Chapter Eighteen Trey
The Next Morning
The Other Guest Suite
Barely Awake
“Where’s Wilde?” I asked. Delilah and Kit had come to our suite first thing in the morning so everyone could eat breakfast together. But that ‘everyone’ was missing one person.
“Sleeping,” Kit replied, fixing two cups of coffee, filling more than half of one mug with cream.
Delilah’s head rested face down on the table and she muttered into the wood, “I wish I was still sleeping. Why did I have to wake up, but he got to sleep in?”
“Because you’re having breakfast with your family,” Kit said, passing the cup of cream with a dash of coffee to Delilah.
The scent of the fresh brewed coffee roused her enough to lift her head and pull the cup toward herself. She leaned her face in and inhaled deeply, then sighed so heavily that her shoulders drooped with contentment.
“Speaking of family.” I paused to fix a plate for myself, pretending that I wasn’t in a hurry to learn the answer. “What do you know about Wilde’s?”
“Oh, nothing,” Delilah replied breezily, as if it was completely normal not to know anything about your friend—lover’s?—family.
“What’s his last name? Maybe we know them.”
Delilah blinked slowly, her eyes still heavy with sleep. “I have no idea. Uncle Rick,” she said, blatantly changing the subject as she turned to my dad. “I’ve been meaning to ask you for a favor.”
“What is it, kitten?”
“I lost my collar, the one you made for me. Could you make me another?”
A soft, indulgent smile touched Dad’s lips. “Ah, so that’s why you haven’t been wearing it. I thought maybe you’d outgrown it.”
“Not yet.” Her eyes sparkled with an unspoken anticipation. “So? Can you make me a new one?”
“I didn’t bring any supplies with me.”
“That’s alright, we’re going shopping soon! I can purchase whatever you need!”
My brow furrowed in confusion. “When did we decide to go shopping?” We’d spent hours discussing potential quests yesterday and debating the merits between fighting an evil mage or slaying a monster.
I’d barely paid attention because I’d already decided my quest was to break whatever curse had been cast on us, whether it helped the Kingdom Defense Spell or not.
Still, I didn’t think anyone had mentioned shopping.
“Oh, umm,” Delilah edged away from the table. “We will talk about it today, probably, I think. Oh, look at the time! I’d better go!” Then she jumped to her feet and scrambled out of the room.
“We’re going to the same meeting!” I called after her.
The only answer I received was the door slamming behind her.
I sighed and got to my feet. “I’ll go wake Wilde.”
“Take a plate with you,” Kit said, pushing Delilah’s mostly untouched food toward me. “Make sure he eats all of it.”
I frowned but accepted the plate. Why had I suddenly become his nanny?
The other guest suite was directly across the hall from ours. I pushed the door open and poked my head in, checking to see if Delilah had returned here first. The sitting room was empty. All the bedroom doors were closed. “Delilah? Wilde?” I called as I entered the suite.
No one answered.
I checked the first bedroom and saw the helmet on the nightstand, which meant this was Kit’s room.
The next one had a bed with sheets in a tangled lump and clothes tossed all over the place, including a shirt that was somehow hanging from the curtain rod. Delilah’s room.
The last one was neat and tidy, with a sleeping figure bundled under the covers.
There was no other sign of habitation—no luggage, no personal items, not even boots at the end of the bed.
For the first time, I realized that neither Wilde nor Delilah had brought any luggage with them.
Kit had packed a trunk for Delilah, which was how my cousin had already made such a mess of her room, but had anyone done the same for Wilde?
Surely, he isn’t teleporting back home every time he needs to change his clothes. He wouldn’t waste energy like that—the image of him passing out during our first meeting popped into my head. Alright, so maybe he is that fucking reckless.
I sat on the edge of the bed and gazed down at his sleeping face.
The circles under his eyes were somehow darker than they were yesterday, and his skin looked wan instead of just pale.
His white hair spread out across the pillow in long, tempting strands.
I stretched out a hand and stroked the closest section. Dammit, it’s as silky as it looks.
Wilde shifted slightly, his face turning more toward me.
I snatched my hand back. Had he felt that? Did I wake him?
His eyelashes fluttered open, and he stared at me, gaze foggy from sleep. Would he react the same way he had in the carriage? Panic and teleport away? I tensed, waiting to see what he would do.
When his eyes finally focused on me, his lips spread in a slow smile and he whispered one word, “Treasure.” Then his hand snaked out from under the covers and behind the back of my head. Thin fingers tangled in my hair and tugged me closer.
