Page 92 of Sleep No More

When I finally let go and began to pull back, I found him watching me. He wasn’t smiling anymore. Instead, his expression was grave, like he was looking at something so fragile that he feared he might break it into a thousand pieces with nothing more than a word. I met his eyes, and waited.

“If you ever do anything like that again . . .”

“You’ll have to get in line,” I said, and leaned in, and kissed him.

We had been apart for four months, and in that kiss, I could feel every one of those long, awful days and nights from his perspective, watching his wife walk through the world with no idea who he was, or what she was risking when she was careless with herself. And I’ve always been very good at being careless with myself. It’s a gift.

I kissed him back with equal fervor. I might not have been aware of missing him, not consciously, but I’d been alone in so many ways, and I wasn’t used to being alone anymore. August and Simon were no replacement for a loving family that I’d chosen and assembled entirely by myself. Not that I’d ever been as isolated as I’d liked to think. My time under Titania’s enchantment was probably the longest I’d gone without the people I loved, who also loved me, in my entire life.

When Tybalt at last relaxed his grasp and allowed me to step back, he was smiling, and so was I. “I missed you, little fish,” he said.

I shuddered involuntarily as the memory of my bath in Golden Shore struck me. “I wish I could say the same,” I said, putting a reassuring hand on the side of his neck. “But fuck, it’s good to have you back.”

“Yes,” he said. Then he hesitated, glancing down at my midsection, and swallowed. “October . . .”

“Yeah. I know.” I held out my hand, palm toward the ceiling, index finger extended. “I know one of the things you’re worried about, and I’m worried about it too, and if we’re going to get out of here, you need to not be worried,” I said. “Prick my finger.”

He jerked like I’d shocked him, eyes widening for a moment before he narrowed them and glared at me. “I will not hurt you.”

“I’m not asking you to hurt me, just to draw blood,” I said. “I could bite my own cheek, but I don’t think that’s a good idea right now. I’ve had other people’s blood in my mouth and I haven’t brushed my teeth. So please, prick my finger.”

Slowly, Tybalt nodded, pupils narrowing to slits as he extended his claws, and tapped the tip of my index finger, very gently, barely hard enough to break the skin. Quick, before it could heal, I stuck my finger into my mouth and swallowed the tiny bead of blood that had formed there.

I wasn’t looking for power or specific memories this time. I was looking for a truth Titania had forbidden my body to communicate with me, something baked deep into blood and bone, something hidden but soon to be revealed.

I closed my eyes while I listened to what the blood had to tell me, shutting out everything but this brief communion between my body and myself. It wasn’t the sort of familiarity I sought very often, and my body had plenty to say about how much I’d slept—or hadn’t—in the last few days, along with some salty comments about hydration, eating properly, and doing too much blood magic without sufficient time to recover.

And then it told me something else.

Opening my eyes, I smiled at Tybalt, hoping my relief would come through in that expression alone. In that moment, I couldn’t have spoken if I’d tried.

He swallowed, hard, watching my face. “Truly?” he asked.

I said nothing, only nodded.

Slowly, he raised one hand to rest beneath my chin, nudging it ever so slightly higher before he moved his fingers to my cheek, running them softly down to the curve of my jaw. I shivered.

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” he said. “I would never have blamed you. But I would have set myself to destroying her.”

“Here I thought we were going to do that anyway,” I said, and before I could say anything else, he pulled me close again, and kissed me for a second time.

It took us longer to pull apart now that we were no longer reuniting but reunited, and felt like we had the luxury of knowing this kiss wouldn’t be our last.

When we finally did pull apart, the Luidaeg made a huffing sound. “If you two are finished trying to suck each other’s faces off like a pair of hormonal teenagers, there is the little matter of being locked in an iron-barred dungeon while Titania is preparing to Ride for the Heart,” she said, sharply.

I turned to face her, leaning back until my shoulders hit Tybalt’s chest. He responded by putting his hands on my upper arms, holding me there. The Luidaeg was watching us with an expression caught somewhere between amusement and disgust, like she’d never expected our reunion to play out any other way.

I mean, if my father, sister, and brother hadn’t all been in the room, there might have been more nudity, but that was beside the point.

“How are we getting out of here?” I asked. “The last time I had to escape from an iron-laced dungeon, I had a Tuatha de Dannan’s blood to borrow. Or, I guess, technically, the last time, a pair of Tuatha came and got me. I’m thinking of the time before that. How did they manage that, anyway?”

“I helped them,” said Simon, voice dull and resigned. “We knew you’d been arrested, and had gone to Golden Shore hoping we could claim clemency on your behalf. There is no extradition between the Mists and the Golden Shore. I wanted your freedom more than I wanted my own safety. I was able to brew a draught that helped the Windermeres to overcome their normal issues with distance and break through the dungeon wards. I don’t have access to my equipment, or to the Windermeres.”

“So that’s out,” I said dryly. “Tybalt?”

“Much as I would love being your savior in this matter, little fish, I couldn’t carry this many people through the shadows, even were I inclined to make the attempt. The roads degrade when unused, and most of my Court has been unable to access them for months. They are unsafe for passage.”

“Ginevra took me via the Shadow Roads,” I protested.