“But—”
“Get the fluck out, Corbin.”
I pushed the door open and dragged myself out. Arthur sped off before Rowan had even properly shut his door.
Rowan shoved his hands in his pockets and stared down at his shoes. Whenever Rowan went outside of the castle, he had to count the eyelets in his shoes. Most of his obsessive behaviors didn’t make sense beyond his need to control his anxiety, but this one I thought I could explain. When I found Rowan, he was drowning in a pool of his own urine, off his face on heroin, his bones jutting out of his sagging skin like drumsticks. His torn clothes reeked of shit and rot, and he wasn’t wearing any shoes. When he was outside, especially with concrete beneath his feet, he had to look down and remember that he was a different person now, a person who wears shoes and drinks tea and has a life worth living.
“He didn’t mean to do that. Arthur thinks he’s in love and he doesn’t want any of us touching his princess,” I sighed. “No matter how much she’s begging to be touched.”
As if I needed another problem to deal with.
Hang on a bloody moment. Why am I assuming it’s my problem? I’m not the leader anymore. I’m just another guy who lives in that house. If Arthur wants to get his knickers in a twist because he’s the only one Maeve hasn’t slept with, that’s his business.
The pure selfishness of the thought sent a thrill down my spine.
I don’t have to stress about it. It’s not my problem.
But then Keegan’s face flashed in front of me, his skin blue and his glassy eyes glaring straight at me, reminding me what happened when you let your guard down, when you stopped looking out for the people you care about. My chest tightened. I dug my phone out of my pocket and started scrolling for Arthur’s number.
“Don’t call him,” Rowan whispered. “He needs to calm down.”
“I can’t leave it like this. What if he sets fire to the church? Then how will Jane get Connor baptized?”
“Corbin,” Rowan’s voice was quiet, but there was an edge I rarely heard, an edge that said he was going to push this.
“Fine.” I shoved my phone back in my pocket, but the tightness didn’t leave my chest. “I’ll deal with it when we get back.”
We walked into the bus station. I scanned the timetable, but the numbers blurred together. My head throbbed. The scones I had for breakfast squirreled around in my gut. I squeezed my eyes shut and Keegan’s face taunted me from behind my eyelids.
I don’t want to do this.
“You don’t look good,” Rowan whispered.
“I’m fine,” I sighed, fishing in my pocket for some cash. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
MAEVE
“Did the guys seem weird to you?” I asked Jane as we walked up the lane toward her house. Arthur dropped us off a block early. A good thing because I didn’t want to stay in that car with him any longer. Things got weirdly tense back there.
I scanned the street, suddenly aware of how alone and vulnerable we were. I thrust my hand into my purse, searching for the trinkets the guys had given me for protection. My favourite dress – for all its good points like the way it made me feel feminine without being too revealing – didn’t have any pockets for magical talismans. My fingers brushed each object in turn – the medallion, the small dagger, the twig, and the parchment. Arthur had left to drop Corbin and Rowan off, and he was going to meet us at the church on his way back, so it was reassuring to know I had some of my guys’ magical protection.
There was also a package of cookies Rowan had slipped to me as I climbed out of the car. He called them “biscuits,” but to me, a biscuit is more like a sweet scone that’s served with gravy. I’d already eaten one of Rowan’s cookies and they were sweet and lemony and delicious.
“They seemed like normal guys to me.” Jane munched on a cookie. “Are you telling me that they don’t usually get all sulky when you tell them you want to fuck all of them?”
My cheeks flared. “I didn’t say that. That’s not?—”
“I can read between the lines, Maeve. You’re young, full of witchy hormones, and in mourning for your tragedy. If I was in your shoes, I wouldn’t have lasted two days in that castle with those hotties. You’ve been here a week, so I know you’re fucking at least one of them. My question is, who?”
Now my whole face was on fire. I tried to turn away, but something in Jane’s eyes held me. I realized that Jane might be the only person I ever met who I could actually talk to about this. The pain of losing my parents still clung to my chest, following me everywhere like a ghost. Jane lost her grandmother long enough ago that the raw pain of it had faded a little – I could see my future in her knowing eyes. I needed that. For all her guy-crazy antics, Kelly was still a Christian virgin, and she was dealing with her own grief that was as raw and all-consuming as my own. We’d been raised in a church community with abstinence sex education, so I didn’t have any other girlfriends I could talk to, and as much as I was growing close to the guys, it didn’t seem like a thing I could discuss with them.
“Two of them,” I mumbled. “Corbin and Rowan.”
“Oh.” Jane flicked a strand of her brown hair behind her ear. “Interesting.”
“Yeah?”
