Haunted Hearts by Christine Pope

Author:Christine Pope
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dark Valentine Press

10

Right then, Alessandro felt as if someone had reached out and punched him in the jaw. He stared down at Miranda. For some reason, he’d expected her to be taller, as though the prodigious talents she supposedly commanded should have also lent her extra height.

She said, her tone still pleasant, although with an edge that carried its own warning, “Can I come in?”

“Yes,” he said, finding his voice. Next to him, Elena had gone pale with worry, although she didn’t say anything. “Please. Sorry — I wasn’t expecting company.”

“I guess not,” she replied crisply. As he and Elena stepped out of the way, Miranda entered the foyer and gave a quick look around. “It looks a lot different when it isn’t decorated for Halloween.”

Not sure how to respond to that odd comment, he allowed himself a shrug and said, “We can sit down in the living room.”

“I’ll go get some water,” Elena blurted out, then all but fled down the hallway to the kitchen.

“Who’s your guest?” Miranda asked as she took a seat in the armchair.

Hell. Oh, hell. He might have tried to come up with a lie about Elena being a tourist he’d met downtown, except the prima would have already been able to detect that she was a witch, so that story wouldn’t work. For all he knew, Miranda’s powers also allowed her to determine whether someone wasn’t telling the truth. Gabriel hadn’t gone into a lot of detail about the Castillo prima’s magic, except to say that in some ways, it was even more powerful than his own. And since Gabriel was the strongest warlock anyone in the Escobar clan had seen — with the exception of his late father, Joaquin — that meant Miranda was definitely not a person to be trifled with.

Alessandro sat down on the couch, wondering if there was anything he could say that might salvage the situation. “She’s — well — ”

“I’m Elena Salazar,” Elena announced, returning to the room with a pitcher of water in one hand and a couple of glasses in the other. Her expression was resigned, as if she knew there was no point in trying to hide her identity from her prima. She put the pitcher and the two glasses down on the coffee table, and poured some water into the tumblers. Obviously, she was trying to act cool and calm, but Alessandro could see the way her hand shook before she set down the pitcher of water.

Miranda’s big green eyes widened even further. “Elena Sal — ” She broke off there, paused for a second or two, and then said, “Did you know I’ve had the whole Castillo clan looking for you for the past two weeks?”

Elena bent over to wipe an imaginary drop of water from the wooden surface of the coffee table, obviously doing whatever she could do to avoid the prima’s shocked stare. “Um, no, I didn’t.” She came and sat down next to Alessandro, her body so tense, he thought she might vibrate if plucked, like a guitar string.

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