7. Chapter Seven #2
“Leave it up to you to stumble upon trouble.” Nicholas snickered, then settled a hand beneath his chin. “My sprites spoke of it only recently. How lucky you are to have me on your team! I do love a good adventure.”
“This is no game. These patients mean a great deal to me. I will not have you assist for the fun of it,” he said hesitantly.
Nicholas gave him a slow once over, then frowned. “You claim to understand me, but you remain upset.”
“My frustration has nothing to do with that.” And it certainly ran much deeper. The wound Nicholas gave couldn’t be sealed by his return. Rather, he dug new tunnels through William’s heart, finding an entirely new way to wreck him.
Nicholas crossed his arms like a petulant child. “It seems like it does. Do you truthfully no longer have feelings for me? Do not lie. It is unfair.”
“By the Souls!” He threw his hands in the air. “What does it matter how I feel? What do you expect to happen?”
“I believe the mortals call it courting.”
He laughed bitterly. “What do you think courting is? Sex?”
Nicholas rounded the desk. William’s back hit the window. Feeling the solid surface behind him, realizing he was trapped, made sweat trickle along his neck.
Nicholas took his waist and tugged him close.
He hated how comfortable it was, how he wanted a moment like this, how he so easily settled in Nicholas’ familiar embrace, even after what happened.
How easily Nicholas became angered and how easily that anger disappeared without him understanding a moment of it.
“You speak as if that is all there ever was between us. Did we not have sweet moments too? I will give all that I have for you,” Nicholas promised.
William couldn’t forget their sweet moments, even when he tried.
There was more than he could count, more than he realized after Nicholas disappeared.
He dreamed of them, and most nights, they warped into nightmares.
He couldn’t deny wanting more, wishing for him and Nicholas to spend their days together walking the park or visiting a library, but he was not na?ve enough to believe any of it to be possible.
“Need I remind you of your arrangement with Evera? I will not find myself at the center of trouble between you and your father.” He did not wish to see Laurent ever again. The moment at the castle was more than enough, and he imagined Laurent didn’t want to see him either.
“I broke a deal with him once. I will do so again.”
“I never thought you were so na?ve. Mortals and fae do not work well together. We can’t—”
“Why care about that?” Nicholas’ knuckles brushed William’s cheek. He cursed himself for leaning into the touch. “We will have each other. What more could we want?”
Safety. A life without fighting. Without looking over their shoulders.
To Nicholas, the chance of trouble put a sparkle in his eyes.
For William, he wished to yearn for the mundane, to be normal again, and happy, to not wake in cold sweats on the few nights he fell asleep and to not rely on any form of drug or alcohol to make his mind go blank on bad days.
Most of all, he wanted to look in a mirror and not hate who he saw.
He wanted to be different, someone else entirely.
“I will not have this conversation any longer. There are far more pressing matters.” William freed himself from Nicholas’ grasp. “I have seven patients who have disappeared over the last two months.”
“I can help. You know I can.”
But that meant giving Nicholas permission to remain. To continue showing up with no idea if it would be a detriment to Nicholas’ health and all their lives.
However, saying no meant abandoning his patients.
They sorely needed help. Nicholas offered that help.
With him, the patients could return alive, or he could risk taking weeks or months and hope not to find corpses.
And considering what Nicholas said, he would be around regardless.
Much to his chagrin, Nicholas was the best option they had.
“I have spoken with the authorities and the king himself. None truly care,” he said, relenting.
“My patients are homeless, so there has been little to investigate. I may not even know their real names or whether they have a family to go home to. All I know is they haven’t picked up their medications and all their belongings remain in the spots they called home through the city. ”
“No one has seen them captured?” Nicholas asked.
“No, our best guess is that the abductions happen at night or in private locations. One day they’re here and the next they’ve vanished.”
“What could someone potentially want with these people?”
“I dare not imagine. I fear they are being harmed or killed. No one will do anything until I have solid proof of deviance,” he explained.
“I could acquire such proof. Little in Terra can stop me.”
“Are you not returning to Faerie soon? Surely you have duties?” he asked.
“I believe I earned myself a break. Now, do you have any clothing or personal effects of these missing patients? I may be able to track them.”
He grabbed a worn newspaper boy hat from the coat rack near the doorway. He found it laying in Denison’s tent, the third missing patient. The lad hardly ever took off his hat. He hoped whatever Nicholas needed to track remained.
As he handed the hat to Nicholas, the door opened, and a perplexed Charmaine passed the threshold.