“Alden’s nice,” Pixel said. Her small hands gripped Nate’s bare ankle. “He has pretty things.”
“Water,” Nate croaked. He opened his eyes to slits, but the candlelight pierced him like sunbeams.
Alden wound his arm under Nate’s head. He tipped a narrow cup to Nate’s lips and filled his mouth with small sips until he could swallow. The water burned at first, but the more Nate drank, the more his head cleared.
Alden helped him finish the water the same way he did every time Nate woke up blurry and sick. “What do you think you were doing letting that boy feed on you for so long? Have you lost your mind, or were you actively trying to kill yourself?” His voice went thin in a way Nate had never heard before. “Itoldyou not to do that.”
“Alden.” Nate stared at the bluish circles under Alden’s eyes.
Alden met his searching look with an icy glare, his mouth pinched with hunger.
He wasn’t really concerned. He was only worried about losing his fix.
Then Alden’s questions sunk in. “Reed! Did it work? Did it fix him?”
Alden’s expression tightened. He said nothing as Pixel crowded Nate’s vision, fluttering like a moth.
“He woke up!” Pixel said. “Sparks came to tell us yesterday. After you were done, he was so much better. I told Brick you got tired from running, like when you get sick sometimes. Brick said maybe Alden would take you in ’cause you used to live with him, and Alden didn’t mind because he wanted the medicine box back anyway. And I wanted to stay, and Brick said it was okay ’cause Miss Fran’s real nice to me. Alden gave Sparks medicine and needles to sew Reed up. You were sleeping for a long time. And you wouldn’t drink neither. Oh, Nate, I thought you were killed for sure.”
Nate smiled, his lips stinging with dryness. “Reed’s okay.” That was all he really needed to know.
“Aren’t you concerned that Reed and his young associates will question how you managed to restore a dying man?” Alden sat at the edge of the pile of cushions, his hair pulled back in a severe bun.
Pixel rested her cheek on Nate’s chest and hugged him gently. “Nate told them it was fancy chem. Like city medicine. It’ll be okay, right, Nate?”
“I’ll worry on it later.” Nate put his arm around Pixel’s back and watched Alden. “You’ll be safe, Pix.”
Alden rolled his eyes. “It’s a wonder any of you sentimental fools have lived this long. You must realize Reed will try to find out how you managed to buy medicine. You’re not exactly wealthy.”
“Pixel, go on and rest now,” Nate said. “I know you’ve been staying awake, looking after me.” There was no sense in scaring her.
“You can sleep at the foot of Miss Fran’s bed.” A brief, fond smile softened Alden’s features. “She thinks I’ve brought her a granddaughter to dote on.”
Pixel burrowed closer but didn’t resist when Alden helped her up and guided her through the curtained door to his grandmother’s room.
Left alone, Nate drifted, dozing lightly, and woke to find Alden beside him again.
“We have trouble.” Alden tucked Nate’s hair behind his ear. “Bigger trouble than the mess you got yourself into at the railway.”
“Is that a bedtime story to scare me or the truth?” Nate asked.
“What would I accomplish by scaring you? You don’t listen to reason.” Alden’s hands fluttered like distressed birds. “You don’t listen to me at all.”
“I—”
“Your diminutive friend was correct, Nate. You were half dead when they brought you here. I couldn’t help you. All I could do was wait to see if you’d wake up or drift into the stillness.”
“I’ll try not to damage what belongs to you again.” Nate worked his way onto his elbows.
“Is that what. . .is that really what you think of me?” Alden asked, gripping Nate by the arms and forcing him back into the bedding with a stilted, trembling gentleness.
“I know what I am to you,” Nate said.
“Do you?”
Nate was being manipulated, but his skin went rough with goose bumps. Even in his wildest hungers, Alden hadn’t looked at him the way he watched Nate now, with longing and impossible sadness.
“What do you want?” He tugged Alden’s sleeve, wanting to replace Alden’s expression with the indifferent smirks he wore so well.
