Be Careful What You Wish For Read online

  “I…but I…” Cass honestly felt as though she’d been punched in the gut. How could Jake act like this? How could he bring her here and spend so much time making her fall in love with him only to throw her away like a used tissue the moment he had a chance to get back with his ex?

  I knew he wasn’t over her, shouted a little voice in the back of Cass’s head. I knew it, knew it, knew it!

  But all the hindsight in the world couldn’t stop her heart from breaking. She knew now that she had fallen for her court-appointed elf—fallen hard. She would have given her promise to be with him exclusively—to be his completely—as soon as she was able to speak to Brandon and break up with him in person. And now it was all completely ruined.

  She felt sick, her dress too tight, her head throbbing, her tongue sour with the few sips of alcohol she’d had. The music the band was playing seemed too loud and the lights from the elaborate chandeliers were too bright when all Cass wanted to do was crawl into a dark hole and hide her shame and pain.

  “Watch out,” Valen hissed, poking her in the ribs with a surprisingly sharp elbow. “They’re coming back—they’re going to act like nothing happened.”

  To her horror, Cass saw that he was right. Coming through the crowd was Jake, with Glorianna in lockstep right beside him. He said something to her that Cass couldn’t catch and she laughed in return, a high, tinkling sound like ringing crystal.

  I have to get out of here! I can’t stand this—I can’t! she thought wildly, and began looking for an exit. But where could she go? She was stuck here, in the Realm of the Fae with no way to return to the human world. She had no choice but to face this situation head-on, no matter how painful it was going to be.

  I can’t give him the satisfaction of running away, she told herself savagely. I have to finish this.

  Standing tall, she squared her shoulders and waited until Jake saw her.

  “Cassandra?” He came up to her, a worried frown on his face. “Where have you been?”

  “No, Jake—I think the question is where have you been?” Cass snarled, glaring back at him. “And don’t bother to lie—I know because I watched you.”

  “Watched me?” He looked puzzled. “Watched me what? What are you talking about?”

  “Don’t pretend!” Cass’s eyes were stinging with hot, angry tears now but she did her best to keep them in check. “You make me sick! All your talk about how you wanted me ‘body and soul’ and then I see you with her.” She glared at Glorianna who gave her a smug smile in return.

  “Who—Glorianna? I couldn’t help walking with her—she came up to me!” Jake looked more confused than ever and Cass wondered if he had always been such a good actor. The thought that he had been fooling her from the first crossed her mind and made her feel sick and disgusted with herself for being so stupid and naïve.

  “I’m such an idiot.” She was crying now—she couldn’t help herself, couldn’t stop. “I actually thought you cared about me. But you were just killing time until you could get back to Glorianna.”

  “She’s right, Glorianna,” Valen chimed in, stepping up to the fairy girl. “And don’t try to lie about it, we saw the two of you together!”

  Glorianna’s eyes went wide.

  “Oh, I never meant for you to see that, Valen! Oh, I’m so sorry!”

  “It’s too late to say sorry.” Valen’s monochrome face was stony. “I thought you loved me but you threw everything we had away the minute you could get back to your damn elf.” And with that, he turned on his heel and marched away.

  “Glorianna, what’s going on here?” Jake demanded, rounding on his ex. “What have you done?”

  “I’m afraid it’s what both of us have done, Jacobin,” she whispered, shaking her head. “Oh dear, I know it would have come out eventually but—”

  “What are you talking about?” Jake snapped. Not waiting for a reply, he turned to Cass. “Look, I don’t know what you think you heard or saw but—”

  “Stop!” Cass put up a hand. “Not another word. I don’t want to hear any of your crappy lying explanations. I just want to get out of here and never see you again.”

  But that was going to present a problem since Jake was the one who had brought her to the Realm of the Fae for the ball in the first place and Cass wasn’t certain where she would find someone else with strong enough magic to take her back home.

  Wait a minute…strong magic?

  Turning her head, she saw the man with black hair and eyes regarding her quietly, his arms crossed over his broad chest.

  “You…” Cass marched up to him. “How strong is your magic, really?”

  “Strong as you need, lass.” He gave her a lazy grin. “Why? You want me to turn that elf into a toad for you?”

  For a moment, Cass was tempted, but then she shook her head.

  “No, nothing like that—I just need to go home.” She looked him in his solid black eyes. “Could you do that for me? Could you get me back to my house in the human world?”

  He nodded slowly.

  “Well, certainly lass—if you give me an invitation into your home.”

  “Fine—sure.” Cass nodded, a quick, jerky motion of her head. “Whatever—just take me home.”

  “No, Cassandra!” Jake shook his head, reaching out to her. “No, please—it’s dangerous. Do you even know who this man is?”

  “I don’t know and I don’t care,” Cass spat. “As long as he’s not you. I never want to see you again!”

  And, hooking her arm through the arm of the man with black eyes, she looked up at him.

  “Okay, I’m ready. Take me now!”

  “No!” Jake made a lunge for her but she was already moving and suddenly the world was filled with pitch black smoke. Jake and Glorianna and the entire Summer’s End Ball melted away and there was a rushing sound in her ears as Cass was swept away.

  Thirty-Seven

  “Cass, thank goodness—there you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

  As they appeared in the middle of her room and stepped out of the cloud of roiling black smoke, Cass saw her older sister, Phil standing just inside the doorway looking frantic.

  “Well, I’m here now. What’s going on?”

  But Phil was staring at her.

  “Where did you get that gorgeous dress? And who is this?” she asked, pointing at the tall, dark handsome stranger who was standing beside Cass.

  “I don’t know his name—he helped me get home from the Summer’s End Ball,” Cass explained shortly while the man made a sweeping bow in Phil’s direction.

  “The Summer’s End Ball? But I thought Rory told me Counselor O’Shea was taking you to that?” Phil protested.

  “He did take me but I came home with this guy.” Phil poked a thumb at the man beside her.

  “But why? Oh, Cass—have you been crying?”

  Phil came forward at once as though to put her arms around Cass but Cass wasn’t having it. She knew if she let herself go to mush in her sister’s arms and start bawling, she would never stop. And she couldn’t afford to do that right now—she had an art show to put on.

  “It’s a long story,” she told Phil, lifting her chin. “I really can’t talk about it right now. Can we just get on with the show? Is everything all right? Has anyone arrived yet?”

  “That’s the trouble—a lot of people have arrived!” Phil’s eyes widened.

  “So I better get down there!” Cass dabbed under her eyes with her fingertips, hoping she looked better than she felt. “What do they think of the art?”

  “Oh, they love it—but none of them are part of that art critic person—that Lady Blankenship’s—crowd at all,” Phil explained. “They’re all friends of Nana’s—or at least, friends of her date, Sir Percy. They all came over from Lake Como Resort.”

  “What?” Cass asked blankly. “Why did Nana invite them? I thought she was cancelling her date.”

  “Apparently this Sir Percy persuaded her to change her mind,” Phil said. �