ELEVEN
Ace
"What the fuck is that?" Ace choked on her words.
Shelby's hands were trembling as he ripped the envelope open. He shook his head. "I haven't seen the Fae King’s seal in over a year. Do you think it's real?"
Flinging her legs over the edge of the bed, her boots landed with a thunk before she was walking to his side. "Do you think someone would be faking his seal?"
Ace didn't know a lot about the current Fae King, though she'd met his father once. At that time, she'd been terrified of his strength, age, and intelligence. The human armies led by the queens had only won because of the queens’ magic. They'd won because of the gods.
"I don't know." Shelby pulled out a letter, opening up and scanning it. Ace stretched at his side trying to read along too.
"What does it say?"
He lowered the letter. "He wants a meeting."
"With us?" she squeaked.
"In Tarshton."
"Fae territory?!"
"This week."
"So soon?" Her pitch was rapidly climbing.
Shelby scowled. "Would you stop that."
"I'm sorry." She wasn't but she clamped a hand over her mouth and spoke into her palm. "We should go shouldn't we?"
"No!" Shelby sputtered, crumbling the letter in his palm. "No, we should not. It feels like a trap. Don't you think it's a trap?" He was walking away now. Ace stood where she was as he began opening the dresser drawers and the desk drawers until he found a small box of matches.
A flame was born as he struck a match and brought it to the single candle on the desk. He stuck the edge of the letter into the fire and let it catch. Ace gasped running toward him.
"Don't burn that! What if we need it?" Ace tried to reach for his arm.
Shelby held the burning letter above her head. "We don't need it. We're obviously not going."
"You can't deny a meeting with the Fae King!"
"Oh yes, we can."
Ace knew they were both motivated by terror at the thought. If they didn't go would they be hunted down? Would the Fae find them and drag them anyway? She didn't want to run away like Shelby had.
"What if he wants to help us?"
Shelby's face wrinkled. "Help us what?" He hissed at her. "Kill the queens? Of course, he does. He wants this land back! Pasia can't survive another war like this. The humans won't win this time and the warlocks will just be passed back off to those terrible beings."
She jumped and managed to grab his wrist but the letter had burned away to hardly anything. Shelby let it go and watched it flutter to the floor between them before he stomped out the flame.
"We have to," Ace said stubbornly. "Where do they want to meet?"
"We don't have to," Shelby repeated. "And it didn't specify, it just said Tarshton."
"Well, I don't know how to get to the king."
"You don't need to know because we aren't going." He bent and blew out the candle.
We. Ace did like the sound of it. Because the two of them were tied together now. All of this…it was going to be 'we.’
"We should at least entertain the idea." She shifted and placed her hands on his chest, jutting out her bottom lip as she looked up.
"Are you giving me puppy eyes?" He deadpanned.
"Yes. Is it working?" She batted her eyelashes.
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Ace growled and turned away. She wrung her hands in front of her and lowered herself back onto the bed. "That letter means something."
"It means I need to get somewhere safe to perform a spell. Somehow they are getting through my last one." The bed dipped as Shelby sat next to her. With the bed so low to the ground his knees practically touched his chest.
“I didn’t think the Fae had magic of their own. Not like yours.” She bumped him with her shoulder.
“They have gifts . You’re right though, not like ours. So we could be dealing with a Fae of very specific talents or they could be working with a warlock outside of the cities’ borders.”
Ace tipped herself back onto the bed. When Shelby remained upright, she fisted his shirt in her hand and yanked him. He landed with a sigh.
“I think we should go,” she whispered. “What if we anger them?”
“What if we walk into a trap?”
“What if we don’t?”
“Oh, my gods.” He scrubbed his face. “Why do we do this every time?”
“Because you’re so stubborn.” Ace rolled her eyes.
“Because you don’t listen.” He gave her a gentle shove that made the bed rock. “And you’re the stubborn one.”
“But I’m cute right?” She wiggled her brows.
Shelby looked at her, letting a beat of silence come and pass. He gave a rare smile, a brilliant flash of his perfect white teeth.
“Does that smile mean yes?” Ace continued.
Shelby laughed. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Yes, actually.” She turned to look toward the ceiling, trying to keep from staring at his lips. “Cute enough to almost kiss.”
He stopped laughing. “That was the heat of the moment.”
