“Did you know about…?” Paige said while nodding towards the closed bedroom door.
I followed her gaze even though I knew that Henry was in the downstairs bathroom, and not outside in the corridor. After a lecture from Hanna before she and Jack went to bed, Callan and Henry had let me and Paige get ready for the night first. They were in the bathrooms right now, while Lance waited out in the hall for his turn.
“No,” I answered as I shifted my attention back to Paige. “But it explains why he sought out dark mages. And why he’s so protective of Callan.”
“Yeah.”
She ran her eyes over the sparsely furnished bedroom. I did the same.
This had been Henry’s room. I didn’t know if he had cleaned it out before leaving twelve years ago, but there was almost nothing left in it now. At least nothing that hinted at the kind of person he had been when he was younger. There was a desk and chair by the window, but there was nothing on it. By the wall on the other side was a set of drawers. I hadn’t opened them to check inside, but there was nothing standing on top of it. Same with the small bookshelf next to it. Completely empty. Apart from those pieces of furniture, all that was left in the room was the double bed.
Grabbing one end of the sheet that Hanna had brought in, I handed the other to Paige and stretched it out across the mattress. Then I lined up the pillows by the headboard while she unfolded the two covers and spread them over the bed.
Since she was the only one who didn’t have a spare set of clothes, she’d had to borrow a pair of pants and a shirt from Hanna while her own clothes dried by the fire. They were far too big on her, but she had rolled up the sleeves and the pant legs so that she wouldn’t trip on them at least. As I looked at her, I couldn’t stop the pang of guilt that hit me. Less than two weeks ago, she had been sitting in her comfortable home, living her life in peace. And now she was here. Injured. Wearing a stranger’s clothes. And on a dangerous mission she wanted no part of.
And all because of me.
The covers rippled over the mattress as Paige fluffed them up before climbing onto the bed. She tried to hide it, but I could see the slight wince when she moved her arm like that.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Oh, this?” She motioned towards her arm and then waved her hand in front of her face. “It’s nothing.”
“Paige.”
“Really.”
While giving her a disbelieving look, I climbed onto the bed as well. The mattress bounced slightly underneath us as we shifted around until we sat leaning against the wooden headboard. Paige kept her eyes on the door as she pulled the covers up so that they rested over our legs.
For a few moments, we just sat there next to each other.
“I’m sorry that I’m slowing you down,” she said eventually.
Turning my head, I frowned at her. “What are you talking about? You’re not slowing us down. We’d still be stuck on the other side of the bridge if it hadn’t been for you.”
Her eyes lit up and a small smile pulled at her lips. The sight of it almost broke my heart. Had she really thought that she was some kind of burden?
“Well, I am a pretty decent forger.” When the smile finally slid fully onto her mouth, she almost looked like herself again. “If I may say so myself.”
“A bit better than decent, I’d say.”
“Just a bit?”
“Alright, fine.” I elbowed her lightly in the side. “A lot better than decent.”
“Ha!”
Silence fell again.
Outside the windows, the storm continued ravaging the countryside. Howling winds pulled at the sides of the building while rain crashed against them.
Paige looked down at the blue covers while picking at a loose thread. “I was just worried that… I mean… Well, I’m just me. And you’re… you.”
“What do you mean?”
“When we were friends back at the academy, we were just… us. But now, it’s been six years and you’re this super powerful dark mage with your own mansion and people who admire you and fear you and want to be you and all of that. And I’m still just… me.” Her eyes flicked up, locking on mine again. “And I guess I just didn’t know if… Well, if we were still friends. If you still wanted me as your friend.”
It had been years since the last time I cried, but damn it all to hell, I almost did when she spoke those words.
“Of course I do.” Holding her gaze, I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I was worried that you didn’t want to be my friend anymore. Because I’m a dark mage now. Because I kill people and torture people and have almost no moral compass left. And because I ruined your life. You had an amazing life in Eldar, and now all of that is destroyed because you helped me.”
Her mouth had dropped open, and for a few seconds, she just stared at me. “That’s what you were worried about? Shit, Audrey. I knew from the moment I met you at the academy that you were a badass. It’s what drew me to you in the first place. I’m not scared of you. In fact, I quite like that you’re a bit dark and twisted.”
A laugh bubbled from my throat. “Really?”
“Really.”
“But I still ruined your life.”
“Yeah, about that…” She glanced down and started tracing circles over the cover. “Remember when you came to my house back in Eldar, and I said that I was happy with my life just the way it was?”
“Yeah?”
“Not entirely true.” Smoothening out the cover over her lap, she looked up at me again. “Being a forger pays well, so I never wanted for money. But… turns out it’s a pretty lonely profession. Since everything I did was illegal, I had to be very careful who I trusted. I let a few people in, and ended up getting burned a couple of times. Having to disappear and move office and start up again is a pain in the ass. So after a while, I figured that it was easier to just go at it alone.”
“You were alone all these years?”
