I cracked an eye open so I could roll it at him.
Instead, I caught a softer version of his smile as he tapped one finger on my hand... which clutched the front of his shirt in an unconscious vise grip.
I flushed and let go.
My fingers tingled from the sudden change.
Had I really held him there all night?
More importantly... he’d let me?
“Sorry!” I scrambled out of bed, then stopped to clutch my head and wince. “Ow.”
I sank back down as the room spun.
“It’ll pass,” Soren reassured me, rising up to lean on one arm. “Some food and water will help.”
“That’d be good,” I croaked, still holding my head until the thumping slowed. Once the spinning stopped, I dared to open my eyes again. We were in his room. I recognized it from when I’d gone snooping. His one and only pillow was on my side of the bed. That did weird things to my heart. I didn’t know how to explain last night to myself, much less to him, so I settled for saying, “Sorry again.”
He climbed out the other side of the bed much more gracefully, still smiling. “Don’t be. It’s nice to feel wanted sometimes.” The last words came out quietly, and he didn’t look at me.
“Yeah,” I agreed softly as I stared at him. Was he... shy? Talking to me?
I looked away too, suddenly overwhelmed, and murmured,“Yeah, it is.”
Everything from the night before came pouring back into my mind like a flood.The veil is closed. We can’t get home. Caius has Dad, Rissa, and Olive, and he’s not giving them back.
“The veil closed last night,” I whispered, because some part of me still needed the one fae I truly trusted to confirm it for me.
He came around to my side and sat next to me. The bed dipped lower, tilting me toward him. I resisted but kind of wished I could give in.
“Isthatwhat caused you to make such reckless decisions?” he asked.
“Obviously,” I said with a snort, but that made my head throb again. I clutched it, wincing.
Soren reached over to the bedside table, where a jug of water sat beside a cup. After pouring, he held it out to me. I downed the entire cup gratefully.
“It’s hopeless now.” Saying it out loud caused my chest to feel like it held boiling lava. My hands clutched the cup until my fingers turned white.
Soren shook his head at me. His expression was bemused as he carefully peeled the cup from my grip before placing it back on the nightstand. “It’s far from hopeless, Brynn. Yes, the veil between the human world and ours is closed until the spring equinox, but we don’t need to wait three months to rescue your family. We can save them the way we usually resort to.”
“You’d do that?” I added softly, “For me?”
Unspoken, but hanging in the air between us, were the words, “After everything I thought and said about you?”
He shifted to face me. Resting an elbow on his knee, he caught my gaze and held it as he said simply, “Yes.”
Confidence radiated off him. It made mealmostbelieve it was still possible.
“How though? Caius owns their contracts.”
“There’s always a way.” Soren sat up straight, going into planner mode as he ticked off a list on his fingers. “We only need three things: the name of the fae who took them, their blood, and the contract itself. Then we will simply sign a new one.”
“That’s literally the opposite of ‘simple,’ ” I muttered.
“Simple is not the same aseasy,” Soren teased gently, drawing a brief smile out of me. “But it’s fairly straightforward.”
I sighed and nodded, trying to straighten up as well. “I suppose you want me to sign another contract.”
