The muscle in Andre’s cheek jumped as his jaw clenched and unclenched. His eyes moved to Oliver, who was retreating back to the kitchen. Andre’s lips pressed tightly together, like he tasted something bitter, then he nodded once.
I let out a breath. My soulmate was wound way too tightly from recent events. He was lashing out from things outside of his control, and Oliver had been one his targets.
The anger slowly drained from his eyes as he turned his attention back to me. He reached out to tuck a lock of hair behind my ear. “I don’t want you to ever think that what we do together is something lewd. Last night—”
Andre’s cell phone buzzed, interrupting him. He hesitated to reach for it.
“Take the call. We can finish discussing this later.” I gave him a soft smile.
He pulled me in close, resting his forehead against mine before letting me go to grab his cell.
“That was cray-cray,” Oliver said when I re-entered the kitchen. “He went bat-shit crazy on me.”
“He’s the king of vampires, Oliver,” Leanne said with a roll of her eyes. “He’s used to running his own agenda.”
“He was ready to off me!”
While Oliver talked, I grabbed the blood bag and squeezed the rest of its contents down the kitchen drain. I silently apologized to all the hospitals that could’ve used the blood.
“You mistreated his mate,” Leanne said.
I ran the tap water, just to wipe away any signs of my little treachery. I couldn’t stomach the liquid without it coming back up, and I wasn’t going to waste the evening praying to the porcelain god when I didn’t have to.
Oliver guffawed. “Now that is just ridiculous. Did I mistreat you, Gabrielle?”
“Hm, what?” I glanced up, still holding the blood bag.
“Ooooh, is someone doing naughty things over there?”
“Do you want me to sic my bloodthirsty boyfriend on you? Here—” I said, walking to the door, “I can go get him.”
“Geez, your secret is safe with me—hey, do you think I can get more of these?” Oliver asked, pointing to his wrapper-strewn plate.
“No clue. You’ll have to ask the kitchen dude.” I nodded my head to the door that led to an attached industrial kitchen.
“Chef,” Leanne corrected.
Oliver gave me a pointed look. “Does it not drive you insane when she does that?”
I suppressed a smile. “You both have your own, unique charm.”
Leanne snorted. “As do you.”
I stuck my tongue out at her. I was real mature like that.
Oliver hopped off the barstool he sat on and wandered back to the kitchen, muttering about chocolate.
As soon as we were alone, I swiveled to face my roommate. My former roommate, I thought with a twinge of regret. I wouldn’t ever attend Peel Academy again.
“Are you okay, roomie?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Have you seen anything?” I asked, fearing Leanne’s response but also perversely eager to hear it. One could get addicted to hearing their fortunes told.
She shrugged. “Not since you drank that seer’s shroud.”
Duh. I’d almost forgotten. Oliver wasn’t the only idiot.
I ran my fingers over the table, following the veins in the polished wood. “Back when we were visiting the sorceress, Hestia told me that I had less than a month to live.” I wasn’t ready to admit the deal I’d made, but I’d admit this.
Leanne’s pulse picked up, and I could smell her nervousness, but when I looked up, her face looked almost … guilty.
It dawned on me. “You already knew.”
I pushed a hand through my hair. It was really hitting me. I was going to hell in less than a week. And then I’d have to play house with the devil.
“So, before I drank the seer’s shroud, you saw my future?”
She heaved a great sigh. “Vaguely. I was far away from you, and I didn’t have any objects of yours close at hand. I foresaw only the most likely of your futures.”
“And what was that?”
She hesitated, then spoke. “I saw you murdered—shot straight through the heart. Within a minute you were gone.” Her voice cut off after that, and she glanced down at her hands. Her heart beat madly, and I could smell her fear.
Fear for me. I’d be touched if I wasn’t also scared shitless.
“So that’s it.” Seventeen short years of life snuffed out in under a minute.
Leanne tore her gaze from her lap to meet my stare.
“No,” she said simply, “that’s not it. I saw you surrounded by darkness so deep and complete it made my chest ache.”
My eyes rounded. Sounded like hell to me.
“You wore a black crown, and behind you stood the devil. He—he wrapped an arm around you. The darkness enveloped you then, but before you both disappeared completely, he looked at me … and he smiled.”
I rubbed the goose bumps that had broken out along my skin. That didn’t sound horrifying or anything.
Both of us were quiet for a few minutes, neither really knowing what to say.
“It’s really going to happen.” I finally spoke, tracing the veins of the table once more.
“Not if you can convince that final fate.”
My eyes slowly traveled up to Leanne’s. My throat tightened as I nodded. The truth wanted to claw its way out, and it might’ve if not for the sound of something banging in the kitchen and the sound of Oliver’s squawk.
I rolled my eyes and stood up, trying to shake off my fear.
She chose her words carefully. “The future is nothing like the past,” she said. “What has been is immovable and unchanging; what will be is full of infinite possibilities—some more likely than others. Nothing is certain until it happens.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that her optimism was misplaced. Since last night, my doom was, in fact, certain.
Chapter 19
Later that evening, I found myself back inside one of Peel Academy’s godforsaken persecution tunnels. I’d never taken this particular one, though Oliver clearly had.
Said fairy grumbled in front of me as we sloshed through puddles. “Break into the school, she said. It’ll be fun, she said.”