Amid their scary invitation and the fact that Fae may or may not be watching their every move Ace was still holding out hope that Shelby would find a reason to kiss her. What he’d just said was quite the opposite of that. That wasn’t fun, sweet, romantic, or enjoyable at all like a kiss would be. No, that felt like a punch to the gut that made you cough up whatever air you had before it left you nauseous.
“Yeah?” Ace laid there straight as a board.
Shelby’s attention lifted from her face to the ceiling where she stared so intently. “Like I said, sometimes I feel your emotions. That one was just a little too strong.”
Ugh and that felt like a kick right to the head!
Ace sat up, eager to change the subject. “Well, seeing as we are both stubborn why don’t we rock, paper, scissors to see who gets to make this decision on if we should go or not?”
“You want to play a game to decide.” A statement, not a question. He sat himself up next to her.
“Are you going to change your mind about not wanting to go?”
“No.”
She gave him a dry smile. “Well, I’m not changing mine either. And if the two of us can’t come to a compromise, then a game it is.”
“A game it is.” Though he looked less than thrilled he held out his palm and placed his opposite fist in it.
Three taps of Ace's fist to her palm and she was looking down at her winning move. "YES!" She shouted, far too loudly for a girl who had just been invited to a meeting with the Fae.
Shelby's lip was already curling at the thought. "Best two out of three?"
"Not a chance!"
"You should not be so happy about this," He pointed out. Wood groaned under his feet as he stood and made his way to the other side of the bed. It was small enough he could have just as easily rolled to it.
"I'm not happy about it."
"That smile begs to differ."
Ace lifted a hand to her face. She was smiling. Which was odd because she was well aware that she shouldn't be. The Fae were cruel. The Fae could infect either of them with the Impelling and that was actually terrifying.
"I'm just happy to have gotten my way." She kicked her shoes off and slipped under the thin blanket. A yawn worked its way up her throat.
"And I'm happy you're happy," he grumbled.
Cold air drifted under the blanket as Shelby lowered himself next to her. The chill it gave her was quickly fixed by the warmth of his body. She cracked an eye open.
"Are you?" She chuckled.
"Of course, I am." His tone was no more enthused than the last time he'd suggested he was happy for her.
"That sneer on your face begs to differ."
His sneer melted into a shy smile. "Shut up and go to bed."
"You mean we can share a bed and you aren't going to accuse me of trying to seduce you? Or…or what did you say?" She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Oh, yes, you thought I was going to be a cannibal and eat you." She bit her teeth at him for emphasis.
"All of that is possible. I'm just too tired to care." His eyes were already closed, the blanket tucked under his chin.“Fry me up and eat me. That way I won’t have to go to Tarshton.”
The fabric of the bedding was rough against Ace's cheek as she snuggled into the pillow. Her eyelids drifted shut.
"Are you worried that whoever left that letter is still out there?" she whispered into the dark. Shelby emitted a little snore in response. Speaking through her yawn, she spoke more to herself than to him. "I supposed you're too tired to care about that too."
***
Even though Ace had sworn they'd closed the curtain's last night before bed, sunlight was still streaked across her face and warming her cheeks. She could see it in the red glow behind her eyelids. Inhaling slowly, she felt the weight of something heavy across her chest and again over her legs.
Bindings? A trap? Her pulse spiked.
Blinking rapidly, her blurry vision slowly focused on the ceiling. She tipped her chin down to see what was holding her so tightly, weighing her down really, she realized. A long arm was draped over her upper half and a leg slung out across her thighs.
Not bindings…
The blanket was bunched up along Ace's stomach and all of the warmth was radiating off of Shelby…as he clung to her like some kind of weird spider monkey. The softest breath parted his lips and tickled Ace's shoulder. She didn't dare move, she hardly even breathed herself.
What if he woke up? What if it got awkward? What if he regretted wrapping her up like this? She kind of liked it, she admitted to herself. The weight was reassuring in some way she couldn't quite put her finger on. This was as close to a hug as she was going to get from him anytime soon and she wasn't about to end that by inhaling!
Then her thoughts drifted toward other what ifs…
What if he woke up and he liked it? What if he wanted to kiss her again? What if he did? And all of that was a new sort of scary. A much different sort of nervous than the fact that they would be leaving to meet with the Fae King. Just another way to put off killing Queen Farah.
She couldn't stay like this, Ace knew. In fact, she was certain Shelby would be entirely embarrassed to find that he'd even ever touched her at all. Carefully, she edged herself away from him. His fingertips slid across the peak of her breasts making her entire body tighten.
