Relief sweeps through me. She only knows where I’m from and my people. She doesn’t know the truth about how I have to feed.
Talon nudges me in my back, pushing me out the door.
Chapter 5
An Unexpected Roommate Nails the Testicles
TALON
The petite Black girl with white hair turns the lock and we follow her into the apartment.
“It’s not much,” Snow announces, letting us file past her into the tiny two-bedroom space.
She’s not wrong. The place is clean but far from new or polished. The lumpy red couch in the living room is flanked by mismatched end tables and crowned with a crooked painting of a mountain landscape. The kitchenette has beat-up oak cabinets and a mini fridge that hums ominously. The hallway is too short, the ceilings too low. I could burn this entire apartment to ash just by breathing too hard.
The earthy smell of mold tickles my nose, but is beaten back by layers of vanilla, lavender, and something that smells vaguely like sugar cookies. Dozens of candles line every flat surface. Some are melted nearly to the wick to combat the mildew. It’s a weird combo.
Still, Aurora beams, wonder lighting her face.
Snow tosses a set of keys onto the coffee table and jerks her chin toward the hallway. “Bathroom’s through there. I appreciate y’all subletting from me. I moved to the ground floor with Ariel. The landlord is a bit of a dick and wouldn’t let me out of my lease here. Subletting isn’t exactly allowed, so if you see that tubby guy with the stained shirt, act like you’re visiting someone.”
Oh great. Just what we need. An illegal squatting situation.
Snow opens the first bedroom door with a flourish.
“This is yours.” She winks at Aurora.
Aurora clutches her chest. “It’s perfect.”
Snow throws a look at me, a silent sanity check on my companion.
It’s. . .really not. The room is maybe six-by-four feet, and the only furniture is a full bed, a scratched vanity table, and a plastic drawer set being used as a dresser. Still, it has a window, though it’s covered in poorly hung black gauzy curtains shot through with glitter. Aurora rests her palm on the peeling paint on the wall, and exhales like she’s found her sanctuary.
Snow gestures but doesn’t open the door. “That’s the second bedroom,” she says, turning to me. “But there’s a situation. Shower leak from the apartment upstairs. There is no flooring and one of the walls has been stripped down to its foundation, and the maintenance guy is on vacation until next week. So...”
“I’ll take the couch,” I say.
“Figured you would.” She spins on her heel. “There are spare blankets in the hall closet.”
“Noted.”
Snow crosses her arms and eyes us both with renewed interest. “So where exactly are you two from?” Her gaze flicks between Aurora’s long dress and cloak and my scorched leather boots. “Because you look like you walked out of a Renaissance fair.”
Aurora’s mouth opens, then closes.
“And you could be part of a motorcycle gang with all that leather. Wait, are you? ‘Cause I can’t afford one myself, but I’d totally knock some off your rent for a ride. Though you are a Dragon, right? I didn’t know any of those really existed anymore. Do you have wings underneath your jacket? I feel like that would be cramped. You probably don’t need a motorcycle when you can fly. Oh shit, I’d take a ride like that too. But like, would you hold me in your clawed feet—if you have clawed feet—or I could ride on your back? Oh, there’s the thing where your skin is too hot though, right? But that doesn’t mean you don’t have a motorcycle either. You could be into both.”
Snow’s quick barrage of words hammers into my head with little order or sense. My brows furrow deeply, an attempt to protect my brain.
“No.” The word comes out flat. It’s a no to everything she just said. “And we’re...not from here.” There is an underlying warning in my tone.Don’t dig.
Snow studies us a second longer, then shrugs. “It’s not like I’m proud of where I’m from either.” She yanks open the fridge and grabs a half-empty bottle of pink wine, then opens it and drinks from it directly. “You got cash, right?”
I pull a stack of folded bills from my inner pocket and hand them over. “Two weeks in advance.”
Snow whistles. “Fae’s tits, that slaps.” She recaps the bottle and takes the money. “Alright then, you’re good.”
A black blur streaks across the apartment and launches itself directly at Snow’s chest.
