Chapter 11 #2
“If you don’t need help, then why is he going?” Riley’s hand tightened on my wrist.
Next to me, Darcy stiffened but said nothing.
“He’s going with me because”—I racked my brain for some sort of excuse—“he’s a witness, and I’m interviewing him.”
Riley’s brown eyes widened, and he turned his attention on Darcy, as if sizing him up for the first time. “And you are?”
Darcy straightened to his full height and held out a hand, forcing Riley to let go of mine. “Darcy.”
Riley took it, his dark hand straining against Darcy’s lighter one. Their grip looked tighter than was necessary.
Riley’s eyes flashed. “Darcy…?”
“Just Darcy.”
“Did you finish your story about the werewolf attack?” I asked, desperate for some conversation topic to distract the two.
“Still working on it,” Riley said to me without taking his attention from Darcy. “I have a few witnesses from New Hope I need to interview.”
Something about what he said niggled at me, but before I could figure it out, the elevator dinged its arrival.
Darcy pulled me inside. “We have to go.”
“I’ll see you later, Riley.” I gave him one last smile despite the tension brewing between the two men.
Darcy jabbed the button a few times, and the door slid closed. “Who was that?”
“A coworker.” Even though I’d only woken up an hour ago, I was already tired.
“He didn’t act like a coworker.” Darcy’s voice was gruff, and in the narrow space, he felt closer than normal.
“Well, he is,” I said a little too sharply. “I’m not dating anyone here.”
“You aren’t?” His wide-eyed look of surprise was almost flattering.
“Do you think I’d have agreed to our cover story if I had a boyfriend?”
Instead of answering my question, he said, “Why aren’t you dating anyone?”
“Because I don’t want to get tied down to Austen Heights. I’m not staying here. Once my father…” My throat closed up. “I’ll head back to New York eventually, so it wouldn’t be fair to get involved with anyone knowing that.”
“So you aren’t against dating, just dating someone from here.” Darcy’s voice was low and laced with a hint of something—the same something that darkened his green eyes.
My pulse sped up. “I—” What should I say?
Darcy looked at me for a long moment while the silence built between us like bubbles flowing from a cauldron—at any moment, it could pop.
A buzzing filled the space, and Darcy pulled his phone from his pocket with a sigh. “Yes?”
I blew out a breath of relief… or was it disappointment?
A muffled voice responded on the other end, then Darcy pressed a button and held it between us. “You’re on speaker, Charles.”
“Hi, Lizzy!” Jane said.
“Hey.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket. Sure enough, it had been Jane trying to call me.
“Jane and I think we have the solution to your problem,” Charles said. “Well, it was Jane’s idea. Can’t believe none of us thought of it last night.”
“Charles.” Warning tinged Darcy’s tone.
“Oh, right. Well, all you need to do is have one of you take a love potion, then you kiss and poof. You’re free.”
“No.” I shook my head. Love potions were unpredictable in how long the effects lasted, and there was no counter spell for them.
The fact that Jane, who didn’t even like love potions, although she was too sweet to say anything like that to Mom, had suggested using one proved how desperate she was to help.
“Absolutely not,” Darcy said.
I scowled at him as the elevator door opened with a ding.
I knew why I refused—I couldn’t stomach the idea of throwing myself at a highborn fae, even for a potentially short time—but what did he have against falling for me?
He hadn’t acted like he cared about me being half-witch, half-fae, but I guess he was like all the others after all.
Maybe I’d completely misread him in the elevator.
“Back to the drawing board, I suppose.” Charles sighed. “Want to meet at Netherfield to figure out what to do next?”
“Yes.” Darcy turned his troubled gaze on me. “We’ll be there soon.”
Maybe he was worried I was getting too close to his secrets. If only I’d discovered something. And why was Charles so willing to drop everything for Darcy if they were both highborn fae? Clearly, there was more to him besides secret magic.
“Why does Charles always listen to you?”
“What do you mean?” Darcy’s stiff demeanor belied his casual tone. He didn’t look at me as we stepped outside.
The air was sharp with the scent of autumn and an incoming storm.
A gust of wind cut across the street, twisting a pile of leaves into a colorful tornado and running invisible fingers through Darcy’s thick curls.
I fought to keep my hair from my face. Lightning flashed overhead, alarmingly close, but the rain had yet to hit.
“I meant precisely that. He always seems to check with you before saying or doing anything.” I walked a little faster. In the distance, the crash of waves breaking against the shore was extra loud with the incoming storm.
“Not always.”
“Okay, well, frequently enough that it stands out.” The sky ahead was a patchwork of dark clouds, and I shivered as the temperature dropped.
Unlike us, no one else was crazy enough to be out with the storm blowing in.
“And what was with him drinking your pumpkin brew at the festival before you did?”
Darcy rolled his eyes. “It’s something he’s done since we were kids.”
We passed a shop with pumpkins sitting by the front door, and I did a double take at the sight of Caroline and Louisa inside.
They were checking out at a register. My gaze met Caroline’s through the glass, but before Darcy could notice the sisters and say some other easily misconstrued statement, I pulled him past.
We turned at the next intersection toward where the car should have been waiting, and I picked up my pace as lightning flashed even closer. It lit the growing gloom with a blue glow.
Why was Darcy so confusing? First, it felt like he was flirting with me in the elevator, even letting me know he was single, then he shut me down.
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and the air filled with a crackle and hiss.
I rubbed at my nose, trying to relieve the sudden itching, but it only grew stronger. Someone was using magic, strong enough that I could sense it.
Something flashed overhead, and I gaped as a streak of lightning headed right for me.
“Lizzy!” Darcy tackled me to the ground, his arms coming around my waist as he tucked me against him.
Blue flared around his body, arcing over him like a shield.
The lightning crashed against it, and he grimaced above me.
A scorched scent filled the air, and for a long moment it was just the cold ground at my back, the warmth of Darcy’s breath on my face, and the lightning trying to sear through his magic.
After the longest second of my life, it disappeared.
Darcy slumped down, resting his head against my shoulder. I stiffened but was in too much shock to do much else.
“I… you… you saved me,” I mumbled.
“That was no ordinary lightning, Lizzy.” Darcy lifted himself onto his forearms so our faces were only inches away. His green gaze bore into mine, and his body pressed against me, a steadying pressure and warmth.
“I know. It went right for us.” I blinked back tears. “Are you okay?”
He blew out a breath. “It didn't come for us. It was targeting you.”
“What do you mean?” Trembles racked my body, and the words barely made it out through my numb lips.
“I mean that someone just tried to kill you.”