by Sadie Moss
Jesus. He’s having way too much fun with this. “So that’s all it was. You fucking with me.”
“Well…” He draws out the word. “To start with, yes. Roxie never cared a bit about me, so I just flirted with her to annoy her. It was quite fun. And watching you try to imitate her was amusing. But then…”
He shrugs, and I see a flash of vulnerability cross his face before his gaze heats up, dragging over me. I can feel my face heating up in response, the warmth in him calling to the warmth in me, and even though he doesn’t say anything more… I think I know what he’s thinking.
He didn’t say anything because he liked how things were going between us. He liked me, and he wanted to keep doing… whatever it was we were doing. But he probably thought if he told me he knew I wasn’t Roxie, I’d clam up or flee for the hills or something.
Before I can say anything about that—call him out, or whatever—Theo turns to Kasian.
“A word of advice, mate. You need to lower your voice next time you get into a fight,” he says.
Kasian glares at him. “The door was shut. It’s not my fault you’re an eavesdropper.”
“I’m not the only eavesdropper on this campus,” Theo says, his voice hardening as his veneer of languid ease slips. “Gabbi here has to blend in. You’re a history TA. You should know better than anyone that if she’s discovered and revealed to be from the Dull World, it won’t go well for her. Of course she didn’t want anyone to know.”
“She could’ve told me,” Kasian insists. “She could’ve tr—”
“Trusted you? Oh, sure, but what had you done to earn that trust? You were into Roxie, as far as she knew. You could’ve decided to do whatever it took to get the real Roxie back and hung Gabbi out to dry in the process. You’re a real rule follower—you could have decided that reporting Gabbi and following the letter of the law was more important than protecting her.”
“I wouldn’t have done that.” Kasian’s mocha skin flushes with anger, and his hands are clenched into fists.
Theo shoots me a glance, his expression unreadable. Then he looks back at the other man.
“You two have been studying together, right? You’ve been helping her with her grades? That’s admirable, mate, it really is, ten points to you. You’re a decent guy. But come off it, how many decent guys do we know who’ve turned out to be not so decent when the chips were down? Someone being a ‘nice person’ is different from them being the kind of person you can trust with a life-changing secret. Gabbi had to blend in. Full stop. She didn’t really have a choice in telling you or not.”
I bite my lip, my gaze flicking back and forth between the two of them. Everything Theo’s saying is true, and listening to him lay it out so clearly like this makes the danger of my situation hit me in a fresh wave.
“And the thing is, it wasn’t just for her sake,” Theo says softly. “I’d bet anything she was trying to do right by you by not telling you. Because we’re both in danger now, Kasian. You and me. If the authorities find out we’ve been sheltering her, protecting her, that we knew about this and didn’t report it, you can bet we’ll both be in massive amounts of trouble too. I mean… I’ll be extradited, most likely, but you can bet my country won’t be too happy with me, any more than this one will be with you.”
Kasian is still breathing hard, but he seems to be thinking about what Theo’s saying. Hearing it from another person who knows the truth, and not from me, the one who’s been doing all the lying, I think Kasian is able to better understand what’s at stake here.
Theo walks over, clapping him gently on the shoulder. “It sucks. Not going to lie, it sucks balls knowing you’ve been lied to. I get it, trust me. But I think, just this once, it’s the kind of lie we can understand. You with me?”
Kasian looks at him for a moment, the same expression on his face that he gets when we’re studying and I ask him a complex question.
While he’s… contemplating whether to report me or not, I suppose, I pull out Roxie’s phone and text Cross. He needs to know about the fae attack, because out of all of us, I think he’s most familiar with the not-so-good side of town, and the sort of creatures that lurk in it.
After I press send, I pocket the phone and look over at Kasian. His energy is settling back down, and he looks calmer now, a stoic expression stealing over his face. He’s getting his emotions back under control, and I get the feeling that he’s made up his mind. He’s made a decision—whatever it may be.
“You can hate me if you want,” I whisper, struggling to keep the wobble out of my voice, “but please, don’t turn me in.”
He visibly jerks back, looking alarmed. “I wouldn’t turn you in. Gabbi, I would never do that. No matter how angry I was at you.”
My chest heaves with a tiny sob of relief. I have to press my lips together to keep silent. My name sounded stilted and awkward on his lips, as if he’s still getting used to it. But he called me by my name.
And I can hear the truth in his voice.
Kasian sighs. “I… I understand. I should’ve considered the consequences of you telling me.”
“I wanted to tell you. I really, really did. But I still wasn’t sure, and Theo’s right—I didn’t want to put you in danger either.” My voice cracks. “I’ve been so scared, and I’ve been trying to keep my head above water with no idea what to do or how to fix this. Only Cross knows the truth, and sometimes he’s really helpful, but other times—”
“Wait, Cross knows?” Theo asks, sounding halfway between outraged and amused. “How does he know?”
As if he’s been summoned, at that moment Cross barges into my dorm room.
For a second, he doesn’t even seem to see the other two men. He just strides toward me and grabs me by the shoulders, pulling me into a hug. “Hey, cupcake, you okay? You get too banged up?”
