“I’m not collected,” I whispered. “And put that down. It’s mine!”

Eyes mocking, Al succinctly put the black chrysalis into his front pocket, daring me.

Springs squeaked as Trent shifted on the cot, and my pulse quickened. Damn it, I’d wanted to talk to Al, but not in person, and not here! “Outside,” I demanded, grabbing his coat and tugging him to the door. “Now, before he wakes up.”

“Like I care,” he muttered, but he was moving, and I got behind him and pushed.

“I want to talk to you,” I said, again noticing he didn’t smell like burnt amber. “Alone,” I added, making Jenks bristle.

Al let himself be shoved out, but I think it was only because Jenks was having a personal issue with the “alone” comment. “Rache ... ,” the pixy protested once we were outside.

“Stay here,” I demanded, tugging Al down the path. “I mean it. Just ... keep Trent safe.”

“Trent!” the pixy yelped, releasing a burst of gold dust rivaling the sun.

“Do this for me!” I exclaimed, voice hardly above a whisper. “Al, walk with me.”

The demon snorted. “Walk with me ... ,” he drawled. “How poetic. You’re turning into the little kingmaker, aren’t you?”

“Sweet ever-loving pixy piss,” Jenks griped. “I hope he turns your underwear to slugs!”

Jenks wouldn’t follow me right away, and tension brought my shoulders up to my ears when I realized I was shoving a demon through Trent’s private gardens. “How did you know I wanted to talk to you?” I said, pulse fast as I slowed down.

“I didn’t.” Al’s voice was low, distant almost as he touched a coiled fern frond and it gracefully unrolled with the sound of green. “I came to stop you from making a mistake.”

He came to stop me. My heart jumped at the thought that he might have forgiven me. I mean, he wasn’t throttling me or threatening me. But then my brief elation died. “It’s not a mistake. We could use your help in twisting Landon’s curse to dust.”

Al’s steady pace faltered, and I stopped in the middle of a tangled cricket-filled clearing.

“Rachel, you can’t shift the elven curse. The best you can hope for is to survive it. But it doesn’t matter. You must come now as we prepare.”

“Prepare for what? I’m not leaving Trent to do this alone. We could do this if the rest of you would help,” I accused, glad we were out of earshot of Trent’s hut.

Al reached for my arm, his hand falling back before it touched me. “No, we can’t,” he said with an infuriating sureness. “Trent has overestimated himself, and you won’t come out of this alive if you bind your fate to his.”

My brow furrowed. “I didn’t know you cared.”