by Sadie Moss
Cross’s expression hardens, making me think he’s just gone through a similar thought process as me.
“I should’ve known Roxie planned this,” he growls. “Anyone else, sure, it might’ve been some kind of awful accident. But not Roxie. She doesn’t screw up with her magic like that.”
“She may have had her reasons—” Kasian starts, but Theo snorts.
“Her reasons? Oh, come off it, mate. I know you want to see the best in everyone, but just because you’re a do-gooder doesn’t mean the rest of the world is.” I can’t see Theo’s face since he’s behind me, but his tone is scathing. “Roxie screwed her parallel twin over, plain and simple.”
“But she just… ran off without a plan,” Kasian points out, his voice quiet. Thoughtful. “And she stole from the fae instead of making some kind of bargain with them. That suggests desperation.”
“Or it suggests she thought she was above lowbrow shit like bargaining or owing anyone anything.” Cross’s hands are clenched into fists, and he starts walking faster, like he has to get his angry energy out somehow. We all pick up the pace with him, our group staying in a tight formation.
Kasian shakes his head. “The fae are dangerous. We’ve all seen that. If Roxie wanted something from them, a deal or an exchange like we’re doing would be the smartest thing. Literally every book we looked at said the same thing—don’t steal from the fucking fairies. Don’t lie to the fucking fairies. Definitely do not do both. There wasn’t really wiggle room.”
Cross turns toward him, opening his mouth, but Kasian puts up a hand.
“I know Roxie was a pain in your ass. But she was also the top of her class, and not just in magical performance classes, but classes requiring research, like history.” He shoots me a look, his voice softening, sounding almost apologetic. “That’s why I was attracted to her at first. She really knew her history; she had a special interest in prophecies and their roles in things.”
He sighs, scrubbing a hand over his short dark hair.
“If she felt she had to get out of here, to leave this world, then she would’ve done her research and come to the conclusion that the only reliable way to do it was to use a fae device. And that means she would’ve researched the fae. And that means she would have read those books and would know the same thing we do—you don’t steal from the fae.”
We step through the gates onto Radcliffe’s campus, and the air grows a little warmer around me. But I hardly notice. I’m watching Kasian, hanging on his every word as he puzzles this out.
“She was knowledgeable about the fae,” he says softly. “I’m sure of that. So if she stole from them, it was because she felt she had no choice. Either she went to them to bargain for the disc and the price they gave was too high, or…”
Kasian pauses. I crane my neck a bit, trying to read his expression better, to figure out what he’s thinking.
Or… what?
Theo hits on it before I do. “Or she didn’t have time.”
I glance back at him. “What do you mean?”
“Well, they didn’t just hand you that new and improved charm, did they, love? They gave you a task to complete. If you complete that task, then they give you the charm. We’ve wasted an entire day talking to them…”
“I wouldn’t say wasted,” I point out.
Theo’s mouth quirks up into a smile. “True. To Roxie though, if she was in a time sensitive situation… a whole day spent bargaining, then coming back here to carry out whatever task they requested, then going back to claim the disc… she might’ve felt that was too long to wait.”
“But why?” I burst out, anger leaking through my voice in a way I didn’t expect. “What the hell was so damn important that she had to get away? What could possibly be in my world that she wanted so fucking badly?”
I’m breathing heavily, and after the slightly stale, magic-soaked air in the fae realm, this outside air feels thin, insubstantial, and I start to feel lightheaded. I force myself to slow down and breathe deeply and normally.
I’m not really the kind of person who gets angry a lot. I mean, I get irritated at things, same as anyone, but I don’t usually get mad.
Right now though?
I’m fucking furious.
This whole time I pictured Roxie as an innocent victim, the same as I was. I even worried about her a bit. From what I’ve found out about her, she might not be the nicest person in the world, but she has good qualities too.
And now I learn that she did all this on purpose.
