“Ciao, bello,” Arthur repeated. “I know what it means.”You hopeless fool, you still couldn’t have him if he said it now, sober as a judge—
But Rory was covering his mouth with his hand. “I was bent outta my head,” he insisted, from behind his palm. “Talking bunk.”
Damn. Well, maybe he didn’t like men, or maybe he just didn’t like Arthur. It didn’t matter, regardless.
“Duly noted.” He buried his disappointment. That door was shut and Rory could trust that Arthur would never overstep and try to open it. “I’ll call the wedding off, then.”
Rory made his surprised huff again, and as his hand fell away, Arthur saw—“Are you smiling?” he said in shock.
Rory rolled his eyes, but hewassmiling, small but real, and it transformed his face.
“I made yousmile.” Arthur’s heart skipped a beat. If Rory still enjoyed flirting, Arthur could certainly do that, no strings attached. “Sorry, wedding’s back on.”
Rory’s smile grew. “Shut up.”
“It’s your fault. You cook Italian food and you have an enchanting smile, that’s how you get yourself middle-aisled.”
“You’re impossible.” He bumped Arthur with his shoulder. His cheeks were pinker, but it could have been the cold. “You talk like this to all the skirts in town? I bet you’ve got every last one on your private phone. How else would you know a word likebello?”
Arthur coughed. “Must be the women.”
They began to walk again, but now Rory kept stealing glances from under the brim of his hat. “You’re really not mad I called you handsome?”
“It’s not exactly insulting.”
“I know, but—” Rory bit off his words, straightening his spine like he was bracing himself. “Did anything else happen between us that night?”
Other than the flirting, there was the magic, and there was a memory that was going to haunt Arthur. “You damn near gave me a heart attack,” he muttered.
Rory flinched. “You just said you weren’t mad—”
“I wasn’t,” said Arthur. “I was terrified.”
“Terrified?” Rory came to a complete stop under the snow-covered branches of a cherry tree. “Because of my drunk Italian? You’re twice my height with muscles like a big six—you could’ve taken me out with one hit—”
“I wasn’t scared of being calledhandsome,” Arthur cut in. “I was terrified when you touched my suit and got stuck in its creation.”
“Oh.” They were both quiet, surrounded by the distant sounds of New York and the occasional bird. When Rory spoke again, he was hoarse. “So the tailor I remember wasn’t real?”
He couldn’t tell real memories from visions? Arthur shivered. “His name is Mr. Dannenberg, and he’s real and the only reason I ever look respectable. But he certainly wasn’t drinking with us. You saw him making my jacket, and you were still seeing him, even when you let go of my suit.”
Rory looked resigned, not surprised, as he stood alone under the white-frosted branches, and Arthur knew then with certainty that Rory had been through worse than even the ring.
He chanced a step closer. “The vision that happened to you last night will keep happening every time the relic is exposed in this city for as long as that relic is unbound. And if that relic becomes bound to another paranormal—that’s a new set of problems. If you change your mind about leaving, my lifeline is there for you.”
The deep brown eyes focused on Arthur, intense. “I can hold on to you, because you won’t let go?”
Arthur recognized his own words from the back seat of the cab that had taken them home from the Magnolia. “You’re damn right I won’t.”
Rory jammed his bandaged hands in his pockets. He didn’t look at Arthur as he scuffed his tennis shoe against the snow, then finally he muttered, “Thanks, Ace.”
“Oh no, absolutely none of that,” Arthur said immediately. “Stick to telling me to go to hell. There will be no sweet manners and puppy eyes from you or I’ll end up wrapped around your paranormal pinky.”
Rory made his surprised huff, the one that was nearly a laugh, although Arthur quite frankly hadn’t been joking. “You’re not like anyone else I ever met,” Rory said, as they set off again through the snowy park.
“Says the boy who can see magical pasts.”
“I don’t just seemagic. I see regular pasts too.”
