Page 28 of Stubborn as a Shadow

“I agree with your friend,” Nelson said as he turned toward me. “You need to leave. My colleague is in the town at the bottom of the valley. He can?—”

“No.” I shook my head. “I need the artifact.”

“Why?”

We were at a crossroads. Did I trust him with everything? He already knew I was a unicorn. If he could handle that…

The phone in the room started ringing. What the…? Who would be calling me? V? It had to be. She was the only one who ever called me. I had turned off the earbud, so maybe that’s why she was calling my room.

I answered it.

“This is your reminder, sir,” an unfamiliar voice said.

“My reminder?”

“You have a seven o’clock reservation for dinner.”

“Oh! Right! Thank you!”

When V had told me she’d set up some reminders for me, I hadn’t given it much thought. Having the front desk call was smart. I tended to get a little distracted at times.

“We should eat,” I said with a definitive nod when the call ended. “But first I need to fix my makeup.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Nelson said.

“What question?” I thought back. “Oh. About the artifact?” I shrugged as I tried to remember where my makeup was. Oh, right. It was still in the suitcase. “It’s a place to start. My uncle thought it’d help.”

“With what?”

“Finding my family.” I rummaged through the makeup bag Violet had packed for me. I went to the mirror over the dresser and got to work. I still didn’t understand why there had to be so many products, but Violet said they were all important.

Nelson tilted his head to the side and studied my reflection in the mirror. “How? Is it part of a unicorn horn or something?”

I shuddered and rubbed my forehead where my horn was when I was in my shifted form. Losing part of my horn would be horrific. “Gosh, I hope not, but I don’t know for sure.”

“What can you tell me about it?”

“My uncle found it at a market like this. He was excited. As soon as he walked through the door, he tossed it to me… Which was the wrong thing to do. I totally missed catching it, and itrolled under the couch.” I rubbed my chest. “I dropped to my hands and knees so I could reach it. Just as my fingers brushed against it, the door was thrown open…”

Nelson swallowed, like he knew this wasn’t a happy story. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and I stared at it for a long moment. He waited for me to continue. I heaved out a breath. I really didn’t like talking about this, but I could see why Nelson should know.

“Someone had followed him.” I squeezed my eyes shut as that moment played out in my head for the billionth time. “He was murdered… and I ran…”Like a coward.

Although what I could have done, I didn’t know. My uncle was already dead by the time I realized we were being attacked.

I pulled my cloak tighter around myself like a security blanket. “I wasn’t fast enough, though. A day later, V and I had made plans to run, but before she arrived at our rendezvous point, they caught me.” I shivered. “If Violet had been home when we were attacked, or arrived early the next day, she could have been killed too.”

Nelson became very still. “The people who murdered your uncle are the ones who kidnapped you?”

“At the time I thought so. But I’ve wondered about that a lot,” I admitted. “I don’t know for sure. I mean, maybe? But I can’t be certain. The people who kidnapped me might have just gotten lucky. But it is a pretty big coincidence…”

“Fuck,” Nelson muttered.

I didn’t think that was an invitation, and wasn’t that too bad? I could really use a hug and cuddles after remembering all that.

9

ALIASES AND ENEMIES