Carrisa—who still hadn’t released his hand—took it, used her thumb and finger to slide the cap off and into her palm, and then caught Sionnach’s gaze. “Pull up your sleeve.”

He obeyed.

“This”—she scrawled digits on his skin—“is my number.” She blew on the skin as if the makeup needed to dry. Then she started to write again. “And my name. Call me.”

Sionnach glanced at the numbers and back at her eyes. “I’ll see you again,” he promised. He wasn’t sure about the calling her part, but he would see her. He leaned in and kissed her again, gently this time, and then walked away still smiling. He didn’t think mortals and faeries had anything but ultimate sorrow in their lives if they tried to spend eternity together—mortals died far too quickly and easily for that—but he wasn’t looking for forever. He already had plans for his forever.

As he stepped into the shadows, he faded from visibility again and began to run back to Silver Ridge. If he could get the final pieces in place, the day would be a victory. He’d hoped to be away from the town today, to stay out of the way so his feelings didn’t sway him from his plans, but that hadn’t worked. Now, he had to go meddle in Rika’s life and hope he didn’t lose sight of the goal.

Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

The area near the tracks in Silver Ridge wasn’t somewhere Rika usually lingered, and she wasn’t sure how long she could stay there. Now that they sat on a bench, the tracks weren’t near enough to cause her pain, but being near Jayce like this hurt. She’d grown so accustomed to being near him without his knowledge that she struggled with trying to figure out how close she could be now that he could see her.

They sat on the bench, very carefully not touching—in sharp contrast to Del and Kayley, who were standing a short distance away, so caught up in each other that they were seemingly oblivious to the world around them. But Rika was careful to keep a distance between her and Jayce. She told herself that it was to protect him, as if not touching would somehow trick the desert fey who watched, as if they didn’t already know that she was half in love with the mortal boy.

Although Rika could hear a group of faeries approaching her, she didn’t react. The town and the desert were filled with fey things. Many were harmless. She hoped that these were such faeries—until she saw them. They were some of the faeries who’d been on the edge of the cliff, and they were headed straight toward the bench where she sat with Jayce.

“She can’t stop us.”

“We ought to be allowed to play.”