She literally stole my life. My family, my friends, my dance crew—all of it is hers now. God only knows what she’s doing up there in the Dull World with it. Who the fuck made her think she has the right to do this, huh?
Everything I cared about, Roxie took from me. And she left me with a broken arm and a concussion on top of it all! I’m just lucky magic took care of it so easily, and that she had good insurance, or I would’ve been totally screwed on my first day here.
Didn’t she care at all about what she was doing to her twin? What sort of mess she was leaving behind for her alter-ego to deal with?
If she planned this, couldn’t she have, I don’t know, left me a notebook with helpful tips and information?
But nope, no, clearly Roxie is exactly what Cross has always said: someone who looks out only for herself. Someone who gets what she wants and thinks to hell with everyone else.
“I don’t know what she wanted in the Dull World,” Kasian says, his voice deep and soothing. “But we’ll find out, Gabbi. I promise.”
I suck in a deep breath, trying to rein in my anger. It felt good to let it out for a second, but the honest truth is, being pissed at Roxie won’t fix any of this.
“How?” I ask.
“Roxie’s a researcher, and a damn good student. She did her homework. On everything. There must still be ways to figure out what she was doing or planning. See what books she checked out on her library card, that sort of thing.”
That thought gives me a little thrill of excitement. Well, nerves too, but—at least it’s something. It’s a plan. It’s better than sitting around twiddling my thumbs and bemoaning my fate.
“What could be so bloody awful that she had to go and swap places with her twin for?” Theo asks. “Problems with a guy or a classmate? Someone who was going to make life difficult for her? You know… maybe someone she rejected, or someone who resented her for getting better grades than them?”
Cross shakes his head. “If there was someone like that, trust me, I would know about it.”
“Right, because you were practically her stalker,” Theo notes.
Cross flips him off, using his middle finger—the American way. Theo flips him off right back but with two fingers, the British way.
I bite my lip, my stomach churning.
“Did you really like her, Cross? You knew her entire schedule.”
He sighs, like this is the absolute last thing he wants to be talking about right now.
“Yeah. Yeah, I had feelings for her. Or at least, I thought I did. I knew a lot about her—that’s how I was able to help you when you first got here, why I knew so much about her friends and stuff. But more and more, I’m realizing I didn’t really know her.”
He stops walking so suddenly that Theo nearly crashes into him. Then he turns to me, his expression serious. “I know you, Gabbi. And I like you,” he adds, his voice dropping low.
A swarm of butterflies erupt in my stomach.
If these guys had all liked Roxie, known her and liked her, and had liked me only as Roxie, then I wouldn’t be doing anything with them. Because it wouldn’t really be me that they wanted, it would be my twin.
But Theo knew I wasn’t Roxie almost immediately, and he kept coming to see me, started falling for me. Kasian only wanted to date Roxie once Roxie was me, thinking that this new version of her was one he actually connected with. And Cross, who knew from the beginning, has been apparently realizing that he likes me much more than he ever
liked my twin.
It’s actually pretty validating. A good confidence boost. And God knows I could use one right about now.
Cross stares into my eyes for a moment longer, as if to make absolutely sure I heard him—that I understood what he meant. Then he gives me a crooked smile and starts walking again, the rest of us keeping pace with him.
“All right. So we’re sure it’s not some kind of feud with another student,” Kasian says, shooting Cross a thoughtful stare. “Could it be financial problems? Is that why she left? Did she owe someone money?”
I shake my head. “If she did, I would’ve heard from whoever she owed by now, right? And her credit card is working fine. Her bank account has plenty of money in it—I checked.”
I used Roxie’s mobile banking app on her phone, since the last thing I needed was to be stranded in this new world without any money. The balance in her checking account made my eyes practically pop out of my head. Roxie’s family is loaded, all right. She doesn’t have to work her way through school—and thank God for that, really, because I’d be crap at that too. It would just be another way I could blow my cover.
“Okay… so no boyfriend, no finances, no other rival…” Theo sighs. “There has to be some reason she left in such a hurry, and it wasn’t for a nifty vacation.”
