Maybe he could turn his fate around. Maybe instead of deepening his guilt, he could use this to help their mission.
Eyden’s hand went into his pocket, his fingers brushing against the leather bag of silver notes and coins, but then his ears picked up movement.
Turning his head, his gaze collided with Ilario’s emerald eyes as he rushed forward. Eyden pushed the bag back into his pocket.
“I thought we were meeting at my place?” Ilario asked, eyeing him and then the fae at the door, who looked annoyed at the interruption.
“Right, let’s go,” Eyden said, walking ahead of Ilario. He didn’t slow down the rest of the way to Ilario’s place. Ilario caught up with him, but remained quiet. Still, Eyden could feel his friend’s eyes on him.
Once they entered Ilario’s apartment, Ilario fixed him with a sympathetic look. “What’s going on with you? You told me you stopped gambling,” he said.
Eyden sighed, turning to the kitchen and taking a seat at the round table. Ilario’s apartment was more spacious than Eyden’s. The large windows, covered in vines, were letting in the evening sun, bathing the bright room in orange hues. Decorated in a mix of light blue and different shades of green, the space felt welcoming. The kitchen table he now sat at was covered in a baby-blue tablecloth. Two small cactuses decorated the centre. Hanging from the walls, adorning the window sills, Eyden couldn’t count all of Ilario’s plants with two hands.
Ilario joined him at the table.
“I did play recently. I had to—for Lora.” Eyden hung his head.Lora.He wondered if he ever crossed her mind. Why was she always in histhoughts these days? How could he rid himself of this torture?
“I’m sure you had your reasons, but don’t go down that slippery slope again. It’s not good for you,” Ilario said. He kept many things from Ilario, but his friend had found out about Eyden’s gambling issue on his own. Eyden had gotten them into trouble once, winning against a fae who was a sore loser, to say the least.
“You have to admit, we could use the extra silver,” Eyden argued, hearing his own lie.
Ilario considered him. “I want you in the right state of mind more than silver. Lora does too.”
“Lora doesn’t need—want—anything from me.”
“I highly doubt that.”
Eyden shook his head. Ilario could be naïve sometimes. Lora had made herself perfectly clear. “How did you find me, anyway?”
“I was coming from Halie’s place when I spotted you,” Ilario replied. Then he leaned in, his eyes searching Eyden’s. “You know, if you want to talk about it—the gambling, Lora, or anything else—I’m here.”
Some part of Eyden knew that. But he couldn’t lay it all out. Not when Ilario was in the dark about so many things in his life. “I’m fine,” he lied.
Ilario held his gaze for a little longer before he leaned back in his chair, defeated. “I think I should tell Nix to stop,” Ilario said while fidgeting with the sleeve of his white shirt. Of course, Ilario’s conscience was winning over the stubbornness he’d shown only a day ago.
“You don’t want to get back into the palace?” Eyden asked. As he shifted, the old wooden chair beneath him creaked.
Ilario moved his hand to tap at the table. “I wish I didn’t, but I do. We have to. But it’s getting out of hand already. Nix didn’t just ask me about getting more for tonight. He wants a huge supply so the girl can travel to Carnylen. He wouldn’t tell me why.”
Tonight.Would Lora be there again?
Eyden considered Nix’s plan. He didn’t know who the girl was, but Eyden had seen enough to know she was an addict and somehow involved at court. Would it be in their favour if they went along with Nix’s plan, or were they shooting themselves in the leg by not being needed anymore once she was gone? Then there was the ethical dilemma that always haunted him.
Ilario sighed. “He sounded desperate. Said I was free to go to any of his parties whenever I wanted. But he’s…nice. Even if I said I couldn’t get any more, I think he might invite me again anyway.”
“We can’t risk our fate on the hopes of him being nice,” Eyden said carefully. “I don’t want to do this either. I didn’t that night, I don’t want to today, and no day after that. But you were right. We’ve come so far. We can’t go back now.”
“Are you really all right?” Ilario asked, leaning forward with concern. Eyden didn’t meet his eyes.
“Let’s not decide anything before we know more.” A plan was already forming in Eyden’s mind, and it involved none other than the person who had hurt him the most.
* * *
When Eyden unlocked the door to his apartment half an hour later, he found Elyssa and Farren sitting on his couch, drinking caftee. Until a few weeks ago, his sister was the only person he’d ever trusted with a key. He’d offered Lora one in case she decided not to go with them to Rubien. It would have been the safe option for her.
Halie, Ilario’s cousin, had asked him for a key once, but he’d turned her down. When he was unable to fully explain himself, she had stopped speaking to him for a while. He couldn’t allow Halie to accidentally run into Elyssa, and a key meant commitment in a way he hadn’t been looking for. Relationships meant liabilities. People who could betray him and hurt Elyssa, the one person he’d vowed to protect at all costs.
Ilario had sneaked up on him. Over the three years Eyden had known him, he had slowly become a true friend.
