Free A Tale of Two Demon Slayers by Angie Fox Page B

magic falls into the wrong hands, it will hurt me too.” He leveled a warning glance that none of us missed.
    Amara flushed. “While I can’t say I approve of your…choice of lifestyle, I am bound by the pact our families made to protect each other. And, besides,” she said, the guile lifting from her face, “I’d never let anything happen to you, Dimitri. You have to know that.”
    Dimitri studied her and we all watched as something passed between them. “I know, Mara.”
    A dull thud formed in the center of my back.
    Mara? So now it was Mara?
    She gave a small smile. “Then let me begin right away.” She lowered her fork. No wonder the woman was skinny. She hadn’t eaten more than two grapes.
    “It will take a few minutes to prepare,” Amara said as she slid away from the table. “You finish your dinners.” She eased behind Dimitri, her hand barely grazing his shoulder. “I’ll meet you in the gardens in half an hour. And Lizzie,” she said, curling a perfectly manicured finger in my direction, “I need you to come with me.”

Chapter Seven
    She led me out the back door of the house and onto a large patio covered by a redwood pergola. Yellow and white roses scented the air and tangled over the latticed timbers. Cotton panels billowed in the cooling evening breeze. In the distance, past the gardens, I could see vineyards stretching up the base of a large hill.
    It was like stepping out onto a page of Better Homes & Gardens , the kind of spread that looked amazing, but still you wondered if anybody really lived like that.
    Amara turned to me, lips pursed, and ruined the image. “Before we go any farther, I want to get one thing straight.”
    I braced myself. “Shoot.”
    “I’m not doing this for you.”
    I studied her for a second, the crease in her forehead, the spit in her eye. “I figured that part out.” I didn’t need her affection, just her talent.
    Too bad for Amara, she couldn’t come to Dimitri’s rescue without helping me too. It was clear from the way her face twisted how much she despised the situation. The wind blew her wavy black hair around her shoulders, yanking at a single silver feather she’d attached behind her ear with a beaded clip.
    “Come on,” I said, noticing the shadows growing long over the garden. “It’s getting late.” I didn’t relish the ideaof being outside in the dark with only the ice queen for company. The quicker we had our part done, the sooner the others could join us.
    I made it down the steps and halfway to the garden before I realized she wasn’t following. I stopped and turned. “Amara?”
    She stood at the top of the steps, the edges of her mouth turned up into a hard smile. “Dimitri and I were promised at birth.”
    Oh geez Louise. “You might want to tell him that.”
    “I understand he’s been sidetracked. It takes an amazing man to do what he did for his sisters.” Her voice grew husky with pride. “And to succeed! To break a centuries-old curse.”
    If she started crying, I was going to shove that feather up her nose. I knew exactly what Dimitri had done. “I was there.”
    She looked at me like I was some kind of puppy that had followed Dimitri home. “Now he’s with you because of some kind of displaced loyalty.” She braced her hand on a porch support, thick with climbing vines. “You don’t belong here, Lizzie. Look at this place,” she said, plucking a yellow rose petal and rubbing it with her fingers. “Th is is his home. My home. Dimitri and I are of the same people. Surely you can see that.”
    Maybe, if I were as delusional as Amara.
    “Oh come on,” I said. The wind blew my hair into my eyes. I pulled it away and tucked it behind my ears. “Aren’t there any other nice griffins for you to date?” I asked, taking two steps back toward the porch. “You’re cute. You come from a good…clan,” I said, revising the rah-rahspeech I’d given my single friends over the years. “It’s time for you to move