Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,73

lone Svartálfar acting in his own interests. For now, they are searching for the real culprit, but if the search stretches too long, if panic sets in, they will start killing indiscriminately.”

“What do you advise?” Arianna asked. The panic was gone from her voice, but she was still frighteningly pale as she clenched her hands in her lap.

“Stay calm and stay hidden as best you can. If you disappear completely, they will take that as a sign of guilt and will search in earnest for you. Until this is settled, stay alert and be ready to act at a moment’s notice.” I shook my head, feeling like shit. Her people were already struggling to survive, as they fought to simply bear children, and now I was dumping this in her lap. “I’m sorry that I can’t help you more.”

“You have already helped my people more than any other warlock by simply passing along this warning. I thank you.”

I looked over at Trixie, who seemed to be digesting this information. “Do you have a way of contacting her quickly and safely?”

She gave a jerky nod. “Yes, I can contact her.”

“Good.” I pushed to my feet, pulling Trixie up with me. “We’ll be in contact. I will try to find something as quickly as possible, but as you can see, I’ve got my hands full.”

“I understand,” Arianna said, taking a deep breath as she seemed to rein in the last of her emotions. “Gage, again I am sorry. I have sorely misjudged you.”

I frowned down at her, taking in her quiet strength and elegant poise. “You’re not the first, but you are one of the first to apologize, and I appreciate that.” I started to turn away with Trixie, but stopped to look at the queen. “And for what it’s worth, he doesn’t fucking deserve you.”

Arianna smiled at me while Trixie laughed. “Maybe so,” the queen agreed coyly. “But nevertheless, he is a good king and cares for his people. If he had known there was a warlock who might help our people bear children, then he would have already spoken with you. Maybe not for the two of us, but definitely for our people.”

With a smile, I gave Arianna another of my stiff and awkward bows before ushering Trixie out of the gazebo, her body pressed close to my side. She was safe for now from some of the Summer Court elves, but I needed to feel her close. The end of that conversation had only reminded me that while I was one step closer to helping her, we were also one step closer to the whole world going to hell in a big fucking handbasket.

13

AS WE STARTED across the parking lot toward her car, I could feel Trixie relaxing beside me. She had met with the queen of the Summer Court and walked away unscathed. What she felt like now, after running for nearly three hundred years, I couldn’t imagine. Of course, we weren’t out of the woods yet, but at least we were headed in the right direction.

“Are you going to ever tell me what Sofie told you about the Towers and Indianapolis?” Trixie asked in a deceptively calm voice. I cringed. I had known this question was coming but I’d been hoping that she would stay focused on her problem with the elves for a little longer. Did we need to heap the Towers on her list of things to worry about?

“What about that conversation we had about me not telling you everything because I wanted to protect you?” I said, flashing a hopeful smile at her.

She didn’t smile back. “I said I understood your reasoning, not that I accepted it. You need to tell me what’s going on.”

I sighed. “I know.” Pulling her close, I leaned over and brushed a kiss against the side of her head. There was a part of me that wanted to tell her. I wanted to pull open my chest and spill out everything that I had been hiding from the world all these years, but that desire to bare my soul was outweighed by a fear that the truth would send her screaming from me, as any smart person would.

“Well, isn’t this a surprise!” declared a cocky voice from behind us. Trixie and I stopped walking and turned toward the speaker. My heart lurched in my chest as my eyes fell on the warlock standing a few dozen feet away in the middle of the parking lot with his wand pointed