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He frowns faintly. “Won’t it be an inconvenience, though?”

“Sweets, I live on my own. No one cares where I sleep.” I can’t help adding, “Besides, it’s not like it’s a hardship.”

His flush grows. I can’t tell if it’s from embarrassment or pleasure, but it doesn’t matter — I can’t make a move on him either way. What Lysander needs is a friend. And if his definition of a friend includes someone who holds him so he can sleep at night without being terrorized by nightmares, that’s what I’ll be.

“It doesn’t have to be every night,” he says sheepishly.

“We’ll do it every few nights. That way, you don’t have to ask every time.”

How I’m gonna handle the allegations when Orion, Plato, and the rest of the crew find out is a problem for future me. It’seasy to ignore the alarm bells when he smiles sleepily, warm and sweet, the complete opposite of everything I thought about him the first time we met properly.

He nestles back under my arm. “Thank you,” he murmurs.

“Sure.” I press my mouth to the top of his head. It’s definitely not a kiss — just a friendly gesture. “Now go back to sleep. It’s not even noon yet.”

14

LYSANDER

“It sucks you’ve been going through this on your own,” Ezra says lowly, his deep voice soothing. His head tips back against the leather seat, making the jewelry in his eyebrows and nose flash and sparkle in the low light. “I know how tough it is to struggle alone.”

It’s early, just after the club has opened. Monsters have already begun trickling in. After bringing my drink over Ezra slid into my side of the booth, so he’s pressed against me all up and down my side. I lean into him surreptitiously.

“After the fire, I had to get used to relying on myself,” I admit. “It was hard. I’d never been on my own before.”

“The fire… is that what happened to your family?” He pins me with his gaze, but instead of feeling trapped, it’s like he’s reallylooking.Understanding.

“My mother.” I look down. It’s easier to talk about it with his weight against me. “She set the fire herself to protect us. She couldn’t get out. But my father died when I was very young.”

His arm comes over my shoulders, solid and comforting. “I don’t think anyone here would want you to feel like you can’t rely on them. Me included.”

My family wasn’t that warm or big, but we were still family. When I got separated from Elsabeth, the world suddenly became a harsh place for a young, naive fairy. Everyone at The Sanctum is kind, and it’s far more than I had before. Still, I felt alone for a long time.

Ezra makes me feel less alone. Not just because he’s immune to magic poisoning, or because he doesn’t expect me to behave like a prince. Something about his warmth, his kindness, the glint in his eye, makes me feel attended to. Like he’s inviting me to be part of a shared secret.

I lean into him with a sigh and his hold on me tightens.

“We’re getting a few looks,” he murmurs. “Is that cause you’re a prince and I’m a lowly bartender?”

There’s humor in his voice, but also a thread of uncertainty. I want to put a possessive hand on him — claim him — but our agreement is about him touchingme, not the other way around. Maybe that would make him uncomfortable.

Instead I rest my head in the crook of his shoulder. “Touching a fairy is taboo. They’re just being nosy.”

“Ahh. The forbidden cuddle.” His hand comes up to run through my hair and my scalp tingles pleasantly, sending a full-body shudder through me. “They’re missing out.”

“I wouldn’t want any of them to touch me.” It comes out in a huff, and Ezra’s heart thumps loudly under my ear.

I start having a new kind of dream.

They’re not nightmares, though I do wake up from them sweaty all over, my heart pounding. They dissipate the instant I’m awake, leaving only tendrils of something frustratinglyephemeral. I’m damp and tender all over, but especially between my legs.

The first time it happens, I gently prod the opening there, hoping I’m not getting sick. Shocks erupt beneath my fingertips. Lightning flickers up and down my spine.

I yank my hand away.

After that, I don’t dare touch it. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I’m becoming fertile — but what could possibly trigger that?

The warmth of spring makes me restless, and now that I’m sleeping so soundly I have energy to spare. I put the last touches on the lace costume and try it on for the first time, pleased at the way it hugs my body while the ruffles and streaming silk tails off the sleeves create movement. Ezra spots it hanging up the next time he comes up to my room, and he goes straight over.