“No, I mean, I had some casual friends that I spent time with and all that. But it was easier if I didn’t mix business with friendship, so none of them knew what I really did.” She shrugged. “And when the constables came for me a few days ago, no one tried to help me. All of my clients, even my most loyal ones who have been coming to me for years, just disappeared into a hole because they of course didn’t want to be caught too. And my casual friends seemed mostly embarrassed that they had been friends with someone who had gotten arrested. So… yeah. Not much of a life to ruin.”
I searched her face. “Why didn’t you say that when we met in Eldar?”
“Because, like I said, you’re a powerful dark mage now. And I didn’t want you to think that I…” She blew out a sigh. “I didn’t want you to know that my life hadn’t turned out quite the way I had wanted it to.”
“Didn’t nine years together at the academy teach you anything?” A smile tugged at my lips as I raised my eyebrows at her. “You never have to hide who you are with me.”
Huffing out a laugh, she slapped my ribs with the back of her hand. “Yeah, well, ditto.”
I chuckled too. “We really should’ve had this conversation that first night instead of spending four days tiptoeing around each other while worrying about the exact same thing.”
“Yeah, we should.”
“Well, you live and you learn.”
“Unless you’re that constable that Callan split in half right in front of me. How does he even—”
The door was pulled open. Lance stumbled across the threshold as Callan shoved him into the room before following as well. Henry lumbered in after them and then closed the door behind him. I studied the sheer mass of muscles standing in front of us. How were we all supposed to fit on the bed?
Callan jerked his chin at Lance. “Get on the floor.”
“I could just sleep on the couch in the living room,” Lance answered.
He snorted. “Nice try. Now, do as you’re told.”
A hint of defiance crept into Lance’s eyes as he stared back at the force mage. Touching my palms together, I let twisting green tendrils snake down my arms. Lance’s gaze shot towards it. A second later, he scrambled down on the floor.
I expelled a silent laugh and let my magic fade out again.
Metal clanked as Callan locked Lance’s wrists in a pair of stiff handcuffs that he also secured behind one of the legs of the bed. It left Lance lying on his back with his arms stretched above his head.
“This isn’t very comfortable,” he muttered.
“I don’t give a fuck,” Callan answered as he straightened. “Audrey, can you knock him out?”
“What?” Lance blurted out. “No, I really—”
“Sure.” I pressed my hands together and summoned another cloud of poison that I shot straight down at the Binder.
He stopped talking immediately as the poison rendered him unconscious. Given the strength of that cloud, he should be out for at least nine hours.
“Shit, Audrey,” Paige said as she looked back at me with raised eyebrows. “That really is an efficient move.”
“Yeah, like I said, I’ve picked up a few new tricks since the academy.”
Nodding, she gave me an approving smile.
With Lance now taken care of, Callan and Henry were left standing on the floor halfway to us. Both of them studied me and Paige where we sat against the headboard in the middle of the bed.
“I could take the couch in the living room,” Callan said after a few more seconds of silence.
My gaze slid to Henry. “I got the impression that your mother doesn’t want people sleeping anywhere but the bedrooms.”
“Yeah, my mom is…” Trailing off, he cleared his throat. “We’ll have to share the bed.”
“Well.” Paige flashed him a grin and patted the mattress on her right. “Come on then.”
A hint of red crept into Henry’s cheeks.
“Yeah.” Throwing Callan a smirk, I patted the mattress on my left before echoing, “Come on then.”
The two of them exchanged a glance. Then Callan shrugged and moved over to the bed. A moment later, Henry did the same.
Paige and I scooted down from the headboard and positioned ourselves in the middle while they climbed onto it as well. The bed let out several distressed creaks as their powerful forms shifted around until they were lying on either side of us.
“Move in a bit more,” Callan grumbled at me.
“Move?” I said. “Move where? There’s no more room to move in.”
“And for the record,” Paige filled in. “We are sharing one third of the bed while you two have a third each.”
Callan muttered something under his breath while wiggling closer. “At least lie on your side.”
“Fine,” I sighed.
Rolling over on my side, I turned my back to him. Next to me, Paige did the same to Henry. The bed continued creaking in alarm as both Henry and Callan moved around.
A jolt shot through my body as Callan draped an arm over my side and then pressed his body firmly against mine. He wiggled a few more times, shifting his hips against my ass, before he finally settled down.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
His firm body was warm and steady against mine, and his arm held me tightly. Hell, I actually really enjoyed it when he did that. A lot more than I wanted to admit.
He made me feel safe. And I hated him for that. I didn’t need anyone else to make me feel safe. I was powerful enough to do that entirely on my own.
But as Callan drew his hand up my chest and rested his palm over my heart, I couldn’t bring myself to push him off. So instead, I drew in a deep breath and enjoyed in the feeling of his body flush against mine like that.
Paige looked between Callan’s arm and my face while a smirk played over her lips. Reaching behind her, she grabbed Henry’s arm and draped it over her side as well. A surprised noise came out of him, but he didn’t pull his arm back.
“Well,” Paige began.
I raised my eyebrows at her while amusement swirled inside me. Mischief glittered in her eyes as she wiggled a little closer to Henry before speaking up again.
“I could definitely do this again.”
