Grave Dance (Alex Craft, #2)(51)

I stepped in front of him, blocking his access to the cabinet with my legs. “You think you’ve got me figured out, huh? Wel , I think you missed a couple of chapters, so let me give you a quick highlight. I’ve got commitment and abandonment issues.” It wasn’t like that was a big secret—

even my favorite bartender knew that. “You disappearing without a word? That doesn’t help. And finding out you’re the Winter Queen’s lover? Yeah, no. I don’t know what was happening between us a month ago. Personal y, I blame it on the adrenaline from tracking Coleman. But whatever it was, it’s over. Now I’m glad you are no longer dying on my front lawn, and I’m glad you were here when the ravens attacked, but I think it’s time for you to go home.”

attacked, but I think it’s time for you to go home.”

He was stil crouched on the floor, staring up at me, and each word out of my mouth attacked his expression like verbal shrapnel. By the time I’d finished, his face had shut down and thrown up shields of apathy. With his lips taut and grim and his gaze cold, he pushed to his feet. Then he looked around as if uncertain why he was there in the first place.

“I’l go, then,” he said, stepping around me and out of the bathroom.

“Wait,” I cal ed after him, my anger dissipated. He paused at my front door, but he didn’t turn to face me.

“Maybe we can meet for drinks or something if situations change,” I said because as much as I hated it, seeing him again more than proved there was a spark. But I couldn’t do it like this. With him injecting himself into my life without warning while I waited for him to disappear again.

He glanced back as he stepped outside. The morning sunlight streaming in through the open door caught in his hair and made it a shimmering halo around his face.

“Watch yourself, Alex Craft. You are attracting the wrong kind of attention. Again. And I meant what I said to Agent Nori. You’ve caught the queen’s interest, so be cautious.”

Then the door slammed behind him, and he was gone.

I ran across the room and jerked the door open.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I cal ed, but the landing was empty, as were the stairs. Falin wasn’t like Death; he couldn’t just vanish. Glamour—it had to be.

“I know you’re stil here.” Or at least I was pretty sure.

No answer.

Damn. I opened my shields, just enough for my psyche to slip through. The decaying land of the dead overlaid the real world like a double exposure as Aetheric energy swirled around me, close enough to touch. I peered through swirled around me, close enough to touch. I peered through it, glancing down the steps, into the yard behind. I ignored the way the wooden steps looked rotted and pitted, the grass brown and decayed. Amid al the decay what I stil didn’t see was Falin. He can’t have gotten far. But there was no movement. No one.

How did he—? I turned and found him directly behind me, leaning in the corner where the porch rail and the side of the house met. After the morning I’d had, my frayed nerves didn’t take wel to another surprise.

I yelped, stumbling backward, and my foot smashed through what my senses perceived as a decaying board.

The wood crumbled around my calf as I lost my footing, and the porch swal owed my leg up to my thigh.

Falin jumped forward, catching my arms. He lips twisted in pain with the movement, the muscles in his jaw twitching.

I slammed my shields closed, and the land of the dead slipped away.

But the damage was already done, my leg caught al the way to my midthigh. In fact, closing my shields might have made things worse because the wood was once again solid around my leg.

“Hold stil ,” Falin said, shifting his grip under my arms. He winced as he lifted me and I motioned him away.

“You’re hurt. I can do this.”

He glared at me, but I met the ice in his eyes with my own scowl. Final y he released me, holding his hands up in surrender and backing up a step. Of course, saying I could do it was easier than actual y freeing myself.

It took me several minutes of repositioning my arms and my free leg before I found an angle where I could wiggle my leg out of the hole. I was breathing hard by the time both my feet were on the top side of the porch again. Blowing a curl out of my face, I wiped my palms on the front of my jeans and turned to face Falin. “So, was that parting quip meant to get me chasing after you for clarification or . . . ?”

“Just watching.”

“Just watching.”

“Me? Or for someone?” I asked, but he didn’t answer.

“Falin, what is going on?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. His glamour once again cloaked his clothing and he leaned against the wal as if he had no intention of going anywhere. I sighed.

Obstinacy was one of his reigning qualities.

“Wel , if you are going to stick around, you might as wel come back inside.” I pushed the door open, holding it wide.

He pursed his lips but didn’t move.

I waited several heartbeats. Then I turned, letting the door swing shut behind me and headed toward the bathroom. It took me only a moment to find what I was looking for. Then gripping it hard enough that my knuckles turned white, I headed back outside.

“Here’s your damn toothbrush.” I shoved it at Falin, and he blinked, his blue eyes wide with surprise. “Now, it’s barely seven o’clock and I’ve already had a hel of a day.