Shadowspell (11 page)

She grinned at me, and there was a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “It’ll be a real hardship, but somehow I’ll manage.”

I laughed and let some of the tension ease out of my shoulders. “Yeah, I’ve noticed how telling other people what to do is not your thing.”

Kimber gave me a mock dirty look. “Here’s the perfect color for you,” she said, snatching a bottle off the topmost shelf and sticking it in my face.

It was the most hideous shade of puke green I’d ever seen. Why they even
made
nail polish in that color was anyone’s guess.

“Ha ha,” I told her, then reached for a bottle of neon orange. “How about this one for you?”

We went back and forth for a bit, each choosing the ugliest colors available—and let me tell you, there were plenty of ugly ones to choose from—before we settled on shell pink for Kimber and a shimmery copper for me. Then the manicurists descended on us with clippers and files and cuticle-pushers, and other … stuff.

I’d expected to have my nails filed and then painted. The rest of the ritual came as a complete surprise. I wasn’t too fond of having my cuticles pushed and nipped, so I turned to Kimber to distract myself.

“Why did you let Ethan use your phone to call me?” I blurted, then wished my hand were free so I could smack myself in the forehead with it. I honestly hadn’t meant to sound like I was accusing her of something, but the truth is I was a bit annoyed with her for helping Ethan ambush me. However, I really wished I’d brought it up on the phone, instead of here in front of a couple of strangers.

Kimber didn’t seem to think my timing was inappropriate, however. She wrinkled her nose and gave me an apologetic look. “Sorry about that. He used the phone while I was in the kitchen making tea. I heard him talking to you, but by then it was too late.”

Kimber had tried to warn me away from Ethan from the very beginning. I should have known she hadn’t willingly helped Ethan trick me into answering the phone.

“He wouldn’t tell me what he did to make you so mad at him,” Kimber continued.

No, of course he wouldn’t. I looked at the two women who were busily fussing with our nails, wishing that if I’d had to bring this up, I’d done it while Kimber and I were still alone.

“Come on,” Kimber said impatiently. “Spill.”

Reluctantly, I told her about seeing Ethan at the party with the redhead. My cheeks heated with a blush as I spoke. I felt like such a dork for getting upset about this when Ethan and I weren’t dating.

Kimber let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head. “I love my brother—most of the time—but he can be a total asshat.”

I choked back a laugh. The woman working on Kimber’s nails smiled faintly before she got her expression under control. I reminded myself that spa staff probably got to hear a lot of girlie secrets on a regular basis. That still didn’t make me comfortable talking about it.

“Yeah, well, that’s why I don’t want to talk to him,” I said.

Kimber looked a little grim. “He also doesn’t give up easy.”

I groaned. “Yeah, I kind of figured that.” He’d been lying low lately, but I didn’t expect that to last forever. I tried not to think about how he might be keeping himself entertained while I was giving him the cold shoulder, since it shouldn’t matter to me.

“For what it’s worth,” Kimber said, dropping her voice, although it wasn’t like the manicurists couldn’t hear her, “I think he really cares about you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I can tell by the way he was practically making out with that girl on the dance floor.”

“I doubt he’ll ever stop being a flirt, but I also doubt he’d put this much effort into talking to you if you didn’t mean something to him.”

I bit my tongue to keep from saying anything stupid. From what Kimber had told me about him before, I knew that Ethan planned to follow in his father’s footsteps. Hell, he was head of the Avalon Student Underground, which was supposedly a group of subversive political activists who wanted to promote change in Avalon. I say “supposedly” because the only time I’d ever met anyone from this Underground, their meeting had been nothing more than a glorified keg party.

Whatever his Underground was really up to, I knew for certain that Ethan had … ambitions. And that having a Faeriewalker on his side couldn’t hurt those ambitions. Which made his motives in chasing me suspect, at best.

“I think I liked it better when you were telling me Ethan was just using me and I should stay away from him,” I said, sounding a little sour.

One corner of Kimber’s mouth rose in a wry smile. “In other words, you wish I would butt out?”

“Nah,” I told her, returning her smile. “It’s nice to have someone to talk to about it. Even if you do give conflicting advice.”

