A Little Night Muse(16)

                So Vaile and Imogene and the other escaped phae must have discovered. Adelyn had never wanted to get away.                     Fleeing had been forced on her unfairly.

                “I meant to ask you,” Josh said. “How did you get here? I                     didn’t see a car.”

                “Oh, I just...dropped in.” Adelyn gestured randomly, using the                     misdirection of her hand to pull a bit of the swirling mist around them to cloud                     his mind.

                “Just dropped in,” Josh echoed obediently. A fleeting note of                     disbelief canted his tone upward, and she cursed her lack of experience with                     stubborn human males.

                She needed to occupy him with other things. “Have many more                     like me come here?”

                He shrugged. “I’ve seen a few of the Hunters’ friends when I                     run stock through here. Vaile says he’s happy not to mow.”

                Adelyn forced herself not to scoff. So the Hunter disguised                     himself as a good neighbor by letting cows tromp through his fields?                     How...worldly of him. “Where do these friends go, after they leave here?”

                “Back to Hollywood, I suppose.”

                The phae had their own holy woods,                     but none of the runaways would be welcomed there. Not anymore. Was Josh hiding                     more than he was saying? Out here in the world, she was uncertain of the                     strength of her musetta power to inspire him. Maybe                     she just hadn’t found the right incentive to unlock his secrets. She had to find                     it and, through Josh, find the Hunter, if she wanted Raze to lift her exile.

                Josh was scanning the valley—as if there was anything                     interesting to see—so she used the moment to study his face.

                Even the ugliest phae had a certain                     undeniable intensity that compelled the eye. Josh had none of that. And                     yet...

                Maybe the simplicity of him stunned her. What sort of man                     rescued a damsel in distress without expectation of...Ah. Speaking of simple.                     Inspiration was about passion. And buried passion had a special power.

                “Thank you for taking me.” She let her voice thrum in her                     throat.