Dorian frowns. “It’s actually been two days; you were passed out for a while. And we didn’t want to leave you to go in search of food until we understood what was going on better.” As if on cue, his stomach rumbles. He faces me with bright blue eyes, pleading like a hungry puppy.
I scowl, rummaging in a cabinet and toss each of them a piece of gum. “You’ve been here two days and you’re already trying to eat me out of house and home.”
“Do fae not need to eat?” Lucien asks and I can see what it costs him to voice the question, like by doing so he’s accepting fae exist and everything he’s ever known might be under scrutiny.
I try to soften my tone. While my life was just thrown for a damn loop, so was theirs, but on a much more intense level. It will be a hard adjustment for all of us, but if my gut is correct, hardest on Lucien.
“We do, I just need to go shopping. Bright side, I slept until payday, so we can go pick up my check and grab some groceries.”
He rubs his temples, elbows braced on his knees and head bowed. “I can’t, I just,” he starts and stops several times. “Spell things out for me here, Cambria. Please.”
Sighing, I sit on my bed and Dorian joins me while Atlas chooses to lean against the wall. It’s not like I exactly have the place furnished for company.
“If a fae reveals themselves to a human or a human to our world, there are three options.” I tick them off on my fingers. “Mind wipe so they forget, kill them, or the accused can accept responsibility.”
“And Illiah was on vacation, so no forgetting?” Atlas adds and I nod.
Lucien gestures for me to continue, not looking up.
“The symbols aren’t just a mark of shame for the fae so that everyone can see how they fucked up, but it tethers us together. So if you try to leave without me, your symbol will activate and give me a stab of pain as a warning. If you actually tell any other human, well,” I trail off, not sure if he can handle anymore, but at his glare quickly realize he’s the sort of man that would prefer a clear set of rules.
“Then we get dragged in front of the queen and she makes a huge public display of torturing us to death to emphasize the importance of secrecy. It’s pretty fuckin’ brutal.”
I flop back on my bed and throw an arm over my eyes. I’ve only witnessed two of those ceremonies before and they sure as shit make a lasting impression.I know I checked the clearing before crossing, but I was in such a stupid hurry that I was careless. Now look where that got me.
“So why save us instead of letting us die?” Atlas asks again. “Why put yourself on the line for people that you not only don’t know, but just robbed? I still want my cash back, by the way.”
I don’t remove my arm right away, hiding from reality for just a few moments more. “I told you, I’m not a heartless bitch. And sorry, but that money’s gone; rent.” I then tell them about my mad dash to get enough money to keep a roof over my head and back here in time.
I sit up when Lucien asks in a voice that’s deadly calm. “So we can’t go back? We’re trapped here and regarded as nothing more than your pets?”
His tone is dangerous, one I recognize from home that instantly brings back a flood of painful memories. I swallow and push through them, reminding myself of what everyone is dealing with here and that he’s only human. Dorian seems to pick up on my unease and ends up stealing one of my hands, softly tracing the healing mark I’m not sure he even realizes is his. It actually works though to settle me down and breathe easier.
Oh boy, I adopted an emotional support human. That’ll sound real impressive at the next family dinner.
“Of course you can go back, how else do you think I’m going to pick up my check?” Lucien’s eyes snap up to mine optimistically so I tread carefully with my next words. “But we need to stay together. You can’t all go home and me stay here, just like I can’t be over there for work and leave you in my apartment.”
“What’s the range?” he asks, leaning forward with enthusiastic intrigue and I try not to let it sting how anxious he is to bail.
“We’ll have to test it out, but it’s mostly an intent thing. If we’re all sleeping and you sneak out with the intention of trying to get as far away as possible versus if you plan to just jog down to the store and back.”
He nods slowly. “So we could all go back home and as long as we never plan to tell anyone or abandon each other, we could go back to our normal lives?”
I waver back and forth thinking it through. “To a degree, I suppose.”
He pops up with renewed energy, and starts throwing a bunch of my shit into a basket.
“What the heck are you doing?”
He gives me a strange look. “Going home. Come on, pack what you need and we’ll come back for the rest.”
I give him an offended glare. “Who says I’m just ditching my apartment to come live in the human world?”
He narrows his eyes, and I get the feeling he isn’t used to being challenged often. “And who says we want to live here? Look around you, Cambria. You really think you can fit three more people into this room?”
“Lucien,” Dorian interrupts carefully. “You’re doing that thing again.”
“What thing?” he asks flippantly without looking up, snatching a stray bra off of the floor and shoving it into his growing pile.
