Christmas Griffin - Zoe Chant Page 0,11

watched her react, and the sudden flash of understanding mixed with terror and regret on her face made him feel almost regretful, himself. Then she pulled herself together so quickly he could almost taste her drawing more lies around herself, and he was on his guard again.

Her face closed over. The absence of any expression was the only hint he had that she was thinking like mad beneath the surface—but he was convinced she was.

Who is this woman?

Chapter Seven

Delphine

“Oh… good,” Delphine croaked. Hardwick’s eyes twitched. “That does sound useful. For a detective.”

Fuuuuuuck, she thought to herself.

He could tell when people were lying? Then he already knew that she’d lied to him. The question was: how much?

Was it a detailed thing? If she said something untrue, could he home in on the truth based on that, or would he just know that that specific thing was a lie? Could she—

She bit down on the inside of her cheek. Could she be honest with herself about what she was planning to do here?

Could she lie to the man she thought was her soulmate?

Could she not?

She was taking too long. The pause was becoming suspicious. She nestled in among her blankets and wrapped her hands around her coffee mug gratefully. The warmth inside the cabin and the woolen blankets had driven most of the chill from her limbs, but it was winter. No matter how warm you already were, a hot drink was always welcome.

She took a sip of the coffee and almost choked.

Well. A hot drink was almost always welcome. Had he used coffee for this, or gravel?

“I’m here on vacation, too,” she said. “Along with what feels like most of my family, though I’m sure I’m forgetting a few second cousins who’ve managed to slip under the radar.”

“And you’re all winged lion shifters?”

The question was casual enough. As casual as her idiotic sip of coffee had been, and just as much of a mind-game. Delphine resisted the urge to narrow her eyes at him.

He knew she was lying. And he was—testing her? Teasing her?

She should have felt outraged—or really, terrified, given what the truth would do if it came out—but instead she felt an excited fizz down her spine.

Fine. If he wanted to play? She could play. She still felt off-balance, like she wasn’t sure whether he was seriously interrogating her or just bantering, but this was… almost fun.

“For untold generations. Or told generations, if my Aunt Grizelda manages to corner you when she’s in a genealogy mood.”

Did that count as a lie? The bit about Aunt Grizelda was almost too true. Was avoiding the fact that one member of the current generation was not a winged lion shifter close enough to the truth?

His eye flickered again, but she couldn’t tell whether that was because she’d hidden a lie in her answer, or he’d just swallowed another mouthful of coffee. Honestly, the stuff was dreadful. Which she reminded herself by taking another sip and choking it down before adding:

“The others are all visiting with the Heartwells today—do you know them?”

Hardwick shook his head.

“Dragon shifters. I met them last year. They live in a secluded valley a few miles out of town, where they can fly without being seen. I know a lot of my cousins were looking forward to stretching their wings after being cooped up in a plane for ten hours. My brothers, too. I just hope they actually waited until they got up there before shifting. I’ve had enough experience getting winged shifters un-stuck from inside cars to last a lifetime.”

All true. All perfectly inane, perfectly true small talk.

And she knew what he was about to ask next. She could see it in his eyes. So, she got in first.

“I would have l-loved to go flying, too. But my grandfather wanted some groceries picked up from this specialist store down the mountain, so I was happy to offer to run the errand.”

Hardwick winced. Delphine almost did, too. What a slip-up. Of course she wouldn’t have loved to go flying. She would have had to ride on one of her relatives, and what better way to reveal that she couldn’t shift?

It couldn’t have been the other thing she said that was a lie. She had been happy to run around after Grandfather’s port. More than happy. Overjoyed. Ecstatic. Relieved beyond belief.

That counted as happy, didn’t it?

“Of course, by now the port’s probably frozen and everyone’s wondering where on Earth I am,” she continued.

Hardwick raised one eyebrow. “Seems like a lot