“Maybe it wasn’t that she was running away from something?” Kasian muses, his brow furrowing in thought. “Maybe she’s running toward something. Maybe there’s something in your world that she needs to get.”
I scrunch up my nose. “Huh. Could be.”
The technology between worlds is similar, but the Dull World is a little more advanced in some ways, since in this dimension, things are reliant on magic a lot of the time. Could there be some kind of… device or something that we’ve created that Roxie needs?
“Yeah, but if so, what is it?” Cross asks.
“I have no fucking idea. Ugh. All we have are possibilities!” I let out a groan, barely restraining myself from tugging out chunks of my hair in frustration. “We won’t know anything unless we actually ask Roxie, and we can’t! Why couldn’t she have hidden some kind of tell-all diary under her pillow or something?”
“Maybe she does,” Kasian says.
“If there was, I would’ve found it by now. I’ve been living in that room for weeks; I’ve scoured every inch of it.”
I’ve also cleaned it up, because dammit, Roxie might be great at a lot of things when it comes to her schoolwork, but her housekeeping skills could use a little improvement. There were clothes everywhere when I first moved in.
Silence falls over our little group. The guys all look a bit defeated.
“I think we should focus on the fae first,” Cross says after a pause. “That’s something we can control, something we can actually take action on. We do what King Anzac asked, we get that new and improved generator for Gabbi, and then we’ll go from there. We just have to be patient.”
I never thought I’d hear Cross be the one to argue for patience. He’s just full of surprises tonight.
“Okay,” I say. “I think you’re right.”
And he is.
We can’t control Roxie. We can’t control her actions or figure out her reasoning.
But since it seems I’m likely to be stuck here a while longer, we can at least get me this fae charm so I can stop panicking that I’m going to be found out.
Chapter 26
We reach my dorm building, and Kasian steps ahead to get the door, holding it open for me. He gives me a reassuring smile as I pass him, and a warm light seems to suffuse my chest.
The one good thing about this whole mess is that I got to meet these three men.
I’d be truly lost without them. The authorities probably would’ve swooped me up on the first day if Cross hadn’t covered for me, if Theo had chosen to blab instead of keeping my secret, if Kasian hadn’t thrown himself into tutoring me.
They’ve all been there for me, and I can’t possibly thank them enough for it.
They escort me up to my room, and I want to kiss them goodnight—okay, fine, I want to do a lot more than that, but now’s probably not the right time. Not after the insane, exhausting day we had. So I’ll settle for a kiss.
But… um… who do I kiss?
When we arrive at my dorm room door, I turn around, feeling a little lost. I can’t just pick one of them, so I guess I shouldn’t kiss any of them. That’s the fair thing to do, since I don’t have a favorite, and if I kiss one, the other two will think he is my favorite, and…
Ugh, this is all making my head hurt.
When I move to open my door though, Cross grabs me. Before I can say anything, he’s got an arm around my waist, his other hand gripping my shoulder, and he’s kissing me for all he’s worth. I gasp, my mouth opening, and his tongue slides in, stroking, teasing. I moan a little.
He finally pulls back, winking at me. “Sleep tight, cupcake.” He gives a sarcastic salute to the other two.
Theo glares at him, then slides his hands around my hips, tugging me toward him. “Come here, then.”
He kisses me sensually, teasing me with little nips and licks, and I can feel myself getting wet as he rubs little circles into my skin with his thumbs. He pulls back with a final swipe of his tongue over my bottom lip, and my knees just about give out.
“Sweet dreams,” he says, then pulls away, looking straight at Cross.
Kasian sighs at the two of them, then takes my hand, gently nudging our noses together right before he kisses me, soft and lingering and sweet, pulling back just in time to leave me wanting so much more.
“Goodnight,” he says. He squeezes my hand, then lets go.