Kimber examined the perfectly polished hand the manicurist had just released. “I’d whap you upside the head, only I don’t want to ruin my nails.”

“Ditto,” I said.

chapter nine

Kimber wanted to visit a little tea shop just down the road from the spa, and I wasn’t anxious to return to my safe house. I had to ask my dad for permission, since I needed him to come with me to act as a bodyguard. I don’t think I’d asked my mom permission for anything since I was about eight. She’d generally been too drunk to care what I did, and though I was glad her brain was no longer pickling in a sea of alcohol, there was a part of me that really missed the freedom I had once taken for granted.

Luckily, Dad said he had the whole afternoon free, so there was no reason he couldn’t keep watch over me for a while longer.

The tea shop was kind of like a Starbucks or Caribou Coffee would be in the United States, with a ton of varieties of tea available for sale by the pound, and a counter where you could order something on the spot. There was a patio-like area to the right of the shop, which featured a number of round outdoor tables with umbrellas. In the States, those umbrellas would be to shade the customers from the sun. In Avalon, I think they were more likely meant to keep off the rain.

Kimber, who had been on a crusade to convert me to the Church of Tea, insisted I try a variety called “Faerie Rose.”

“It’s called that because the roses used for it come from Faerie,” she told me.

“Eww,” I said, wrinkling up my nose. “Who wants to drink roses?”

She gave me a patronizing look. “Trust me, it won’t taste like roses.”

If the place had offered coffee, I would have stood firm, but they didn’t, so I let Kimber browbeat me. The tea was the color of a blush wine, and when I sniffed it, I practically sneezed at the strength of the rose smell.

“Trust me,” Kimber said again as we headed out to one of the sheltered tables. It wasn’t raining at the moment, but the sky was a bleak, solid gray, and the air felt damp. If a day went by without at least a sprinkling of rain in Avalon, that was probably a sign of the Apocalypse.

Neither my dad nor Finn had ordered tea—I think it was against the bodyguard code—and when they followed us outside, they each stood just far enough away that Kimber and I could talk in private, as long as we kept our voices down.

As I blew on my tea—more to stall having to drink it than to cool it down—Kimber glanced over at Finn, then turned to me with a smile. Finn was in his Secret Service Man mode today, wearing a bland dark suit and dark glasses that hid his striking eyes. But Kimber had seen his less formal look, and had made no secret of how much she appreciated the view.

She leaned forward, the smile turning into a grin. “If I hadn’t seen Finn without those glasses, I’d wonder if Keane was adopted.”

I stifled a laugh. It was true that Keane and Finn were polar opposites in the looks department. Especially when Finn was on duty, when his look was extra-ultra-conservative. I couldn’t help thinking Keane had created his bad-boy look as a way of rebelling against his father, though Finn showed no sign of minding.

“There’s more of a resemblance than you might think,” I said, then finally took a sip of my tea, bracing myself for it to taste disgusting.

Weirdly, although the smell of rose was as strong as ever, the taste of the tea was all spice and honey. No spice I could recognize, mind you, but it didn’t taste like roses at all. I took another sip and rolled it around my tongue.

“Well?” Kimber asked with a smug smile.

I shrugged and swallowed my sip. “You were right: it doesn’t taste like roses.” I still wasn’t sure I
liked
it, but I could drink it without gagging.

“Of course I was right. Being right is my specialty.” She took a sip of her own tea, then stole another glance at Finn. “So you were saying there’s more of a resemblance than I’m seeing…?”

I nodded. “If you see them right next to each other and you ignore Keane’s dye job, you can definitely tell they’re related.”

She looked unconvinced. “I saw them next to each other at the party,” she reminded me.

I couldn’t help making a face at the memory. I hadn’t seen Keane since. I hoped his wounded pride was all healed up. “You saw them in a dark nightclub, and Finn was so pissed off he was scary. I don’t think you were comparing their looks. Oh, and by the way, I’m sorry Keane was such an asshole to you. If I’d known he would behave like that…” I let my voice trail off because I didn’t know what I would have done if I’d known. My choices at the time had been go with Keane, or skip the party. I couldn’t help noticing that Kimber was wearing the pendant I’d given her, which reminded me why I’d taken the risk of going in the first place.

