Free All That Bleeds by Kimberly Frost Page B

life.

    He landed where she indicated, within a collection of trees near the lake. It was a place that she didn’t think the security cameras would easily penetrate. When her feet were on the ground, she faced him.

    “Thank you, Lysander.”

    He nodded.

    “How did you and Merrick become friends?” she asked, wanting to sate her curiosity and to delay his departure.

    The archangel’s gaze shifted to the right. “I smell something. Not a demon, but something that’s touched what lies beneath. If you walk around the lake, avoid that direction,” he said.

    Alissa looked the way he’d pointed. It was the path she’d taken between the Xenakis house and her own. If there were lingering traces of black magic, maybe she could follow it back to the person who’d betrayed her. “What do you mean? What exactly—?”

    His wings flapped, lifting him a few feet off the ground. “There’s a subterfuge to you. I don’t know whether you conceal things to protect yourself or for some more sinister reason.”

    “I—”

    “Don’t defend yourself. Time will reveal your character better than words. Just understand something. I need Merrick to do something, and he’s promised he will. Also, he’s my friend—the only friend I’ve chosen to have in hundreds of years. So when I said that if you killed him, I wouldn’t avenge him, it wasn’t true.”

    “I’m a muse. I help people. I don’t kill them.”

    “You are well aware that power can be used to inspire violence as easily as peace. Have a care for his safety, because where you are concerned, he clearly does not.” He didn’t look down as he rose into the night.

    With his departure, the cold engulfed her. She shivered as she thought about Lysander’s implication. What retribution would Merrick face for rescuing her from Cato Jacobi’s balcony? That worried her. Jacobi was clearly very dangerous. She didn’t want Merrick to be hurt because he’d helped her.

    Merrick can take care of himself. You know that. Everyone knows that.

    The thoughts reassured her as she left the woods for the lakeside path. The entire night had been so surreal. It was hard to drag her mind back to the Etherlin, to normal life, but with the dawn, the sun bathed the world in a tawny glow.

    The splendor of her neighborhood hit her all at once, reminding her of who she was and of the danger in standing around in daylight where someone might see her. She needed to cover her arms. She couldn’t let anyone see evidence of the bite or the subsequent transfusion.

    She looked upward again, her eyes traveling along the puffed clouds that dotted the sky toward the Varden and Merrick. She wished that, like Lysander, she had wings that would carry her through the night undiscovered. Then she could go wherever she wanted, could see Merrick whenever she liked—which she suspected would be often.

    She dragged her gaze back to Earth, to reality.

    You didn’t work so hard for so many years to throw it all away in one night. Forget about black-and-white penthouses and iron balconies. Forget about the Varden, Cato Jacobi, and
Lysander. And especially, for your dad’s sake and for the sake of your future, forget about Merrick.

    You’re back where you belong. Be grateful for that.

    She turned from the path and strode to the front of the house, stopping halfway up the walk when she realized that on the doorstep was her former best friend and current Wreath rival, Cerise Xenakis.

Chapter 7

    The wind tousled Cerise’s hair as she bent to set down a large document box.

    Egyptian princess meets girl gladiator,
Alissa thought, noticing Cerise’s kohl eye makeup and her strappy boots. With Alissa’s feet bare and Cerise already five foot ten before the tall boots, she’d noticeably tower over Alissa, possibly raising questions about where Alissa’s shoes were. Alissa hung back, grateful that the gown’s skirt skimmed the ground, hiding her feet.

    “Hello,” Alissa said calmly, posing