I sink into the hug for a second, surprised by how warm and safe I feel, how it’s like… it’s kind of like the feeling of home.
Then I pull back, straightening my shoulders. “I’m okay.”
“You sure?” He doesn’t sound like he quite believes me. His gaze scans my face, his fingertips grazing over the small scrapes and bruises my altercation with the fae left on me.
Fire blazes through my skin where he touches me, and it’s only made worse by the earnest, concerned look in his eyes.
I clear my throat. “Yeah. I’m all right. Kasian was with me. He helped fight it off.”
Cross turns, finally catching sight of the other two guys—and I can practically feel the atmosphere of the room shift.
Theo and Kasian were, a second ago, kind of on each other’s side. Or at least, not hostile toward each other.
But now that Cross is here, I can see the three men sizing each other up. Theo steps away from Kasian, as if Kasian might bite him or something, and Kasian glares outright at Cross, who’s looking at Theo as if the tall Englishman is a dog that just pissed on the rug.
Great.
Normally, I admit, I would be extremely flattered that three men seem to be ready to break out into a brawl over me. Not that I would necessarily assume it was over me, but… well, I’m the common denominator here. Unless Cross has seriously pissed the other two off in the past, and I just don’t know about it. But if that were the case, wouldn’t Kasian and Theo still be united?
But I’m not a lady at some fancy ball who gets to watch three men vie for her hand at the next dance, fun as that might be in the moment. I’ve got a fae king coming after me, I’m holding onto a very dangerous secret, and time is running out on every level.
Cross moves to stand beside me, draping his arm around my shoulders. “Huh. I see you’ve got company. When did these two clowns get here?”
“We just got back from our date,” Kasian replies, arching his eyebrow. “Where’ve you been?”
“Oh, you know, just helping her maintain her cover for the past several weeks. Got her a charm to help her do magic, covered for her in class, all that jazz.” Cross shr
ugs. “We’ve gotten real close after all this time, Gabbi and me.”
I want to tell him this is a hell of a time for him to start actually admitting he likes me, but I’m not even going to go down that road.
“Could we please focus on the situation at hand?” I demand instead.
“Wait.” Theo looks at Cross with a smirk that says he thinks he has the trump card. “Are you telling me that you two are an item?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“And you’ve asked her about this?”
“Uh…” Cross falters, then looks at me. I raise an eyebrow at him because no, no he certainly has not. “Well, we haven’t really talked about it, but I’ve been helping her out since the beginning. I’m her go-to guy.”
“Oh, of course. That must be why she made out with me.” Theo looks triumphant, his eyes gleaming.
Kasian snorts under his breath. “Must not have been a very good make-out session, seeing as she had sex with me.”
“Oh. My. God. I really love how you’re all talking about me like I’m not even here,” I say loudly. “And airing my dirty laundry while you’re at it.”
The three men each cringe slightly and look abashed.
That’s better.
“You can finish your pissing contest later,” I tell them. “Right now, I have some actual, real-life fae after me. What the hell am I supposed to do about that? Anybody got any ideas? I’m open to suggestions, because I have no clue.”
Chapter 20
Since Theo and Cross don’t know the whole story, I fill them in, explaining that Roxie stole something, apparently a disc of some kind, and that the fae want it back. The fae who attacked me and Kasian believed me when I said I wasn’t Roxie, and seemed amused by it, but who knows how much that’ll help me in the long run, since I’m here in her place.
If they’re after Roxie and can’t get to her, I’m the next best thing.
“Fae are like that,” Kasian says, sitting on my bed. “They can see lies hidden in people. Secrets. And they won’t hesitate to use them against you; it’s why you have to be so careful when dealing with them. They’re sticklers for the truth.”
“Yeah, well, fae may not be liars, but they’re really fucking good at the fine print,” Cross says, starting to pace. “They won’t lie outright, but they’ll trick you into all kinds of shit. Just because they follow the rules, that doesn’t mean that they’re trustworthy. You have to be tricky to deal with them.”
“Well, now we have to deal with them,” I point out. “I don’t think we’ve seen the last of them.”
The three men all consider this. Theo lounges back against my desk, scrubbing a hand over his chin. “We have to give them something, some kind of answer, don’t we?”
“What could I give them besides what I already said? I don’t have that disc thing. I don’t even know what it is. I still don’t even know how I got here!”
“They won’t be satisfied with that.” Cross turns to face me, chewing on his lip as he stares at me thoughtfully. “Gabbi’s right. She’s the one who’s in Roxie’s place, so she’s the one they’ll come after. Our understanding of parallel world twins is still pretty hazy. Maybe they’ll try to use Gabbi to get at Roxie, or they’ll think there’s some kind of psychic link.”
“What would a psychic link do to help?”
“Well, for one thing, it would mean if they hurt you, they’d hurt Roxie,” he says darkly.
I can’t hide my shudder. Oh, God.
“We have a ticking clock,” Kasian admits, “but I think that rushing into the fae realm to confront them would be just as bad as staying away. If we’re unprepared, they could dance circles around us, get us to agree to all kinds of things.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Cross snorts.
