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“Thomas,” I exclaimed.

The boy from the card shop grinned, a dimple appearing on one side of his mouth. “Tom, remember?”

“How wonderful you two know each other’s names ,” Raphael drawled.

I shifted on my feet, unsure why I felt so uncomfortable. Thomas’s gaze drifted from me to the vampire who stood at my side, smile collapsing slightly. He didn’t run away screaming; the disguise card worked fine. But he certainly wasn’t relaxed as Raphael stared him down.

“This is, um, my brother Mark,” I said quickly. “We got caught in the rain and were hoping we could spend the night here. ”

The dimple returned in force. “You’re in the right place! The Royal Badger is always happy to give lovely, weary travelers a place to rest. Why don’t I get you a hot meal first?”

“I’ll go tend to Alphonse. Don’t wait for me.” Raphael disappeared back out into the rain, leaving me with Thomas, who relaxed immediately at his departure.

Thomas maneuvered out from the behind desk and gave me a wide grin. “Why don’t I take your cloak so it can dry?” He looked from my face to lower, eyeing my soaked clothes.

That did sound nice. Until I glanced down and flushed, immediately crossing my arms over my cloak, pulling it tight. The water had truly soaked me; my blouse was transparent as it clung to me, leaving me utterly exposed save for my chest wrappings. “I’ll just sit close to the fire.”

Thomas at least had the manners to look ashamed of having been caught ogling.

Part of me wanted to retreat immediately up to whatever room we could get and order supper there.

But… well, I’d been on display, and he’d looked.

That was just what boys did. Right? It didn’t matter that I didn’t like it.

He hadn’t actually harmed me in any way.

“I’ll get you a dry blanket, of course, so you can wrap it around yourself.”

“Oh. That’d be great.”

He went to the back and came back with a bundle of fabric.

I accepted with a twinge of guilt for my earlier thoughts about him, and shrugged off my cloak, facing away while I slipped the dry blanket over my shoulders.

Thomas told someone to bring the cloak up to what would be our room and led me over to the dining hall.

He sat us at the bar top. I didn’t like having my back to the room, but I wasn’t sure what to say.

With Raphael, it was almost easier to push back.

With Nelson and the guards of Greymere, I’d known my place not to say anything.

But with a random boy… was it wrong to assert what I wanted?

He’d think me paranoid, and I had no desire to draw attention.

Thomas was oblivious to my turmoil over our seats and instead cheerfully spoke. “You’ve gotta try Cook’s lamb. It’s the best thing ever.”

Cook. Obviously, it wasn’t the same cook as Greymere, but the moniker had me thinking of my time in Greymere. Of Cook serving out an unending sentence because no one cared enough to see justice done.

Despite the fact I was soaked and shivering, despite the fact I’d slept on the forest floor beside a vampire for several days, I wouldn’t trade my current fate for my old one. No matter how terrible the cost had been.

He flagged down the server and ordered for us. Food appeared a moment later. Enticing spices wafted over from the two plates, making me acutely aware of my hunger.

“So, Sam, you didn’t tell me you were headed this way.”

“You didn’t ask.” I smiled, hoping it was at least half as simple and charming as his was .

The dimple showed his approval. “Fair enough. I guess I was too distracted. Where are you headed?”

“Apante.”

“The City of Answers,” he mused, using the more common nickname. “What answers are you looking for?”

Whatever the vampire wants . Of course I couldn’t tell him that, so I made up a lie about seeking my fortune.

He made a joke, and the conversation flowed easily while I devoured the lamb in front of me.

Lamb had never been my favorite meat growing up, but gods, I’d once sworn when I got out of Greymere, I’d never be picky again.

Food was for survival. I didn’t need more than that.

Distantly, I wondered what was taking Raphael so long.

Thomas was talkative, and he didn’t notice as my mind wandered, and my responses stopped being full sentences and more a rotating sequence of nods and mhmms .

A nice boy. That’s what he was, through and through.

Even as inexperienced as I was, I could tell he was flirting.

A nice boy was flirting with me. It was like I was watching it happen to someone else.

Someone who had another life, who hadn’t seen the violence I had.

I tried to savor the attention, to put on the thought that I was in some way desirable. It fit like a pair of trousers fashioned from an old grain bag—too itchy, too close to the skin, too constricting.

I should have been charmed, but all I could think was I’d rather have eaten my meal in solitary silence .

“Let me get you something good for dessert.” Thomas was up and around the counter, ducking into the kitchen before I could protest.

For a brief moment, my mind flickered to the pie from yesterday. To my stubborn refusal while Raphael sat there. Well, maybe today I would have the pie.

But Thomas returned with just a pair of goblets. He seemed to consider both glasses for a second before carefully setting one in front of me.

“It’s a special dessert wine,” he explained with a gleam in his eye. “On the house, of course.”

I thanked him, though the truth was I didn’t much care for wine. I’d had it only as a small child, sampling from my mother’s cup. My impression from Nelson’s drinking was not favorable. I took a single sip to be polite and then set it down.

Thomas cast me a crestfallen look. His handsome face was made mulish with the expression, which was just a bit too exaggerated to be charming. “You don’t like it? It’s a, uh, specialty of the town I grew up in.”

The town, I recalled from his many tangents, was about a day’s journey away. “I’m not much for wine.”

“You’ll like it,” he insisted. “It’s a bit of an acquired taste, but everyone likes it once they finish their first glass.”

I squirmed, slightly uncomfortable with how pushy he was. It would be foolish to offend Thomas when he had been so kind. I just didn’t really want to drink the wine.

Wants are secondary to needs , I reminded myself. Being rude to a current host wasn’t just rude, it was stupid. Drawing attention by being stubborn when we were already passing through late at night, when a vampire was in their midst, was foolish.

I lifted my drink back from the table and readied to take another sip.

The wine was snatched from my hands before it reached my lips.

I jerked back, straight into a hard—familiar—chest. Raphael had suddenly returned and now stood behind my seat. And he’d taken the dessert wine.

“My ward doesn’t have the constitution for this drink.”

I sputtered a protest, but the wine was already at Raphael’s lips. Vampires don’t drink. But Raphael took a sip all the same, watching Thomas over the rim of the glass. He grimaced.

“It’s foul.”

I wanted to bury my head in my hands at his rudeness, but it got worse.

He dumped the wine behind the counter. I stared up at the vampire in horror.

Although now he didn’t look like the vampire I’d come to know.

His dark hair gleamed in the low light, his blue eyes fixed on Thomas as he leaned over, a chilling smile on his face.

The tips of Thomas’s ears flared bright red. Anger? Or embarrassment?

Either way, I was mortified. “ Mark ,” I hissed .

“Apologies for the delay. Alphonse took some time to settle, but I’m here now and ready for a meal.” His gaze was fixed squarely on Thomas, menace radiating off him.

“Of… of course,” Thomas stammered. “I’ll go and get that for you.”

Raphael slid into the seat next to me. “Excellent. Then you can join me and Sam.”

Sitting pressed between Thomas and Raphael sounded worse than anything Greymere had come up with. I stood, clutching the blanket around me as if to save me from the awkwardness. “Actually, I’m exhausted, brother . I’ll just head up to rest.”

Raphael nodded. Too easily. “Of course. Have a tray sent upstairs,” he ordered Thomas, before turning to me. “Let’s head to bed.”