“Maybe they were after me, ” I suggested. After all, everyone kept telling me I was in mortal danger. “Aunt Grace was attacked yesterday, and she said she thought her attackers were after me.”

Kimber raised an eyebrow at me. “She was attacked, you say?” There was no missing the skepticism in her voice.

“That’s what she said. And she had this big bruise on her face.”

Kimber snorted. “I bet you she was faking it. Even I have enough magic to heal a bruise. My guess is she was trying to scare you into doing what she wanted.”

“I wouldn’t put it past her,” I mumbled. “But even if that was all a big, fat lie, the Spriggans could have been after me, right?”

Kimber shook her head. “They couldn’t have known where you were or that you were with us. No, they were after Ethan, and the rest of us were just in the way.”

Does it make me a bad person that I was glad they were after Ethan instead of me?

I could have easily kept asking her questions till the sun went down, but Kimber had apparently had enough.

“I can lend you something to wear if you want to throw your clothes in the wash,” she said, striding out of the kitchen, which now looked as neat and pristine as if no one had eaten there for a week.

“It would have been nice if you and Ethan had grabbed my bags when you kidnapped me,” I grumbled. At five foot six, I wasn’t exactly a midget, but Kimber was much taller. I didn’t think I’d fit into her clothes real well.

She looked me up and down with an appraising eye. “I have some capris that should be just about right on you.”

Kimber was wrong. The capris didn’t look right on me—they looked like capris that were too long. But at least they weren’t the same clothes I’d slept in. With the pants, Kimber lent me a long-sleeved T-shirt. Good thing it had elastic cuffs; otherwise the sleeves would have swallowed my hands whole.

It was a gray and gloomy day when Kimber and I headed out to the courtyard to meet up with Ethan. Occasional splats of rain dripped from the clouds, but neither of the Fae seemed to think a raincoat or umbrella was necessary. I shivered in the damp chill and pulled the long sleeves over my hands after all.

Ethan must have noticed me shivering, because he stepped up beside me and threw an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to his side.

I froze. I know it’s not really a big deal to have a guy put his arm around you, but still … Ethan wasn’t just any guy. He was a guy who’d make the most gorgeous human in history look ordinary. Plus he was Fae. Plus he was older than me.

Kimber seemed bothered by the gesture, her shoulders stiffening as she glared at Ethan. It was like she was a whole different person when Ethan was around. Even her body language was different, more tense and wary. I liked the Ethan-free Kimber better.

Ethan nudged me out of my frozen-rabbit impersonation by starting to walk. With his arm so firmly around me, I had no choice but to move with him. I swallowed hard and stared at the rain-slicked cobblestones at my feet.

Ethan’s body was warm against mine, and I actually stopped shivering. Okay, maybe having his arm around me felt pretty good, even if my heart was jackhammering and my nerves made me about as graceful as a three-legged elephant.

“Better?” Ethan asked, rubbing his hand up and down my arm and creating even more heat. Especially in my face, which must have been red as a matador’s cape.

I like to think of myself as being unusually mature for my age, and in a lot of ways, I’m sure it’s true. How many sixteen-year-olds are responsible for paying the bills and balancing the checkbook, after all? But I had about as much experience with guys as your average preteen, and it was showing. My tongue seemed glued to the roof of my mouth, and I was hyperaware of how he was touching me. I didn’t dare look at him and was glad my hair was at least partially shielding my face.

“Knock it off, Ethan,” Kimber said, but there was a hint of resignation in her voice.

“Knock what off?” he asked. “All I’m doing is keeping her warm, since you didn’t bother giving her anything thicker than a T-shirt.”

Kimber grumbled something I didn’t quite catch, but it didn’t sound complimentary. I wondered if she even owned anything thicker than a T-shirt, since it sure seemed that the Fae didn’t mind the cold at all. And the warmth that radiated from Ethan’s body was considerable, making me wonder what their normal body temperature was.

Maybe he was just trying to keep me warm. But I still couldn’t relax, and it was a minor miracle that the two of us didn’t hit the dirt in a pile of tangled limbs as our sides bumped in haphazard rhythm.

Walking got easier when we reached the main road. I was not a big fan of the cobblestone streets. Sure, they were nice to look at, but they were a twisted ankle waiting to happen. I bet high heels weren’t a real popular fashion choice in Avalon.

There wasn’t much on the far side of the road, just a strip of well-manicured grass and a super-strong-looking guardrail right at the edge of the cliff. Just the thought of being in a car accident on this road was enough to make my stomach shrivel. Maybe riding horses through the city wasn’t as weird as I’d first thought.

There wasn’t a whole lot of traffic, so the three of us had no trouble getting across the road, even with my uncoordinated gait. I couldn’t quite figure out where we were going, though. I looked up and down the strip of grass, and there was nothing of any interest as far as the eye could see.