Oh, he would certainly be mortified by that! He'd probably blame it on her trying to seduce him again when really she was trying to get out from under him. Did that mean he was trying to seduce her in some fashion? She tucked that away as some sort of argument against him if he happened to wake up.
Her body tipped. Her weight toppling and his arm and leg slipping off her. She was falling, yes, that's what this was. Another fall from grace as she managed to sneak out of bed with a man she hadn't even done anything remotely sexual with.
The material of her shirt snagged and one of her legs was caught, stopping her fall before her body could do anything more than briefly touch the ground.
"What are you doing?" Shelby's morning voice was rough and extra gravelly. What had tightened in her earlier sunk lower in her stomach.
Dark strands of kind of wavy, kind of curly hair fell over her face as she looked up to where Shelby was keeping her from completely falling. She blew a strand off her mouth.
"Getting out of bed?"
Shelby looked at her then down at his own body, how he'd hooked his leg around hers and held her arm tightly in his grasp. His leg slipped off her and in the same moment he promptly let her arm go.
Ace met the cold wood floor with a thunk and a grunt she was certain the people under them could hear. Dust floated into the air around her from where she'd disturbed it.
"What the fuck, Shelby?" She rubbed at her shoulder, sitting herself up. In the fall she'd hit her boots and they'd fallen to their side next to her.
"Who am I to stop you from getting out of bed?" He scrubbed at his face, speaking through his fingers.
"I didn't mean to wake you up." Not yet at least. She would have probably woken him up sooner or later to get the day started, just not while he clung to her in such a way.
"You didn't." He squinted into the sun that was coming in. "I mean you did but it wasn't because you got up or moved. I felt your nervousness or something like that. I'm not really sure, I was sleeping."
This whole him feeling her emotions sometimes thing was really not going to work for Ace.
"That's annoying." She snorted. Shelby's brows pinched together, so she continued on. "You get to know what I'm feeling all the time even if it's some weird little glimpse at it. Meanwhile, you’re a locked box of secrets and distrust. I never know what you're thinking."
"A locked box of secrets and distrust?" he repeated.
Ace nodded, narrowing her eyes at him.
"I'm not even going to comment on that." The bed frame groaned as he threw his legs over the side and began sliding his feet into his boots. Ace followed suit and when her shoes were laced up she stood and walked to the window.
Outside their little room was a view of the street. They were far enough up that she didn't think they had to worry much about people peeking in to see them but the closed curtains had been nice.
"Didn't we close these last night?" She rubbed the thin burgundy material between her fingers.
"What?" He looked up at her. There was only about a foot of space between them now. The orange in his gaze looked a little brighter than she remembered and she wondered if that was just something that happened in the morning or if her mind was playing tricks on her.
"The curtains. Didn't we close them?"
"I don't know."
She sucked her bottom lip under her teeth chewing against the soft flesh.
You're sounding a little paranoid, Greshta tsked.
Can never be too careful , Sylik said.
Oh, so you're back to talking now? Great. Super. Love that.
We are never gone long dear , Greshta reminded her.
She's too nosey for that . There was a rumble of laughter from Sylik.
Ace sighed and let the curtain drop. She walked across the room to the door and shook the handle to make sure the lock was still locked. It was. When she turned back around Shelby had tossed the blanket back across the bed and was tugging it neatly into place.
"You know they make the beds for you right?" She leaned into the door, her stomach rumbling far louder than she'd have liked.
"Excuse me for being helpful." He rolled his eyes.
A silence stretched between them, neither of them wanting to talk about what they were planning on doing today. Or maybe what they planned on doing ever. Another day wasted. Another day the queens got to live. Ace wondered how the events they'd been missing were going.
"Want to get some food? I think I saw a little diner down the road." She pointed behind her and gave him half a grin. "It's on Petu."
"Sure. I've got to drop the key off with the front desk girl before we go." He patted his other pocket, the reassuring sound of jingling coins coming from it. Had he slept with all that in his pockets?
What's the plan for today, Ace? Greshta asked even though Ace was certain the gods already knew. Weren't they supposed to be all knowing or something?
Ignoring the question, Ace opened the door and gave a quick peek down the hall. Empty. Now she really was being paranoid. She kept her gaze sweeping back and forth even as they made their way down the creaky stairs and into the small dirty lobby. She made sure to flick her hood up over her face before reaching the bottom.
Shelby set the key down on the desk, startling the girl who seemed to always be sleeping, before they left the small hotel and went toward the diner. Several horses were tied up on a long post outside the building and many seats inside were already taken, she realized, as they looked into the windows.
