Page 53 of Kiss of Light

“A jerk who’s worried about you. I know you can look after yourself, but just be careful.” He let her go reluctantly and she slid into the passenger seat.

“Remember, if anyone comes looking for us, tell them we headed back to New York,” she reminded Avery. She closed the door. “Let’s go.”

Lemar watched Avery in the rear-view mirror as they left. The fae didn’t move until they were out of sight.

They drove in silence for the first ten miles. Tala checked her phone for messages. A ton from Denny, increasingly frantic. She reassured him she was still alive. He texted back immediately; a tirade about the need to keep her phone charged. She rolled her eyes.

His next message was more heartening.

Norway lady has spoken to Shadeed. She says he thinks you’re mad but he’ll do it.

She put her phone aside with a sigh of relief. Thank fuck for that. Magda had got through to Shadeed. The kobold was the only fae in the human world who could contact him, and without his help her plan was unworkable.

True, there were still lots of obstacles left to overcome, but it was progress.

Lemar glanced at her.

“Someone’s sending you a lot of messages.”

She stiffened. They had barely spoken since the night before. Not surprising, since Lemar had slept through the day. But the memory of what had happened lay like a chasm between them.

“They’re from a friend. Denny. He worries about me.”

“Everything all right?”

“Yes. Um… areyouall right?”

“I feel refreshed and energized. Must be something I ate.” She flushed and didn’t answer. He shot her a mocking look. “Are we not going to talk about what happened?”

“I’d rather not, no.”

“It’s going to be a very tedious journey if we do it in silence.”

“Then let’s talk about something else.”

“Something other than what happened last night?”

“Yes!” Gods, he was irritating.

“Okay. So what shall we talk about?”

“I don’t know,” she snapped. “Youthink of a topic.”

He mulled it over.

“What are your sins?”

She was startled.

“Sorry?”

“When I told you about… about what I’d done to that girl, you said ‘you’re not the only one with sins to atone for’. Were you just speaking figuratively, or have you actually done something bad?”

Frozen, she stared unseeingly at the road. He glanced at her curiously.

“Tala?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

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