Kimber licked her lips, and a hint of pink colored her pale cheeks. “You don’t have to apologize. I actually, um, kind of liked him.”

My eyes widened, and my jaw dropped. I reached up and wiggled my ear. “Excuse me, but I think there’s something wrong with my hearing. Did I just hear you say you
liked
him?”

The color in her cheeks deepened. “Boys are often intimidated by me,” she confided. “Either because of who my father is, or because I’m smart. I liked that he wasn’t intimidated.”

There went that annoying little stab of jealousy again. I fought it down ruthlessly. “What about that guy I saw you with the first night I met you?”

It had been my one and only meeting with the Student Underground, and Kimber had been hanging out with a Fae boy who I thought at the time might be her boyfriend. Though come to think of it, if he’d been her boyfriend, she’d have talked to me about him by now. And it wasn’t like they’d been all over each other or anything.

Kimber leaned over the table and lowered her voice even more. “I assume you mean Owain. He’s a friend, but…” She stared at her tea as she swirled the cup around. “The members of the Underground all know I’m younger than them and treat me like a kid. Owain flirts a little, but I know he doesn’t really mean it.”

“Do you want him to mean it?”

She frowned in thought. “No,” she said at last with a resigned sigh. “He’s a nice guy, but he doesn’t really … do it for me, if you know what I mean.”

That I did. “But Keane does?” I prompted, hoping I was keeping my highly annoying and inappropriate jealousy deeply hidden.

Her smile turned mischievous. “I’m not sure yet, but I think it’s a possibility.”

“You’re nuts,” I replied with authority. “Or a glutton for punishment.”

“If I only liked to hang out with people who were agreeable, what would I be doing here with you?”

I threw my little wooden stirrer at her. She laughed and ducked. She needn’t have bothered, not with my lousy aim and the poor aerodynamics of wooden stirrers. I tried to imitate Keane’s fierce scowl, but that was hard to do when fighting laughter.

Kimber sat up straight, still giggling. But then her eyes focused on someone or something behind me, and the laughter died.

“Shite,” she said.

I looked over my shoulder to see what had bothered her. And that’s when I saw Ethan threading his way between the tables toward us.

My heart made a strange, fluttery feeling in my chest, and my breath caught in my throat at the sight of him. When I’d first met him, his looks had struck me speechless, but I’d been in Avalon long enough now that I was getting used to the otherworldly beauty of the Fae. So it wasn’t his looks that made my insides start doing backflips.

I licked the taste of Faerie Rose tea off my lips and put my cup down. I’d been prepared to have to face Ethan eventually, because I knew he wasn’t through with me, but I certainly wasn’t prepared to face him
now
. Then again, there’s a distinct possibility I was lying to myself and I’d never have been prepared.

Out of the corner of my eye, I checked on Finn and my dad. My dad tolerated Kimber, despite her being Unseelie and Alistair’s daughter. He was less fond of Ethan, whether for political reasons or just because Ethan was a guy. I half expected Dad to chase Ethan away—or have Finn do it for him—but they both held their positions.

Great. No rescue from that quarter. I turned to Kimber, hoping she’d help me shoo her brother, but the traitor smiled sadly at me, then pushed her chair back and headed into the shop, claiming she wanted a different kind of tea. I glared holes in her back as she retreated.

I heard the scrape of metal on stone as Ethan pulled out a chair and sat, but I refused to look at him. I picked up my tea and sipped it just to have something to do.

Ethan sighed heavily. “Tiffany—the girl you saw me with at the party—is an ex.
Very
ex.”

I snorted. “Yeah, I could tell by the way she was hanging all over you.” I stared into my pretty pink tea, but couldn’t bring myself to take another sip. I’d have to unclench my jaw to do that, and I wasn’t about to.

Ethan sighed again. “She’d been drinking. She hung all over the next three guys she danced with, too.”

I finally found the courage to look at him. His teal blue eyes had a haunted look to them, and for half a second, I almost felt sorry for him. Maybe I hadn’t really seen enough to justify being so jealous. Then I remembered the way Ethan had looked at the redhead—Tiffany—and I knew I wasn’t making something out of nothing.

He must have seen my opinion of him in my eyes, because he squirmed and dropped his own gaze.