Change of Plans
“So...” Culley began, wearing a smile that was a little too self-satisfied.
“Don’t talk to me,” I muttered. “I’m only here because I literally have no other choice.” Staring at the landmarks of the tiny town passing outside the window, I felt as if bits of my heart were snagging on them and ripping away. Nothing in me wanted to leave here. Nothing in me wanted to go home.
Culley followed my request, refraining from conversation as the miles slipped away, and I hunkered down for the twenty-eight hour drive to Los Angeles. I was the first to break the long silence, but only because he’d missed a crucial turn near Memphis.
“You were supposed to take I-40 west toward Little Rock.”
The corners of his lips lifted slightly. He kept driving, totally unbothered by the fact he’d missed the exit and we were now heading east instead of west.
Straightening from my slumped position, I looked around. “What’s going on? What are you doing? Are we going to pull off for a break or something?”
Culley’s eyes stayed on the road. “We can if you need one. I’m fine to keep going for a while.”
I stared at his profile, ridiculously handsome and irritatingly smug. I had a bad feeling. “Culley... where are we going? The sign says this takes us through Nashville.”
Culley nodded. “Yes. And eventually leads to New York.”
“New York? We’re going to the city?”
“Father decided a break from the ‘heat’ was in order.” He glanced over at me briefly. “He knew Nox would charge off to California as soon as he got wind of the explosion. Father’s instructed us to report to his office in Manhattan. You have a place there as well, right?”
Knocked off balance by the sudden change of plans, I responded in a distracted tone. “It’s not mine—a bunch of us use it as a flop house when we’re in the city for modeling jobs. I have about six roommates who rotate in and out.” My mind raced, trying to figure out what this all meant. For one thing, it meant I’d be facing the Dark Council leader not in three or four days, but in two. New York was only about seventeen hours away by car.
“You talked to Audun today?” I asked.
“I did.”
“And...” I waited for him to continue but he stayed frustratingly silent. “What did you tell him about me?” I needed to know whether I was about to walk into a hornet’s nest or a pit of burning lava. One option would be painful. The other, deadly.
“Don’t worry—I didn’t inform him of your... change of heart.” He smirked. “I’ll leave that to you. I did have to tell him your efforts to stop the wedding and drive a wedge between the Perfect Brothers were unsuccessful.” Culley’s eyebrow lifted. “He was not pleased.”
“I bet. So... go on. I’m sure he was pleased when he heard how successful your mission was.”
His expression shuttered. “We didn’t really discuss it.”
My arms folded across my chest as I arched one brow at him. “Right. You didn’t tell him about the factory.”
Now Culley’s blasé tone changed, turning sharp with annoyance. “I’ve told you repeatedly—that wasn’t me.”
“Oh really? You’re telling me you had nothing to do with it?” Mind to mind, I challenged him. Admit it, Culley. You know I’m not perfect. I can hardly throw stones at you. Just be honest.
“Speaking of honesty and past sins... what exactly did you do for my father that has you so morose and self-flagellating?
I glared at Culley. Stop stalling. Did you or did you not blow up the factory?
Pulling his gaze from the road, he aimed it directly at me and answered mind to mind. No. I did not. His eyes returned to the road, and he drove in silence.
Could it possibly be true? I wanted to believe him. I didn’t want to believe he was capable of such wanton disregard for human life, that he was as evil as his father. But I couldn’t be sure. He’d been so evasive with me, so cryptic about his mission in Altum. When we’d parted yesterday in the woods, he’d said he had “everything he needed.” What did that mean? Maybe he’d actually tell me.
“Since we’re being all open and honest now... what was your mission if not to disrupt the tea production?”
He cleared his throat, shifting in the driver’s seat. “I’m not at liberty to discuss it.”
Of course. Frustrated, I came back with, “Well, if you’re so loyal to your father, why didn’t you tell him what I did?”
Culley grinned. “You’d rather I turned you in?” Shrugging his shoulders, he said, “You’re my betrothed. You’re so fond of the humans—don’t they have some sort of law about not testifying against your better half?”
“That’s not an answer, Culley.”
“I have my reasons. Just as I suppose you have yours for doing what you did. Speaking of which... why are you decorating my passenger seat and not tucked away in the charming Kingdom of Mud with your new BFF’s right now? What changed your mind about coming home with me? Afraid you’d miss me too much?”
“Terrified.” I rolled my eyes. And now we’d reached the point where I couldn’t be honest with him. I was here because I needed answers. From his father. From him. I had to find out who was behind the tea factory explosion and what else the Dark Council had up its sleeve. Returning to the Dark Court embedded with my “betrothed” was the most effective way to get it done.
I told Culley the only thing I could. “They aren’t my people. There’s no place for me there. At least at home I’m needed.” To help your father ruin people’s lives and take over the world. That was the part I didn’t say. I also didn’t tell him I’d be out of there as soon as I got the information I needed and secured my own transportation again. The explanation seemed to satisfy him.
“Too bad about your Corvette,” he said. “I always liked that car—very sexy—it fit you.”
I ignored his flirting.
“What do you think of this car?” He gestured to the posh interior of the Jaguar. “I picked it out with you in mind.”
I turned to look at him, baffled once again. Why would he do that? If what he said was even true. “It’s okay.”
Culley’s mouth turned sullen, and his tone soured. “I suppose you prefer big pickup trucks now,” he said. “One has to wonder why a guy feels the need to drive something that large. I have a theory about vehicles and compensating for—”
I cut him off. “There’s nothing going on between me and Asher, if that’s what you think.” The last thing I wanted was to transfer the target from my own back to Asher’s. He had nothing to do with any of this—I wouldn’t even be seeing him again.
Culley let out an incredulous laugh. “Right. It didn’t look like ‘nothing’ when you were exploring the inside of his mouth with your tongue.”
The air wheezed from my lungs. Culley had seen us kissing? I had thought he was out of sight distance. Or really, more correctly, I hadn’t been thinking very much at all. I’d been so blown away by Asher’s kiss I’d lost all awareness of our surroundings and who might or might not be witnessing that life-altering moment.
“That was... that was him, not me. And I stopped him.”
“Yes, I could tell you detested every minute of it.” Culley flicked his hand in a dismissive gesture. “No matter. Farmer Fred is back there in his natural habitat of Timbuktu, and you and I are on our way back to where we belong.”
I nodded as if agreeing, but New York City, Los Angeles, Milan—the places I’d lived and worked no longer felt like where I belonged. My mind drifted back down the highway to the quaint storefronts and churches and tree-lined sidewalks of the tiny southern town that slipped further away with every passing mile.
Then it drifted to that searing, mind-scrambling kiss—and my heart clenched into a painful knot. How could I have gotten so attached so quickly? It was stupid. It was impossible. And I would forget Asher... somehow. Sometimes I wished I could use my glamour on myself.