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When the knock came later that night, Ger was dozing in a chair by the fire and just about leapt out of his skin.
“Shit,” he hissed, scrambling to his feet. He promptly unlaced his shirt and ruffled his hair, then shot Adeline a questioning look. She nodded and shooed urgently at him until he stormed for the door, wrenching it open with an irritable growl.
“What have I told you about interrupting—”
He faltered, words choking off.
Adeline bolted to her feet, racing for him before the dread even had time to pool in her stomach.
“Ger?”
He let his grip on the door slacken as she approached, and Adeline wrenched it open. Imogen squinted back at them both, nose wrinkled.
“Are you two pretending to shag?”
“Imogen,” Adeline sighed, relief gusting from her tight chest, but only in the brief moment before Ger answered.
“We’redoing what we must.”
There was something about the way he said it that turned Adeline’s attention. His bright face was cool, the words about as sour as Ger could get. Pointed and unlike himself, as though he was quoting something he’d heard. Imogen’s gaze bounced guiltily away, down the hall and back, her lips pursed against a sigh when she met Ger’s eye again.
“That’s fair,” she said evenly.
“Am I missing something?”
“Rather a lot,” said Ger, still locked on Imogen. “And thank the Goddess for that.”
Imogen did not quite wince, but the flicker of her lashes was enough to underline her discomfort.
“Look, I understand why you might be a little wary—”
“Just a touch,” Ger said dryly.
“—but I’m here in good faith. I have to speak with Adeline alone.”
As though her very blood understood, Adeline’s veins gave a hollow pulse, the absence of magic serving to remind her of how it had been forced through her body mere hours ago. The violence of it, the overwhelm, Imogen’s eyes on hers and a flutter of pink nycta swept beneath glittering skirts.
“Good luck with that,” said Ger. “There are no secrets between us.”
But there were. For the first time in their messy, precious history, Adelinedidhave a secret she was not ready to share with him. She laid a hand on his arm, coaxing him back.
“It’s alright,” she told him.
He finally broke his death stare to send her a side-long glance, and with every moment he held her in that incredulous, crestfallen gaze, Adeline’s heart sank further and further into her gut. It was like standing in the cold outside your own home, only to find the front door locked. The beaming warmth of his eyes was dimmed, as though someone had damped the yellow glow of a candle in a window, torn the curtains back to reveal a desolate room within. There was disappointment there, as much as disbelief.
“I hope you know who you’re putting your trust in, Ade,” was all he said.
Ger turned and stalked away, striding right past the sparse warmth of the fire and the settee with its pile of blankets to disappear into Adeline’s cold bedroom. He would catch his death in there; they’d have to make this quick.
And yet, when she turned to face Imogen, she knew at once that it wouldn’t be.
Imogen reached between the shimmering folds of her skirt and into a hidden pocket. She withdrew her fist and held it out, fingers uncurling to reveal a handful of fragrant pink flowers.
“When did you find out?”
“I don’t know what you mean—”