Ace allowed Shelby to step in front of her, leading them into the restaurant. The first thing that hit Ace was the sweet smell of pancakes. Saliva flooded her mouth. It had been far too long since she'd been able to steal a sweet treat from Ishaan. Man, she was missing Maipeg and its desserts extra today. Maybe after this was all over she would return to that city and find a way to really make it her home.
"Table for two." Shelby held up his fingers letting a frail looking blonde woman lead them to a table.
The booth they were offered pretty well had the permanent imprint of ass cheeks in the wood, curvature and all. Ace scowled but slipped quietly into her seat.
"Water would be nice." He gestured at the two of them. Ace made herself busy staring down at the wood grain.
The waitress nodded but looked over at Ace. "It's considered rude to keep your hood up while indoors."
Before Ace could come up with a retort Shelby was already answering for her. "Trust me, you don't want her to take that hood off." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "She's hideously ugly."
A growl was already burning its way up her throat. She gripped the table instead, ignoring the waitress’s chuckle as she left and the way the wood popped as if it might crack under the pressure. When the woman was out of earshot, Ace looked up from under the hood.
A large smug smile had spread across Shelby's face. He was looking down at his hands where he was picking at his fingernails. He was proud of his little quip.
"Why would you say that?" Ace hissed.
"What? It's a good reason to not want to see someone’s face." He was trying to force that stupid smile back down. "Don't worry…"
Here it comes , Mina said joyfully.
"...you're not ugly," he finished.
She wasn't sure how that made her feel. So she wasn't ugly; did that mean he thought she was pretty?
"That was so rude," she said. Then the waitress was back and Shelby was thankfully ordering them pancakes, sausage, and eggs.
“So we’re not chasing after some mystery man anymore?” Shelby folded his hands on the table.
“Huh?” Right. The orange eyed man. “Oh, we will after we see what you know who wants.”
“Really, both sound like terrible ideas.”
“The best ideas are often called terrible at first.” She smiled as the food was brought to the table. Shelby shook his head and then neither of them talked as they scarfed it all down.
When her plate was empty and her stomach was rounded with a full meal she leaned back in the seat. Air worked its way up her throat and she tried to let it out in a slow ladylike breath. Well, as ladylike as a burp could be.
"So, now we head for Tarshton?" Ace whispered. Shelby nodded, setting his fork down on the plate. "I'm sick of walking."
"Me too."
She thought for a second. "We could steal a horse."
"No. No stealing." He crinkled his nose, pushing his plate forward. "Why is that always your first suggestion?"
She shrugged one shoulder. "What about magic? I don't think you have to worry about other warlocks running into our trail." Warlocks were typically only owned by the queens or the wealthiest of citizens. The people in this little podunk town probably couldn't afford one. "Can you just convince one of the men to give us a horse with some freaky mind stuff?"
"Freaky mind stuff. No. I stay away from that when I can."
"So, what do you want to do?"
"I could duplicate some tallens…buy a horse off of them," he said slowly, the idea forming in his mind. He frowned. "What if I catch the table on fire or something with my magic? Don't you think that would be noticeable?"
"How much magic do you need to duplicate some coins? Can you make it fast? And small?"
"I don't really know. It's not like I've been practicing since I came back as…” he gestured to his eye, "this."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. Just give it a go and if you catch yourself on fire I'll break your concentration and get up and do a dance to distract everyone or something."
"Maybe I'll mess up just to see that." He looked down at his palms before he reached into his pockets for the bag of stolen coins.
"Shelby," Ace purred, "If you want to see me dance all you have to do is ask. I'd give you your own private show."
Those big beautiful hazel eyes flared with warning. "Maybe some other time."
Well, that was an improvement. At least he wasn't telling her how crude she was. She gave a little smirk and gestured at the bag now sitting on the table. Shelby turned in his seat, giving his back to the room and angling himself toward the wall. He cupped the coins, his eyelashes brushing his cheekbones as he squeezed his eyes shut.
The waitress was across the room talking to a long table of men who laughed in unison. Ace lifted her chin just enough to look around the room. A flare of orange light came from Shelby's palm, igniting in her peripheral vision. She made a point to not look his way, even as she was able to envision the duplication of coins inside her own head. Every shared thought reminded her of the way the gods could talk to her. Shelby's magic, in some weird way, was a form of communication.
