A Touch Mortal Read Online Free PDF Page A

lightly against the wall. Kristen looked almost normal, save her sense of what passed for fashion. He eyed the black ball gown with distaste. “Look, I know you like to be different and all, but do you have to be so nineteen-forty-six debutante?”
    She ignored him, opening one of the dresser drawers, sweeping away the pens and markers. “Silly, really,” she said, turning to him. “Anyone with their wits about them would know Sharpies make for bad inspiration. No wonder I hardly wrote anything this week.”
    Gabriel tossed the magazine aside, pulling a pillow under his chin as he shifted to lie down on the bed. He ran the words through his head before saying them, trying to find the cadence to make them sound nonchalant. Of course, when he opened his mouth, they came out clipped and too quick. “I need to talk to you about where I was.Why you couldn’t get a hold of me.” The pause after was long enough to be theatrical. Kristen set the hairbrush down.
    She said his name, her voice unsure and faltering. Hidden between the syllables were the questions her pride wouldn’t allow her to ask. When she answered, though, all insecurities had dropped away.
    “Something serious?” The flash in her eyes dared him to attempt an excuse.
    “Az has a girl.” Kristen twisted to the mirror, pulling the brush through the tangled wreck of her hair.
    “Huh,” she mused to her reflection. “All this time I thought him celibate.” Gabriel shot her an impatient glare. “I hardly see how this is relevant to me.”
    “She’s Pathless,” he finished. “She’s one of your kind. Or will be.”
    She silently brushed blush over her cheekbones. “So Az thinks, what? She’ll go Sider and they’ll skip off into the sunset for fuck’s sake?” Kristen’s jaw tightened. She went back to the mirror, pulling her eyelid taut, smearing kohl liner with an expert hand.
    “This girl, Eden, she’s good for him. He’s doing better than he has in centuries. He’s hardly struggled against the Fall since he met her.” Gabriel closed his eyes, blotting out the distraction of the room, the collection of top hats shelved above the mirror. “I want you to take her in aftershe changes. Keep her safe until we figure things out.” He opened his eyes. A slow crescent chiseled its way onto Kristen’s lips.
    “We’re nearly immortal, Gabriel. You know that.” Her brown eyes already glittered from his unintentional slip. “Keep her safe from what, exactly?”
    Gabriel glanced away. “Luke.”
    “I do recall you mentioning how he enjoys ripping apart Az’s love life.” She lined her other eye and tossed the pencil back into the drawer. “Last one was straight down the middle, right?”
    “Really, Kristen?” Gabriel’s eyes flashed maroon and Kristen dropped her gaze, rummaging through her makeup drawer. “When she does go Sider, I want her in the best hands. Ones on the right side. You are the best hands, Kristen.”
    “Of course I am.” Kicking a foot up, she shoved off the vanity. The chair hurdled across the floor, past her wall of filing cabinets, carrying Kristen to where it collided against the bed. She leaned closer. “And the best,” she said, her words humming against his ear, “do not babysit.”
    She pulled back, giving the chair a lazy spin. The black taffeta of her dress bloomed around her, made her look almost innocent until she opened her mouth. “Dump her in Queens.”
    “With Madeline ?” Gabriel’s jaw dropped. “Now you’re just being cruel.”
    Kristen’s hands plunged down into the folds of the dress, her head cocking incredulously. “And you’re being selfish. You’re asking me to put myself and every Sider in this house at risk in exchange for what, flattery?”
    “What risk?” Gabriel argued. “It’s not like he’ll be searching her out. Luke won’t even know she’s a Sider. All I’m asking is that you give her a place to stay, teach her what she needs to know.”
    Kristen tapped her