Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“Tomorrow we crack this code,” Avery declares, setting what we confirmed to be Browne’s grimoire on the coffee table with a flourish.
She and Leo have spent the past half hour flipping through its pages.
Turns out Browne wrote most of it in English, with all the sixteenth-century non-standardized spelling we English majors love.
But some sections, the most important ones of course, he wrote in symbols.
Avery and Leo think it’s either Enochian or the Alphabet of the Magi.
The rest of us have no idea what they’re talking about.
One last time before we all turn in, Aaron checks the police blotter. Nothing. Brier’s team almost certainly got away. Which means they’re still out there looking for us, and looking for the ring.
Avery stretches as she stands. “Everyone come get your shit off my bed.”
As we pop into her room for our stuff, she hands us each a pillow and blanket. To Liv she says, “You’re staying in here with me. I’m the least scary.”
One look at her blue hair and torn-up fishnets, and I burst into a laugh.
She grins. “What?”
Topaz pushes past us, claiming the floor between Avery’s bed and the wall.
Liv hesitates. “But that leaves Betts out there with all the guys.”
Avery smirks. “I’m pretty sure she doesn’t mind.”
I shrug, fine with the arrangement. But when Avery hands me one pillow and Leo one blanket, I blush.
“That’s all that’s left.” She pats me on the back. “So show me you know how to share.”
“But… but…” I stammer.
“Oh, please. Give it a rest.” She laughs and pushes Leo and me out of the room.
Aaron is stretched out longways across the couch, his feet propped up on the armrest, while Rime lies perpendicular to him on the floor, perfectly positioned to trip anyone coming out of the bedroom. Knowing him, he planned that on purpose.
By scooting the dining table against the wall, Leo makes himself and me a private spot behind the armchair, close to the kitchen.
We’re both dressed comfortably and warmly in t-shirts and sweats, but the floor isn’t exactly giving.
The cold seeps into me within a minute of lying down.
As soon as Leo is supine, I scoot against him, nestling into every warm curve of his body.
He chuckles, arranges the blanket over us, and pulls me even closer.
“Tired?” he asks.
“Yeah.” I rest my head on his chest and sling a leg over his thighs. “But I’m afraid to close my eyes.”
“Why? The snakes?” He runs his fingers from my temple to the back of my neck, sweeping my hair off my cheek.
“Nah. Once I got over the initial shock, I actually thought they were kind of cool. The rats and mice, on the other hand…” I shudder and push up to look at him. “Do you think Juniper wove with a rat?”
“No, I’m thinking something more agile. Maybe a squirrel or a weasel.”
Probably. She launched herself off that wall and cleared ten yards in one leap, like the squirrels in the backyard trying to pillage Dad’s bird feeder.
Leo traces my cheek. “So, why are you afraid to close your eyes?”
I shrug and bite my lip.
“Liv?” he guesses.
“He could’ve killed her, and it would’ve been all my fault.”
“Betts—”
“And you—” He nearly died in that tunnel.
I peer down into his brown eyes, picturing the light going out of them. Tears choke me, sending my hands to his jaw and my lips slamming into his.
He kisses me back, just as fiercely. “What you’ve had to go through—” he rasps out. “I hate that I keep putting you in danger.”
“It’s my choice.”
“But it kills me.” He takes my head in both hands, his fingers gripping me tightly behind the ears.
“You understand that, don’t you? Every time I see you suffer, even the smallest bit, it kills me.
” The anguish in his eyes punches the air out of my chest. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I can’t let anything happen to you.”
“No.” I shake my head, his fingers pulling my hair as he tries to hold me still. “No, don’t say that. What about Nàdar? What about Summer? You have to do what you need to do. You have to put Nàdar first.”
“I can’t, Betts. Not if it means hurting you.” He clutches my head even tighter. “I love you.”
My heart turns inside out, and all my protests evaporate in a silent gasp.
“We’ll figure it out,” he whispers, his lips brushing mine. “Just tell me you love me, and we’ll figure it out.”
I kiss him with every aching thump of my burning, breaking heart. “I love you.”
“A chuisle mo chroí.” He pulls me on top of him, crushing my body to his and kissing me hard.
I frame his head with my arms and rake my hands through his hair.
If he holds me tightly enough, he could pull me inside him, and then I’d be safe.
I’d be where I belonged. I have to believe it’s possible that we can survive this.
That we’ll find that ring, save Nàdar, and live happily ever after. There’s no other bearable option.
