“And how does that help us, exactly, Schwint?” While I didn’t like how she was speaking to him, I had the same questions she did.
“I was hoping they did, so we’d be able to intercept them and possibly rescue Cynthia ourselves. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. But it does tell us they had to bring her by boat. It also raises the possibility they may not have brought her here at all, that they may be holding her somewhere else until they get what they want. The best chance we have, the best chance she has, is for us to have as much information as possible. Even if most of it proves to be useless, you never know what might end up making a difference.”
Although she looked like it was killing her, Caitlin didn’t offer up another argument. “So where are we going?”
“I got us a place to stay by the bus station.”
“How’d you pay for that? I thought fairies didn’t use money.”
He gave her a classic Schwint wink. “I may not have enough magic to carry two full-grown witches across a country, but I have enough to make a hotel clerk forget I haven’t paid.”
Newton tookoff as soon as we reached the hotel, claiming he slept better on his own and would meet us at the station in the morning. Probably went off to find some fairy to sleep in a tree with or something.
Caitlin fell asleep in the bed next to ours, her grumbles alternating between having to share the room with her gay brother and Tinker Bell and having to spend the night here at all instead of Schwint having the balls to head out tonight.
The hotel was a shithole. I’d turned the lights off a second after flipping them on. In the brief second, I saw enough to know that if I saw anymore, I’d go find whatever tree Newton had claimed and join him. The point was to be close to the bus station. Considering the bus station’s neon sign was glaring through our curtainless window and illuminating our bed, I’d say we were close enough.
“Did you mean it when you said you made the guy forget you didn’t pay for the room, or did he actually pay you to stay in it?”
Schwint let out a quiet laugh and ran his hand over my chest as he curled into me. “The room’s pretty bad, huh?”
I shuddered and reminded myself to whisper to keep from waking Caitlin. “I’m not sure what they were, but there were about fifty bugs in the corner over there.” I motioned to a wall over by the bathroom.
“They’re only bugs. They’re not gonna hurt you.”
“Says the fairy.” I let my hand drift down his naked back, his soft skin causing me to relax despite myself. “You could make yourself look like one of them, and they’d leave you alone.”
He let out another chuckle. His hand emerged from under the sheets—not that they were thick enough to be called sheets—and he placed his warm fingers on my cheek. “So, how are you? Really?”
I let out a breath. How was I? Good question. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I think I’m kinda in a numb state. After all that happened to Mom and Dad and then the panic after we got the note about Cynthia, I think my mind is starting to shut down. I feel like I’m hanging in limbo until we find out what they’ve done with her and what they want from me.”
“Makes sense.” He readjusted slightly, causing the bed to squeak so much there may have actually been a large family of rats living in the coils that were getting squished. He stopped moving and waited, making sure Caitlin was still sleeping. “Cynthia’s alive. It only makes sense that she is.”
“I know. I honestly don’t doubt that at all. But like Caitlin said, there’s a lot more they can do to her besides kill her.”
“We’ll be there tomorrow. She’ll be free tomorrow. We’ll give them what they want and then be home tomorrow.”
“You know it won’t be that simple.”
“Yeah, I know.” His breath was warm on my neck, and his goatee tickled against my chest. “Nice to pretend otherwise, though.”
“I think the best we can hope for is that they let me take her place, and she and Caitlin can go home.”
Part of me wanted him to argue, say that I wouldn’t need to take her place. I appreciated that he didn’t, though. We both knew I wasn’t going home. The Royals didn’t go to all the trouble they had to simply let me leave.
We were quiet for a long time, to the point that I thought he’d fallen asleep. When he did speak, his voice was quiet enough it didn’t startle me. “Newton thinks we can overthrow the Royals, that we can save all the supernatural species by ending the vampires’ reign.”
I didn’t laugh, proving I really was numb. “What do you think?”
“I think Newton is idealistic, like a teenager. I think Newton likes nothing more than a revolution. He started giving the royal family hell when he was a kid. I can’t believe it’s taken them three decades to seriously consider banishing him. I think he might help us think out of the box and that we might find other alternatives than you living out your days doing whatever it is the vampires want you to do.”
What plans do we need to make? Are there other species that could help us? Some werewolves or demons maybe? What do I say when I meet the vampires tomorrow? Amalphia couldn’t assure us that Cynthia will live—that’s a bad sign, right?
Any or all of those questions would have been appropriate, would have been useful. Instead I asked, “Is Newton straight?”
Schwint rose up on his elbow to another cacophony of squeaks, his face quizzical in the light of the bus station neon. “Huh?”
“Is Newton straight?”
