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“Maybe you can do something about trinity.” She paused as if waiting for me to rebuff her. When I didn’t, she breezed on. “I know you didn’t want to leave the hospital, but you might be able to save more lives this way.”
She was right. If this meeting with the other courts was the only hope of fixing the trinity problem, making sure it went well was more important than being here. It was more important than breaking the bargain. I’d been so caught up in my own shit, I’d never stopped to really consider that.
“Maybe you’re right, but things are complicated. I don’t know what I think about Lachlan.”
She leaned against the couch, propping her head onto her hand. “In that case, can I give you some advice?”
I snorted. “Don’t you always?”
She ignored me. “If he wasn’t worth the effort, you would know. The fact that you’re uncertain how you feel about him tells me that you feel a lot.”
The truth of her words knotted my throat. “What if he’s not a good man?” There had been a time when that mattered to me. I was sure it still should matter.
Her face softened, empathy shining in her brown eyes. “There are no good or bad men. No black or white. We are all just a shade of gray. A collection of our choices, our hopes, our desires. Trying to stick him into one narrow end of the spectrum won’t help you figure out how you feel about him. Only seeing who he truly is will allow you to do that.”
“What if I don’t like what I see?”
She tilted her head. “What if you do, Cate?”
And that was exactly the problem.
Chapter Fifteen
I arrived at the Avalon a few hours later, on my feet this time, with suitcase in hand. I’d exchanged my ruined clothes for a pair of jeans and cropped white tank, opting for comfort if my near future included countless gowns. I braced myself for judgmental looks from the wealthy clientele only to find the hotel vacant.
But any relief I felt vanished when I spotted Ciara and Lachlan arguing in an alcove near the front entrance. His head lifted, a grin ghosting his face when he saw me. Before I could catch what they were saying—or rather, yelling—Shaw approached from my left, his strong hand gripped my elbow, and he dragged me into a sitting room off the lobby. A clock ticked faintly over the stone mantel, its steady rhythm at odds with the rising pitch of the disagreement outside.
“I’d give them a minute,” Shaw advised me.
Roark sat on a leather stool nearby, examining his nails with an intensity that told me he was listening to every word being hurled across the lobby. He grimaced at whatever he heard, adjusting the signet ring on his right hand.
I opened my mouth to ask Shaw what they were fighting over, since I could only pick up snatches, when Ciara shrieked, “You didn’t tell me we were hosting a bacchanalia!”
It sounded like things were going well in there. That meant Lachlan would be in a foul mood. Then again, it was a day that ended in y. As far as I knew, he only had two modes: ill-tempered or drunk on his own superiority.
“Should we intervene?” I had no idea what kind of damage they could do if magic got involved.
Shaw moved closer, keeping his voice even more hushed as the argument rose to a fever pitch. “Ciara is just blindsided.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. “I thought she knew about his plans.”
“She agreed to the betrothal.” Glass shattered in the lobby. I flinched, but Shaw continued smoothly. “She just wants to get things over with, but the Infernal Court wants to do things the old-fashioned way. A dowry and calling the banns and all the feasts and parties. Lach knew, and he forgot to mention it until now. I don’t see why she’s so upset, though. It’s all an excuse for everyone to get rip-roaring drunk, smoke cigars, and make bad decisions.”
At least he was being honest. “Bad decisions, huh?”
“Several, and usually at the same time,” he admitted.
“While drunk? That seems smart.”
“That is the problem with immortality. You can do a lot of stupid shit.” He pushed a hand through his copper hair. “Well, that and trying to figure out what to eat for dinner every night.”
“I guess things aren’t that different for fae and humans after all,” I teased, but I understood why Ciara was upset. I had my own deadline looming, at the end of which was either freedom or a life sentence. She had to feel the same way. I didn’t blame her for wanting to get it over with.
Ciara stormed into the sitting room, halting when she saw me. Her lower lip trembled slightly, but she forced her mouth into a bright smile. “I suppose he told you everything.”
I didn’t know what to say.
She swiped at a renegade tear and waved her manicured hand. “I’m not mad at you.” From the way she said it, I knew exactly who she was mad at. “At least this nightmare will give me a chance to finally get to know Lach’s new friend. He’s been keeping you all to himself.”