His palms race up my back, under my shirt. I straddle his hips and bite back a moan.
“We can’t.” It’s a ragged whisper, breathed against my lips.
I glance out at the room. Aaron is visible, but he’s snoring gently, sound asleep. And even better, the armchair blocks Rime entirely from view.
“Not because of them.” Leo says, rolling us onto our sides. “I don’t have a condom.”
I kiss him, thinking. Dare I? He’s not a frat boy who’s been sleeping around. And if the fae don’t use condoms, then they must not need protection against diseases. “It’s okay. We don’t need one.”
Puzzled, he meets my gaze.
“I’m on the pill.” Since I’m not sure he knows what that means, I add, “I can’t get pregnant.”
His breath quickens. “Are you sure?”
I nod, hooking my top leg over his and sliding a hand down his stomach, feeling his muscles contract under my fingers. His breath catches as I push under his waistband. He’s hard, and hot, and throbbing.
He tugs on my sweats. “Take them off.”
Hastily, we both undress, leaving our shirts on and covering ourselves with the blanket. We lie on our sides, face to face, one of my legs over both of his, and his palm smoothing up the back of my thigh.
I wrap my hand around him again, stroking up and down. Heat blooms on my cheeks as he growls, his tongue plunging into my mouth and his fingers pushing deep inside me. Frustrated, I whimper back. I want to taste him, but I shouldn’t. Not here.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, voice gruff and low.
Screw it. With his back to the room, no one will see. I dip my head, planting a kiss where his collar meets his neck. Then lower, pushing up his shirt until my lips find his bare chest.
“Betts—?” His abs tighten as I make my way down. “What are you—Betts—”
I sweep up his length with my tongue, then sigh as I fill my mouth with him.
His hands tangle in my hair. “Betts—a chroí—oh gods—” The words he stutters become less and less coherent. Less and less recognizable.
His stifled groans vibrate in my throat as all his muscles go taut and he starts to blindly thrust in my mouth.
“Oh gods, Betts. Wait.” He slows and gently tugs on my hair.
I pull back just long enough to shake my head. I don’t want to stop.
“Please,” he gasps, trying to pull me up. “Come here.”
My heart lurches when I look at him. His eyes are a different kind of wild, pulsing with heat and desire. They stay locked on mine as I shimmy up his body, taking my time to feel all the hard planes and corded muscle.
“A chuisle mo chroí,” he whispers. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
He draws my leg up over his again, and as our mouths meet, he sinks inside me.
I break our kiss with a moan.
“Shhh.” I feel his hand behind my back, his thumb brushing across his fingers, putting up a sound shield. “There,” he murmurs. “Now you can make all your pretty little noises.”
“Aaron,” I choke out, my whole body melting. “He might—he could—”
My thoughts are dragged out to sea by a hot wave of pleasure. I grip a handful of Leo’s soft hair and bury my face in his neck, smothering my whimpers. Heat curls from my core outward, until it’s tingling in my fingers and toes.
Each deep thrust leaves me more and more limp. Delirious, I let my head roll back.
Leo’s breath is hot against my jaw, but he keeps his groans in check. They rumble in his chest but don’t make their way out. His control—how does he do that? I bite my lip to keep from crying out.
He lays a hand over my mouth. “Shhh.” But he doesn’t let up. With slow, deep strokes he buries himself inside me, over and over, driving me to the edge.
Not thinking, I grind my teeth into the flesh of his palm.
With a growl, he drives into me even harder.
I’m clenching around him, so tight I’m trembling, until finally I shatter, his hand swallowing my cries as my body racks against his.
He finishes with abandon, thrusting fast and moaning into the pillow under our heads.
I cling to him as our heart rates slow down and our breathing grows more even. He lifts his head to kiss my mouth, my forehead, and each eyelid in turn.
Holding a finger to my lips, I strain to listen. Aaron’s still snoring.
Leo snatches my hand and kisses the back of my fingers. “Still asleep?”
I nod. “Maybe he can’t hear through a sound shield.”
“Or maybe he’s just a deep sleeper.”
Rime’s legs, the only part of him I can see, are still crossed at the ankle and stretched alongside the coffee table. He hasn’t moved.
“Rime’s given up,” I say, realizing he had every opportunity to interfere tonight—and didn’t.
Leo shrugs. “He was fighting a losing battle.”
“We can prove him wrong, can’t we?”
“Yes, a chroí.” He brushes his thumb across my cheek. “We absolutely can.”
