Free Rise of the Magi by Jocelyn Adams Page B

pulled her up and wrapped my arms around her, the feel of her against me stirring things down deep in my heart. “Are you sure you want to come with us? It could be dangerous and—”
    She pointed at the gate. “Go.”
    Teeth clenched, I took a moment to let my voice come down so I wouldn’t yell. “I don’t think this is a good idea. You should stay with your Mo—”
    Arianne twisted her body and went limp, total dead weight I couldn’t hold any better than a twenty pound wet noodle. I let her slide down to the ground, glad I didn’t drop her.
    On hands and knees, she crawled with determination toward the exit, her little bum, covered in yellow leggings, wagging to and fro.
    “Told ya.” Brígh snickered as she followed the stubborn kid. “If I didn’t know for sure she was Maeve’s, I’d have said she came from your stock.”
    After uttering a few assurances to Maeve that I’d keep her daughter safe, I trotted to catch up with my newest sidekick. “I am not that stubborn.” I scooped Arianne off the grass and hoisted her up onto my shoulders.
    The look Brígh shot me—one I’d seen often, from everyone—said I was being thick. “Pot”—she pointed to me—“meet kettle”—she moved her finger up to the one on my shoulders, who giggled and kicked her feet, knocking me off balance again. “The two of you could drive me to drink if you weren’t funny as hell—some of the time—and I didn’t like you both so much.” She snorted, talking through a grin. “Maybe I should find better friends—ones who’re easier to move than frickin’ mountain granite.”
    I couldn’t contain the laugh that blasted up from my depths. The three of us snickered and carried on like we were off to Grandma’s house for a picnic instead of about to wander into the den of the big bad Overseers to blow their house in.
    When I realized I didn’t have the foggiest notion where we were going, I halted in front of a purple shifter with white shutters. “Where, exactly, do these women live?” Gripping Arianne’s ankles, I scanned what I could see. “And how many are there?”
    Brígh pointed down the street where the cobblestone petered off into grass and woods. “Just over that hill. Andrew’s still sleeping, but Neve and Cas are waiting there for us even though I told them not to bother. They said something about security something-or-other, even if they couldn’t come inside.”
    “Neve could come if she wanted to, though, right?”
    Brígh tipped her face to the side, her lips tugging down in a grimace as if I’d just told her she looked fat in her skinny jeans. “Do you want her to come?”
    I wasn’t sure how to answer that without upsetting her more than I already had. I had sudden sympathy for Liam when I gave him that speak-carefully-or-suffer-my-wrath expression. “Um … if the guards are worried about security, and they always are, I just thought … why is that a problem, exactly?”
    “Geez, you’re such a guy.” She huffed hard enough the blast sent a curl of her hair flying in her own breeze. “I just … you don’t trust me, do you?”
    Oh . “Of course I trust you. How could you even think I didn’t?”
    She flipped her fingers in my direction, dismissing me as she stalked off toward the hill. “Nothing. It doesn’t matter. Just …” She glanced at me over her shoulder, showing how much I’d hurt her with whatever I’d said wrong. “I wouldn’t trust me if I was in your shoes. I kept this thing from you for a whole week.”
    I gaped at her, not because she’d kept it from me for a week, but because I’d assumed it had been much longer. “Only a week? Are you sure ?” Duh, of course she was sure. “So, something has changed recently to bring this on. Is that what you’re saying?” A few long strides took me to her side while Arianne tugged at my braid like a little cowgirl driving a horse.
    Brígh released a long-suffering sigh. “As events get closer, they’re easier