Asher clears his throat. Fuck. I whip my head around, heat flooding my face. I genuinely forgot about them. He’s wearing a shit-eating grin, too, which is fucking rude, considering I was so nice to him about Quinn even though it was obvious from the first time he came back from Mischief & Mayhem that he was head over heels already.
“We can go,” Asher says. Quinn doesn’t even hide the elbow he digs into Asher’s side, and Asher pouts at him, rubbing the spot for far longer than necessary.
“No,” Vlad says. Does he sound reluctant? I reach for our bond, wondering if it’s stronger, wanting to see, but draw back at the last moment. “We have other matters to discuss.”
I groan and sink down the bed again. I don’t let go of Vlad. I don’t want to. Unless he says otherwise, this is how we’re staying. “What did you tell them?”
“About the job so far. Jakob and Eirian. That you—” His voice catches. “That you were out in the sun.”
I sit up so quickly that Vlad startles, jerking back himself. “Oh, fuck! I forgot about that. I can go—Is it still light? I can try again, see if—”
“No!” Vlad and Asher shout at the same time, and Quinn’s gaze ping-pongs between them just the same as mine does. Vlad’s hand is tight around my forearm.
“Not again,” Vlad says.
“Not ever?” I ask.
“You—”
“Because I think I need it.”
The silence that blankets the room is heavy. Vlad and Asher exchange a look, and Quinn frowns.
“Why do you think so?” he asks. He simply sounds curious, though I’m sure he worries about me just like the rest of them.
“I felt… No, Ifeelhungry.”
“You’re a vampire,” Quinn replies.
“Yeah, but I’ve not been hungry before. I mean, not since—” I look at Vlad. “Not since you turned me. Not like this.”
He frowns, even though I don’t want him to. “How hungry are you now?”
“Not very.” I feel it, though. I’ll make it through tonight, for sure. Maybe tomorrow. A third night will be a push. And Iwonder if I’m going to need direct sunlight because that is going to be a fuckingproblem, especially in winter, though maybe I can convince Vlad that we should go somewhere sunny—
“Grant,” Asher says, and I jerk my head up. “You wandered off.”
“Sorry. Just wondering if I need sunlight or, you know, general daylight.”
“It is something to think about,” he replies. “Do you think Maurice will know anything?”
“Doubtful,” Vlad says. He tugs at my arm, the movement almost imperceptible, but I sink into his side all the same. Quinn’s eyes go big again. I don’t think he wants to make fun. I think he’s happy for me. “The Huntsman may, but until he returns to the Otherworld, there is nothing we can glean from him.”
“What about Spectra?” Quinn asks. I’ve met her a few times myself. She runs a speakeasy-style bar in London, and I’m pretty sure one of her parents was high fae, the other some other kind. She knows her shit, basically, and she’s very powerful.
“I would prefer not to entrust anyone outside this room with this information until Eirian is captured,” Vlad says. “I believe then we will have little choice.”
I grimace. “About that…”
“What happened?” Vlad asks.
I hesitate before I explain all that took place the night before. Eirian waiting for me in that room. Waking up in the van, the troll pushing me out onto the beach…
And the fact that two vampires and a human got away.
Asher leans back in his chair when I’m finished. “Fuck.”
“Eirian will know you did not burn up,” Vlad says.