We can prove to him he doesn’t need to babysit us. That we won’t screw up this mission.
“Why didn’t he use the gun?” I ask, then instantly regret it. I’m done thinking about weapons and danger tonight.
“You mean at the library?”
“Yeah. He had it with him, didn’t he?”
Leo nods.
“Okay, so then why didn’t he use it? He could’ve shot River in the leg, or whatever, and gotten Liv away from him.”
Leo’s smile is soft. “If he thought Liv was in immediate danger, he would’ve.”
“How was she not in immediate danger?” A corrupt faerie had a dagger to her throat.
“She was a valuable hostage.”
“Yeah, but he could’ve tried to kill her to prove a point.” Yes, I’m splitting hairs. I know hostage situations are delicate and best left to professionals like Rime. But this was Liv, my best friend.
“Then Rime—and all of us—would’ve acted.” Straining his neck to reach my lips, Leo gives me a reassuring kiss. “The longer he can put off using the gun, the better. Because once they know we have it, we lose the element of surprise.”
True. “And they’ll want to get one too.”
“Exactly. It’s the ace in our pocket, one we’ll hopefully never have to use.”
“Nice poker reference.” I drop my head onto his chest in time to feel his deep chuckle. “Remember playing poker that first time I went to Avery’s?” Five months and twenty Bettses ago.
He draws his fingers through my hair. “You shared your animal crackers with me.”
I scoff at myself. “Because I couldn’t resist you, even back then.” Back when I thought he was no more than a hot senior with strange hobbies and even stranger friends. And that was before I met Topaz and Rime. “What’s up with you and Rime, by the way? Are you friends or enemies?”
Leo chuckles against my ear again. “What’s that word? Friendimies?”
“Frenemies,” I giggle.
“I guess we’re sort of frenemies.”
I fold my hands on his chest and rest my chin on them. “Why?”
He exhales as he gazes up at the ceiling. “It’s complicated, but we’ve grown up together, almost like brothers. So I guess there’s some of that typical sibling competition.”
“But you’re nothing alike.” How can you compete with someone when the two of you aren’t even playing the same game?
“Maybe that’s the problem. We don’t understand each other.”
I shake my head. “Sure you do. You just don’t agree with each other.”
“You’re wise, a chroí.” He kisses the tip of my nose.
“I kinda have an unfair advantage, seeing as I can feel everyone’s emotions.” I comb his hair back from his forehead with my nails. “Rime was terrified you were going to die in that hole.” Just as terrified as I was.
This doesn’t surprise Leo. “Because we’re family,” he reiterates. “My father’s more or less his surrogate dad.”
“What’s wrong with Rime’s own dad?”
“He’s a drunk.” He sighs, his ribs expanding beneath my hands. “And Rime’s the oldest of six, so he’s had to be dad to all his siblings.’
“So your father sort of stepped up to help?”
“Sort of. Mostly he just took Rime under his wing.”
From the little I know about Leo’s father, that might not be a good thing.
“They’re a lot alike,” he adds, absentmindedly winding a lock of my hair around his finger. “Both strong and physical. Both loyal militiamen.”
The subtext here is obvious, although Leo doesn’t want me to catch it. His voice is even, his expression nearly blank, but he can’t hide his emotions from the clairsentient lying on his chest.
“What about you?” I ask gently, swimming in his pain.
“What about me?”
“You’re strong and loyal, too.” Leo might not be a trained soldier or go around buying guns, but it was his quick thinking and his roots that saved our asses tonight. Twice. I mean, for god’s sake, he’s the leader of this entire retrieval mission. He’s risking everything.
“Me?” He lets loose a bitter laugh. “I’m just a useless saoi.”
Indignant, I push up to look him in the eyes. “Useless? Seriously?” What the fuck?
He inhales and looks away.
I take hold of his jaw and turn him back to me. “You know that’s bullshit, right?”
“My father doesn’t see it that way.”
“Then your father’s an idiot.” For the hundredth time today, I blink back tears. I love him—so much it hurts.
“It’s okay, a chroí.” He tightens his arms around me and tucks my head under his chin.
“It’s not okay.”
“Yeah, you’re right, it’s not okay. But I’m not going to let it stop me from doing what I want to do.” He tips up my chin and kisses me so tenderly that after a moment or two I forget.
We dress and snuggle under the blanket, relaxing in one another’s warmth. When I wake with my cheek on his chest, the sun is shining weakly on the table above our feet.