I wave at them, feeling awkward, as they walk away down the hallway, jostling each other with their shoulders occasionally. Then I slip into my room and sink down onto the bed, my head in my hands.
Jesus Christ, what am I supposed to do? About any of this?
One thing at a time, sure, focus on the fae and then on Roxie—but what about the guys? They’re clearly still a bit competitive with one another. Those kisses weren’t just for me, they were to show the other two how well each one of them could make me swoon.
And hey, they did all succeed in that. They’re all so different, but God, they’re so damn hot. And they’re all good people who’ve gone way out on a limb to help me. It’s not like two of them are dicks, or we’re incompatible with our personalities. Theo might seem like a bit of a dick on the surface, and so might Cross, but actually—
Ugh. I can’t do this.
I get up and strip, grabbing one of Roxie’s flimsy nightgowns. I have to admit, I look damn good in her clothes, and it’s actually a surprising confidence booster. But I also miss my cozy jammies. I like feeling like I’m wrapped up in a hug when I go to bed, especially as the weather turns colder.
But I do look good in this thin cotton nightgown. Like I’ve stepped off the cover of a magazine. Go me.
I brush my teeth, my hair, and basically get everything done so I can go to bed, but I’m not feeling sleepy. More like—wired. Like my brain is still racing a hundred miles an hour, and I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to shut it off.
I’m just about to grab my computer—Roxie’s computer—to see if there’s some mindless rom-com I can watch to help me doze off when I hear a knock at the door.
My heart lurches in my chest. Fuck. I hope that’s not trouble. After the day I’ve had, I don’t think I can handle another unpleasant surprise.
I consider texting one of the guys but talk myself out of it. I can’t run to them for every little thing, and besides, it’s probably nothing, probably just Bianca…
I open the door.
It’s not Bianca.
Theo walks in, and I expect him to say something, anything, but he doesn’t. There’s a determined gleam in his eyes that I’ve never seen before, and instead of saying a word, he just takes my face in his hands with a surprising amount of gentleness and care, and kis
ses me.
Oh, God. Yes.
I grab him by the collar and pull him inside the room properly so that nobody outside can see and spread gossip, then shut the door behind us. Immediately, he presses me up against the door, drawing the kiss even deeper, stealing the very breath from my lungs.
I grab at him, trying to feel balanced again as my world spins off-kilter, and Theo tugs at my hair, then slides his hands underneath my nightgown. I’m suddenly absurdly grateful for Roxie’s taste in pajamas, even though I was cursing it just two minutes before. Easy access and all that has its advantages.
Theo’s hands on my bare skin are making me shiver, and I can’t help but make little noises into his mouth as he picks me up, his hands on the backs of my thighs, and begins to carry me over to the bed.
He doesn’t do this at all like I thought he would. I thought there would be more… quips, more dirty talk. And maybe there usually is, but right now, he’s just kissing me with a hunger that seems all-consuming.
And frankly, I don’t all that much mind being consumed.
I’m barely aware of my back hitting the mattress as Theo lays me down on the bed. All I can feel is his lips on mine, the heat of his body seeping into mine, the way he feels and smells as he overwhelms my senses. We’ve only kissed a few times, but something about this feels so deeply familiar already, as if my body has been learning his, memorizing it. As if some part of me knows we’re meant to be doing this—that we’re a perfect fit.
I slip my hands underneath his shirt, gliding them over the smooth skin of his back, but before I can get my fill, Theo finally breaks our kiss, pulling away. I gasp, somehow out of breath without even knowing how I got this way. My lips feel bereft without his, and I reach for him to pull him back to me, but he’s kneeling between my legs, his gray eyes dark as storm clouds as he gazes at me.
With one hand, he tugs his shirt over his head and tosses it to the floor, and I make a little noise of appreciation as I take in the sight of his broad shoulders and chiseled muscles. He’s gorgeous, in a leonine sort of way. He moves like a predator, muscles shifting and bunching beneath his smooth skin, his every motion fluid and controlled.