“Enough to protect her or enough to make her happy?”
“I don’t know. Is there a difference?”
“Yeah, Callum, there is. Sheena is not your parents. You don’t need to be different for her to care about you.” His words hit me hard. They aren’t enough to heal the wound, but they stop the bleeding for now.
When I sigh, the sound is heavy.
“You know how they’re ashamed of me?” I ask. Gideon dips his chin, but I can’t look at him anymore, so I focus instead on the shadows the moonlight casts across the ceiling. “Tonight, I was ashamed of them for a change.”
There’s a beat of silence as he considers that.
“You don’t want her to think you’re like them,” he says. It’s not a question, but I nod anyway.Gideon groans. “Only an idiot would think you’re anything like them, and our girl is smart.” I look back at him then, needing to see the conviction behind what he’s saying as well.
“Do you feel better now?” Gideon asks.
I nod without thinking. After a pause, I realize it’s actually true. My breathing is steadier, and the pressure in my chest has eased up.
“Good, I’m glad,” Gideon says. “But I’m pissed at you now.”
“What the fuck for?” I whisper-yell, propping myself up on one elbow to see him more clearly.
“For saying ‘I’ so godsdamn much.Wekeep her safe.Wekeep her happy.Weare a team.” Gideon’s eyes glitter in the darkness. “No matter what anyone’s parents say, no matter how many libraries we have to tear apart for answers, and no matter how many fae fuckers lust after our girl.”
“I knewhe was checking her out,” I hiss, lowering my voice when Sheena stirs between us.
“Yeah, he was.” Gideon’s tone is dark. “We can’t kill him either. Even if we could pull it off, it would be too messy.”
“Typical. I was over here about to have a panic attack while you were plotting the murder of an ally.” I chuckle softly. “Although we could stage an accident. They are doing construction on his wing.”
“We don’t have time to organize that.” Gideon groans, looking up at the ceiling. “We’ve got to find the silly talisman thing, and I’m a slow reader. Plus, fae anarchy would be a political disaster.”
He’s right about that. The folk are notoriously tricky. Idris himself says they don’t trust anyone, and it’s a miracle he keeps them as reined in as he does.
“Do you think he was telling the truth?” Gideon asks.
I consider how Idris crashed dinner and stared at Sheena.What an asshole.
“Some of the truth, yes,” I admit. “The whole truth, hell no. He’s either holding information back or he has some other motive.”
“So we’re on the same page—trust only each other?”
“Like always,” I agree.
Gideon reaches over Sheena, and I grip his hand in mine. The movement triggers an instant replay in my mind of the moment he tasted Sheena on my fingers.Godsdammit...now is hardly the time to be thinking about that.
“For the record, I’m scared too,” Gideon whispers, his voice a deep rumble.
I squeeze his hand a little tighter.
When I wake up,the sun is shining through the window, and I feel better. Gideon’s hand is still loosely clasped in mine, resting in the dip above Sheena’s hips.
“Are you two holding hands?”
I turn my head and see her green eyes sparkling with mischief.
“Is that a problem?” My question surprises me, but Sheena doesn’t miss a beat.
“Not for me.” She grins, batting her eyelashes at me. “I think it’s super adorable.”