It wasn't until she caught the smell of something burning that she pulled her attention to the warlock.
The flames from his palms were licking up his arms again and had caught his sleeve on fire. I guess his magic didn't make his clothing fireproof. She sucked in a deep breath and she leaned across the table, knocking her glass of water over. The edge of his cream-colored sleeve was browning as the fire began to eat at it. Ace didn't hesitate, nor did she register pain, as she swatted the flame, smacking his arm over and over until she was done.
Dark hazel eyes met hers as she looked up. She gave a nervous laugh and sat back in her seat. "Caught your sleeve a little bit this time. Did it, uh, work?"
That bitter scent of magic was mingling in the air along with the smoke from his sleeve. Cold soaked through the leg of Ace's pants. Water dripped off the edges of the table.
"Oh," she whispered as she looked down.
The waitress was well on her way now, scurrying over with a rag. She mopped up the water as Ace righted the glass. Curious eyes followed the waitress over, all of them somehow burning through Ace's cloak and against her skin.
"Accidents happen," the woman said, though her tone suggested that accidents might possibly be the most irritating thing to ever happen in this restaurant. "I'll take these plates and bring your bill."
"Thank you," Shelby answered, his hands tucked under the table.
Briefly, their knees brushed as Shelby straightened in his seat. The waitress was gone with the plates and Shelby was...grinning. A big stupid, not at all like anything she'd ever seen on his face before, smile.
"Why do you look like that?" she asked.
"Because it worked." He pulled his hands out from under the table, his palms still cupped—a couple of coins spilled over the top and rolled on the table till they came to a stop.
"Hot damn! We're rich!" Ace cheered, trying to keep her voice low. "We can buy five horses!"
"We're not buying five horses." He rolled his eyes. "Open that pouch back up so I can put them inside." Ace agreed and tugged it open; the tallens poured in until they were almost coming out the top of that too. By then the waitress was back, handing Shelby a slip of paper and eyeing the money with suspicion.
Ace and Shelby certainly didn't look like people who should be carrying around an entire bag of tallens, but she smiled plenty when Shelby handed her the slip back and placed four coins in her palm. That was more than the hotel! She whispered her thanks and scurried away staring at the golden coins.
"You stay here. I'll be right back." Then Shelby was walking away. He held the bag in his hand and straightened from his usual slouch as he approached the group of men.
Her clothes caught against a splinter in the wood as she scooted to the end of the bench and strained to listen. Laugher died down and a seriousness fell over their group as they talked with Shelby. Eventually, though, one man stood and shook Shelby's hand. They talked a moment longer—what else was there to talk about?—before he pointed at a horse outside the window and Shelby dumped a sizable number of coins into his hands.
When the conversation came to a thankful end, Shelby headed for the door and gave Ace a short wave. That was all she needed before she was moving so quickly her momentum nearly blew the hood from her face.
The warmth of the day was the first to greet them as they stepped out into the street. Ace shoved the door closed. "Do we have a horse?!"
"We have a horse." Shelby was already unwinding the lead from the poll. The horse grunted and he gave its nose a little pat. "I thought about asking for two but it sounds like it will be a bit of a hassle for him to even get one new horse. I paid him well."
Small clouds of dirt were kicked up as the horse followed Shelby into the road. It was already fitted with a saddle that shifted with the horse’s shifting muscles ever so slightly as it walked.
She grinned at the horse and at Shelby, then turned to look back at the little diner, swearing that someone had to be watching them. The group of men had all turned back to their conversation, and even the waitress was back to being busy.
Slowly, she made her way over to the horse. Its brown mane looked neatly managed and its body nicely brushed. She stroked a hand over the bristly chestnut hair. Shelby's hands found her waist and she tried to hold in her shriek of surprise as he lifted her onto the horse.
Her skin prickled with the sensation of being watched even more now that she was so high up off the ground. She tried to push the feeling away; same old paranoia as earlier she figured.
The saddle rocked again, Shelby grabbing it by the horn and heaving himself up around Ace. She was cradled against his body, every bit of space squeezed out between them. She was torn between the excited tingle that ran over her skin as he wrapped his arms around her, holding onto the rein, and the weird shiver that went down her spine from the sensation of someone watching them.
"Ready?" he whispered against her ear.
The most she could manage was a nod and she swore she could feel Shelby smiling against her. He snapped the reins, nudging the horse with his feet and they began trotting down the street. All the way knowing there were eyes on them, they just couldn't find them.