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Clearing my throat, I gave her the same half-baked answer I had given myself.
“I had to make sure you were safe, before I left.”
“Oh.” She stood up a little straighter, her chin lifting as she gestured around her. “Well, as you can see, I’m great.”
“Icansee that.” My voice was as hollow as the rest of me felt. Some small part of me had acknowledged the inevitability of this moment from the day she asked me to come with her to find the fairies, but it didn’t make it any less excruciating now that it was here.
I tried to shake this feeling off. She was happy, and I was happy for her. After all, she had finally found her people.
Now, I just need to find a way to get back to mine.
41
Lina
Itried not to stare at Edrich, tried to remind myself to breathe.Is it possible that he looks even more handsome this size?
It felt like we were living out one of the fantasies I had stopped even dreaming about, years ago.
Or at least, it had felt that way before he opened his mouth.
Now I studied him, searching for a single sign of warmth, of the friend I thought I had all those years, and coming up short. His features were guarded, even when he let loose a sigh.
“Truly, Lina, I’m glad you found what you were looking for.”
Have I?I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t about to admit that to him. He had stolen enough of my pride with his lies and manufactured feelings. He was probably only here because Uncle forced him to come as some last remnant of the deal.
What had he said?I had to.I supposed that was the story of our lives, where he was concerned. Uncharacteristic bitterness swept through me, but I fought to keep my tone neutral when I responded.
“I guess we both did,” I finally said.
I had found the fairies, and he had found a way to save his father—a way that didn’t involve being stuck to me.
His face grew even more tense. There was a prolonged silence, one that felt weighted down with everything I couldn’t bring myself to say or ask, before he gave a terse nod.
“Rumplestiltskin got big again, so there must be a way. Can we ask one of the royals, then I can head back?” He turned toward the door.
Panic surged up in my chest. I didn’t want him to leave right now, on these terms.What if I never see him again?I grasped around for something, anything, to keep him from leaving like this.
“They’ve all gone to bed,” I fibbed. “Besides, it would be dangerous, traveling this late. Just… stay here, and we’ll ask them in the morning.”Does he hear the pleading in my voice as plainly as I do?
“You want me to stay in your bedroom?” His tone was perfectly neutral.
“We shared a tent. This is the same thing. Besides, we used to have sleepovers all the time when we were little.” I reminded him, daring him to say how this was any different, to put voice to any one of the hundreds of thoughts flitting around my head.
He opened his mouth to respond, then closed it. Several blinks later, he nodded, though there was a kind of challenge in his eyes.
“Of course. This is just like that.” Was I imagining that mocking lilt to his words?
We both turned to look at the bed, and still, neither of us moved. My limbs were actually frozen in the awkwardness of how to approach getting into bed, whether I should change into my nightclothes. Would it be weirder if I didn’t, or if I did?
“I’ll just take the floor,” Edrich muttered.
“Of course,” I said, like that was obvious to me. And it should have been, would have been, if I hadn’t been so flustered by the whole situation.Right?
Edrich turned around while I changed, the only sounds in the room the slide of silky fabric against skin and his carefully measured breaths. By the time I crawled into bed, I was grateful for the way I could hide beneath the blanket.
I tossed him one of my pillows, and he laid on the floor as far from my bed as he could get. I couldn’t help but steal glances at him while he stared up at the ceiling.
