Austin didn’t remember standing, but he was on his feet. Tristan stood close at his side, just shy of touching him. The last time he’d seen Sam, Austin had claimed they werefriendsin front of those who hated him. In front of Laurence. And Sam had looked at Austin as though he was crazy.
The control Austin had spent months slowly building disintegrated completely. Since then, most words out of his mouth had hurt anyone listening, when before that, he had been hurting no one.
Freckles dusted Sam’s cheeks, a faint sunburn marking where he must have been wearing sunglasses. Work-calloused, paint-splattered fingers opened in a submissive gesture. Sam never sat still, whether for work, drawing, errands for his family. Earnest green eyes fixed on Austin.
Austin believed Sam before he even opened his mouth.
Liar.
Austin despised Irish boys.
Sam’s voice stayed calm. “I’ve texted and called.”
Tristan took a threatening step forward. He towered over Sam, who went pale beneath his freckles.
“Okay,” Sam said. “I’ll cut to the chase. I’m just here to give you this.” He pulled a blue stone, burned with grey lines, from his pocket. A headache bloomed behind Austin’s eyes. Sam reached out toward him. With every inch, the headache intensified. So did Tristan’s quiet menace. Sam hesitated, then carefully placed the stone on the table between them.
Austin didn’t take his eyes off Sam, even though he itched to pick the thing up and check it. “Do you expect me to wear that?”
Sam flinched, his shield gone. There was a faint tremble in his hands, and he buried them into his pockets to hide it.
“I don’t know what you want it for,” Sam said. “Kit and Laurence—wait, wait—it’sokay,Austin. Laurence was in the wrong. I knowyoudidn’t have Kit kidnapped, and Kit even said as much.” When he said “you”, Sam’s eyes flicked to Tristan. “You wanted the spell to shield from your voice? My boyfriend’s aunt is the one who designed it. I asked her to make another one. It’s a gift from me, no strings attached.”
A beat of silence passed.
“She said it’s not really protection, but more like a counterattack. Sorry, I didn’t really understand. I don’t know how to explain it.” Sam’s cheek indented, then he blasted the silence with a deluge of words. “I was attacked by a ghoul, and it ate my memory of becoming friends with you. I didn’t mean to snub you. I’m sorry, I genuinely didn’t remember some of our meetings. Vi restored my memories, and since then, I’ve been trying to contact you to explain.. Do you know what a ghoul is?They’re monsters from this world. One was living in my house, and—”
Unbidden, concern sizzled in Austin’s blood. “I don’t want one of those things bringing attention to the town,” he said magnanimously. “Where is it? Still at your house? I’ll kill it.”
Tristan’s head tipped ever so slightly toward Austin without abandoning his intimidating pose.
“Tristan will kill it,” Austin amended.
“My house burned down, actually.”
“It burned down your house?” Austin said, alarmed. He knew from the state of the place and what he’d overheard from Sam’s conversations at the docks that his family had no money. Austin had a lot of money. Maybe—
“No, we decided to do that. We killed the ghoul, but Gary’s body—” Sam cut off, eyes widening with sudden realisation.
The great hall closed in around Austin, the air spoiling as though the food lining the tables were rotting. “Gary’s dead?”
“The ghoul killed him,” Sam said honestly.
The gaps didn’t need filling. If the ghoul was at Sam’s house, then Gary was only in danger because he had been stalking Sam. Because Austin had touched his arm and called upon all thatbeguilingthe book on the table described and seeded a desire Gary could never hope to sate. Maybe Gary had felt as Austin had about Connor, stuck with an intolerable need he couldn’t get rid of. Driven mad and manic by it.
“You didn’t mean for him to get hurt,” Sam said with soft certainty. “Connor accidentally caused theInfiniteto capsize, and three people died. I don’t hold him at fault for something he didn’t mean to happen. And you toldme you didn’t mean what you did to Gary either. That it had been an accident.”
Austin’s breaths were shallow.
“Look,” Sam began, but Tristan had apparently heard enough.
“Leave,” Tristan said. Sam’s eyes flashed toward the merman, but whatever he saw in Tristan’s expression stopped the budding defiance.
Sam sought out Austin’s eyes once more. “I still want to be friends. This doesn’t change that. I’ve been looking for you forever. Not in a creepy stalker way. I hope…” His brow creased, as if, in retrospect, he found his own actions dubious. “Anyway, I’m staying at that villa just across the bay, and you know what my boat looks like. I want to hang out, so send me a message when we can do that. Just me, I know you and Goldilocks didn’t really hit it off.”
Sam rocked back on his heels several times, as if he had a million more things he wanted to say, but on a long sigh, he let it go. “Goodnight.”
He left.
