sir.”
Darkwood waves his assistant over and whispers a few words in his ear.
Mom scratches her nails along the intricate lace of the tablecloth, but I stare defiantly ahead. I’ve tried to warn her many times, and she dismissed my insight as though Jules could never thwart her plans or defy her.
I know my sister. I tried to warn her about Cole, but she loves nothing more than chasing her own doom. If Mom couldn’t keep her out of Dark Falls, nothing will stop her.
7
BAIT
The turrets of Summer Hall’s tower allow for the sunset to slip through the cracks of my closely-knit blinds. The slivers of orange light hurt my eyes after another gloomy day in the library.
Lydia paints her nails a vibrant shade of red on my bed, a gelled toe spacer between her toes. “Whatever you’re doing with Flynn is working. Vivianne told everyone you two were screwing like bunnies, and no one suspects a thing.”
Sitting astride my desk chair in the narrow space between the bed and the clutter of homework, I fail to repress a grunt. “Yay?”
Her green eyes flick to me for a moment before returning to her pedicure. “Unless you two are going at it like bunnies…”
I slap her thigh.
“Hey, careful!” She shoos me away with her free hand. A swipe of nail polish smears her big toe. “I still can’t look at Flynn. He makes me want to puke and undress at the same time—it’s confusing.”
I rest my chin on the back of the chair. “Puking while undressing sounds complicated indeed.”
The seer screws the polish shut and sets it aside. “There’s a whiff of fire on your ears, girl. Did something happen?”
My gaze flies to the ground, and my dark curls create a veil between us. “Brady caught us together in Oz’s old office. We had to…improvise.” The trial is a few days away, and I’ve got no clue what I’m supposed to say. I don’t need the Flynn situation to spice that soup of emotions. I don’t know exactly when the shift took place, but Flynn no longer sets my teeth on edge with disgust. Things simply changed between us.
Lydia cringes. “Be careful. Mel is going to want your head on a spike.”
“She can get in line.” Cole and his best friend plague my thoughts. White-hot images sprout in my overactive brain. Mel planted the seeds first, and the Fae stela and Flynn’s cryptic answer only watered the weeds.
My palms get sweaty just thinking about the kiss. It’s not the same as with Cole, but it’s not harmless either. Am I into Flynn because he’s Fae? What does it say about my attraction to Cole that I enjoyed kissing his best friend?
Is it merely lust that draws me to Cole?
No. The deal between us is done, but his voice still plagues my thoughts, and I dream of him every single night. Whatever I feel for him is real. Annoying, maybe. Impractical, absolutely—mopping around school because the Fae prince you’re hot for is falsely accused of murdersucks.
The Fae plant near the foot of the bed stretches happily in the sun. A small bud has appeared at the end of a frail stem, and I get up to observe it more closely. Its leaves bristle as I come near. “The seedling will bloom soon.”
After being nursed back to health by a pint of blood, the Fae plant might finally pay off.
Lydia trades her nail polish for a quill and slides her notebook out of her bag. “Do we have everything for the upside-down spell? I wish the administration would approve my request to move back in here. It would be so much easier to see each other.”
I offer my finger to the seedling, and it latches on hungrily. “Would your parents approve?”