His grip was weak enough to resist but I allowed myself to be drawn closer, until our lips barely touched. The kiss was so shallow I couldn’t even taste him before it ended. His hand fell limp onto the pillow and his breath evened out as he fell back asleep.
I stared at him for a long time. If I memorized the lines of his face, maybe I could find answers to my questions. Who are you? Why are you here? Do you have anything to do with the curse?
I stood up and walked outside of the bedroom, closing the door. Then I took a deep breath and shouted, “Wilde! Breakfast!”
He teleported into the sitting room.
I jumped away from him, slamming my back into the bedroom door. “What the fuck, Wilde? Can you stop doing that?”
“Sorry,” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. Then his whole body froze. Slowly, he lowered his hand and stared at me like I was a hideous, stubborn weed that had sprouted up overnight in his prized garden. His shoulders tensed in preparation.
“If you teleport away in a panic, you’ll just wear yourself out,” I warned.
He forced his shoulders to relax. The shocked expression rearranged into a blank stare. “Thank you for waking me.” He searched the room for a moment, then spotted the plate on the counter. “And for bringing me breakfast.”
“You’re welcome.”
He sat down on one of the stools, his back to me, and quietly ate his food.
I scanned him from head to toe, noting that he was wearing the same dark gray trousers, white shirt, and light gray waistcoat as yesterday, now creased and rumpled.
He was even wearing his boots, and since I didn’t think he had the time or thought to put them on before teleporting, he must have slept with them on.
“Did you bring any other clothes with you?”
His shoulders tensed again. “I can get them.”
“Not if it means teleporting all over the place. You’re supposed to be helping us with this quest, which you can’t do if you’re exhausted.”
“I’m fine.”
“The fuck you are.”
He shot me a startled look, then ducked his head and determinedly focused on his food. Through the curtain of his white hair, I saw a faint blush coloring his cheeks.
I didn’t know whether Wilde was the source of the curse, or another victim of it.
If he was the source, I needed to find out why he had cursed us into repetition, and how to break it.
If he was another victim, maybe his magic could help us.
Either way, I needed to keep him close, which was difficult when he could disappear in a blink.
“Delilah thinks we’ll go shopping soon, so we’ll get you some quest-appropriate clothing.
Until then, I’ll loan you some of my clothes. ”
I expected more protests. After all, I was half-a-foot taller than him and wider in the shoulders. Anything I owned would drown him in fabric.
Instead, he nodded, quietly accepting my offer.
Once he finished eating, I walked him over to our suite. “See how easy this is?” I said, pointing at one foot stepping forward, then the other. “You’ve got two legs, use them.”
“Plenty of people have two legs and can’t walk,” he said, deadpan.
I froze. “Oh shit. Is this a disability thing? Do you have chronic pain or something?” I hadn’t noticed a limp, but I hadn’t been looking for one.
“No, I just thought it was important to note.”
I stopped outside the suite door. “You’re right. I’m a loud and proud asshole, but not about the things that count. It just seems like teleporting costs you more energy than walking.”
He stared at me quietly for a moment, then nodded once. “It does. I’ll walk from now on, unless it’s an emergency.”
“So … no more panic-teleporting?”
He ignored the question and said, “I’d like to get changed.”
“Right, of course.” I opened the suite door and guided him to my bedroom.
“Pick out whatever fits best.” Then I closed the door to give him privacy.
Maybe I shouldn’t have left him alone with my things, but if he planned to steal anything, he would have already taken what he wanted and teleported away.
Whatever had brought him here—a damsel in distress, an evil plot, a curse that had stuck us all in a loop—I doubted it involved petty theft.
“How is he?” Kit asked.
“He’s an idiot,” I replied blandly and joined them on the couch.
“Teleported again?”
I nodded.
Kit sighed. “He’s going to be a handful.”
“You’ve already taken him under your wing,” Father said. He’d brought work with him and spread several files out over a table.
Kit cocked their head to the side. “I don’t think he’s ever had anyone take care of him before.”
The door opened and Wilde stepped out. He’d only taken a simple white shirt and a pair of dark blue pants, avoiding the more colorful options of my wardrobe.
The shirt sleeves were rolled up into thick bunches, exposing his forearms, and the pants were tucked into his boots.
The fabric bulged out the side, too much excess to contain.
I said goodbye to my fathers and Kit and joined Wilde. Together, we walked to the meeting, taking it slow even though we were late.