“We need to know more,” Theo agrees. “Definitely. I’m not Irish, but I think I know some people back home who could help. The Irish are the most knowledgeable about dealing with the fae. Other than the Icelanders, but good luck getting them to talk.”
What? Oh, fuck, I’m so lost right now.
“We’ll do research,” Kasian says, apparently noticing my worried look. “We’ll get to the bottom of this, Gabbi. I promise.”
“I also promise,” Cross says, glaring at Kasian. The man sitting on the bed glares right back.
“Same here, love,” Theo adds, winking at me.
Cross and Kasian simultaneously transfer their glares to him.
Oh, joy.
I make it through the rest of the weekend by spending my whole time in the library, researching the Dull World and parallel twins and the fae. The guys all have schoolwork of their own, so they can’t be with me the entire time, but they help when they can.
We need to figure out what Roxie was mixed up in, and if it was in some way related to our swap.
When I get to class on Monday though, I’m reminded that I can’t just hide in the library twenty-four seven. I’ve got a cover to maintain.
I’m reminded by, of course, Bianca.
“Where the hell have you been all weekend?” she hisses. “I was trying to get you to come out with me. You missed some rockin’ parties, I’m telling you.” She gives me a narrow-eyed look. “What the hell have you been up to?”
“I was in the library studying. I turned off my phone.” Both are true, actually, and I turned off my phone in case the fae were using it to track me, although the guys assured me that the protective wards on the school are the best around and that a fae would have a tough time getting through them.
Bianca rolls her eyes. “I swear, it’s like you’re a whole different person sometimes.”
I brace myself for more suspicion, more argument, but she leaves it at that. Huh. Okay. And here I was readying all my excuses and defenses, knowing that her suspicions will have to boil over eventually…
But then she laughs and says, “Good thing I had Gunner to keep me busy,” and I realize it’s not that she’s not suspicious.
It’s that she’s distracted.
“Gunner?” I ask, keeping my tone light.
“Oh my God, the TA from the alchemy department?” Bianca says. Alchemy, as far as I can tell from my time here, is this world’s version of chemistry: the melding of magic and science. “He’s tall and has that broad chest and blond hair and that goddamn beard… I have a fucking beard burn on my thighs, but hell if I care, totally worth it. He looks like the God of Thunder or something.”
Wait, do they worship gods here? I’m scrambling to remember. There’s still so much I don’t know about this world, dammit. Are gods just mythology to them or are they real?
As I dredge through my memory banks, picking up and discarding all the scraps of information I’ve learned about this world, Bianca’s going on and on about this Gunner guy.
Gah. Focus, Gabbi, focus.
“…and then he just couldn’t take it anymore and snapped and fucked me over his desk. It was so hot. Definitely worth my panties getting ruined.”
Hoo boy. I’m just getting all the dirty details, I guess.
Although that does sound familiar. And when it happened to me, it was life-alteringly mind-blowing.
“That sounds amazing,” I tell her, and honestly? I don’t even have to fake the smile I give her. Bianca getting distracted by a guy means that she’s less likely to spend her time wondering why I’m acting so weird.
I also feel weirdly proud of Bianca. From what I can tell, Roxie’s the one who tends to go around banging all the guys, gathering those notches on her bed post. It’s about time Bianca got to score one instead of living in the shadow of her best friend the whole time.
“And the thing is—get this—he’s hot and a great guy.” Bianca beams at me.
For some reason, I have a feeling Roxie would express incredulity at this.
“Get out,” I say, widening my eyes.
That seems to be the right response, because Bianca laughs and grabs my arms, grinning at me, her eyes all lit up. “No, I’m serious! He h
elps me with homework, he sends me little presents, he walks me home at night—only when it’s dark though, because he wants to keep our relationship private. Which I totally don’t get, it’s not like it’s against the rules. But private or not, of course I had to tell you.”
“He sounds like a really great guy,” I admit. “What sort of presents does he give you?”
That sends Bianca off again on another big ramble, and I relax a little. Okay. So she’s got a new boyfriend. Perfect. He’ll distract her while I figure out what the hell is going on with the fae, and there won’t be one more—very talkative—person finding out about my secret.
Phew.
After classes finish for the day, Cross and I head to the library. He’s still been helping me out with my practical magic demonstrations in the classes we have together, and I think my grades are still up, but just barely—I can’t forget that I have to find some way to improve those, or I’m going to be screwed in an entirely different way.
“What kind of disc do you think it was Roxie stole from them?” I ask as we head into the stacks. There’s a pretty big section on the fae, so we’ve got a lot to cover, and it’ll probably be like finding a needle in a haystack.
“Who even knows. It’s Roxie. Her motives are unfathomable to us mortals,” he replies.
I glance over at him. He’s antsy, shifting around, like he wants to bolt or something. I never would’ve taken him for the type to cut and run. “Is this getting a little too real for you, Cross?”
“I don’t know, is it real enough for you yet, cupcake?” he shoots back. There’s a bit more bite to his tone than usual.
I frown. “Look, if this is too much for you, you don’t have to help me.”
“Oh, I bet those other two clowns would love that.” Cross shakes his head. “Hell, no. I said I’d help you, and I’m sticking it out, even if I’m not your damn favorite anymore.”