“What happens now?” he asked, lowering his leg into a more relaxed position.
“I convinced him to use the Dollhouse as collateral,” I said. “Sweetened the deal, hopefully enough to scare off this phantom bidder. But in case it doesn’t, I built in a failsafe.”
His brow furrowed. “What kind of failsafe?”
I paused, considering how to explain something I didn’t fully understand myself. My power wasn’t flashy. There were no flames, no glowing sigils, or pages signed in blood, but I knew its shape. What was written became real, but I couldn’t simply dictate my whims. If I took, I had to give and ensure everything balanced in the end. Like the scales of justice. I could think of nothing more just than reducing Maslow to the sniveling heap he was.
“It’s a kind of magic,” I said. “Maybe it’s in the writing. Or the paper. Could be in me. I’ve never been completely sure.” I offered him a slanted smile. “But it works.”
He nodded slowly, thoughtfully. “And then?”
“Then it’s over.” I took another drink. “Maslow gets his property, and the deal is done.”
“He’ll be happy about that,” Zephyr murmured. He hugged his arms around himself, and the pause that followed felt terribly fragile. When he looked at me again, his eyes were full of hope, and that was fragile too. An infant thing.
“What happens to us?” he asked.
The question was unexpected. Not because I didn’thave an answer, but because I wasn’t sure which “us”he referred to. The dancers at the Dollhouse? Or him and me?
“Who do you mean?” I asked tentatively.
“Everyone. The other guys and…” His gaze dipped, and he looked up at me through his lashes in a way that left no room for misinterpretation. “And us.”
I’d thought about it before. If I fixed Zephyr’s problem, he would no longer need me as the solution. Standing here now, that fear was no longer a vague unease I could brush aside, but something deep and personal. Giving Zephyr freedom might set him on a path that would carry him away from me entirely.
Earlier in the day, he’d lit up while talking about performing and the joy he used to find in it. I wanted that for him again. I wanted him to chase that feeling, to reclaim what had once made him feel alive.
But the thought of him joining a circus troupe and chasing dreams across the country, or across the world, while I stayed behind…
Watching him vanish into curtains and crowds I couldn’t follow...
It hollowed me out.
I’d only just gotten him here. Just learned the feel of his body beside mine. Just started to understand how much space he’d taken up in my chest. The idea of losing that—of losinghim—felt too close, too real.
Abandoning my glass, I walked to where he stood. My hands found his arms, and I ran my palms slowly down them.
“You’ll be free,” I said. The words caught slightly in my throat.
Zephyr’s forehead crinkled. “To do what?”
“Anything you want.Everythingyou want.”
Pausing, I considered the weight of that statement. It wasn’t freedom if it came with strings attached. I wasn’t liberating him only to force him into a new cage, even if that cage was a penthouse suite at one of the nicest hotels in Vegas.
But I should offer, shouldn’t I? Open the door and let him choose.
Swallowing, I forced myself to say, “You can stay here. With me.” The statement left me too exposed, so I nodded toward the window behind him and added, “And the view.”
He smiled, and I turned him away before my offer became a plea because maybe I needed him. Maybe he was everythingIwanted. And my pride couldn’t take it if he didn’t feel the same.
Facing the glass, I stepped behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. He melted into the space where he fit so well, tucked between my shoulders with his head tilted so his hair brushed my cheek.
He might have been looking at the lights, the signs, the splendor, but I was looking at us. At myself holding onto someone for the first time in decades. I enjoyed it. Enjoyed Zephyr and everything he represented. Something different. Something new.
We stood like that for a long moment. There was no rush to move. No need to do anything but relish his weight resting against me and his warmth sinking into my chest. The world outside kept spinning, all neon and noise, but in here, everything felt still.
“Beck…” Zephyr’s voice broke the quiet. “Do you love me?”
