Strange warmth spread through my core.Dammit. Now I felt guilty for calling her a feckin’ wasp all this time. She shouldn’t trust me. The moment I got my hands on that ring, I would betray her.
“I will be right back,” I promised, knowing it was one I could keep. This wouldn’t take long.
Magic swelled within me. With one burst of darkness, I found myself inside the inn, standing in a long, narrow hallway shrouded in shadows.
Technically, evanescing into a locked building broke both Tearmann and Airren laws, and if my fecker of a brother found out, he’d hold me accountable. Buttechnically, we had rooms rented. It wasn’t my fault the toad at the door had been a prejudiced bastard. If they weren’t welcoming to the Danú, they should’ve had a sign on the exterior door.
Now, the question: which room? All the doors down this hall were closed. They would’ve rented the nicest ones first. At the top I came across a shite room with a shite bed that smelled like mildew and dust. Better than the stables with those devil beasts.
I evanesced back to where Keelynn huddled. “There’s one free room. It’s on the third floor.”
She blinked up at me as if I’d sprouted another arm. “You got inside?”
“Of course I did.” Where’d she think I’d gone?
“Weren’t the doors locked? Can you just go wherever you want? Like, nothing can stop you?”
The short answer was, yes. I could go wherever I wanted—as long as the place wasn’t warded. Not that I was going to tell her that when she looked on the verge of another panic attack. I gave her some shite about locked doors and the law that seemed to do the trick. Again, all true, just not the whole truth.When I finished, she wasn’t smiling.
Instead, she glowered at me as if I had told her theactualtruth. “Where have you been staying?”she ground out.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, where have you been sleeping at night?”
Why did it matter? “Here and there.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Why was she pushing this? “Most nights, I just go home.”
“And where is home?”
“I live in Tearmann.” If she asked where in Tearmann, I’d have to find a way to deflect. Saying I lived in a castle would surely give me away.
She looked cute when she was this angry, all clenched jaw and narrowed eyes. I would’ve told her if it wasn’t for the damned dagger at her back.
“Well then,” she forced through clenched teeth, “I would appreciate it if you would help me get inside my inn before you pop off home.”
As cute as she was, I didn’t want her going to bed angry. I needed her happy tomorrow. Happy enough to hand over that ring. “Ah, come now, Maiden Death. There’s no need to go back to being so formal. I appreciate what you tried to do tonight, it just wasn’t necessary.”
“Well, I would’ve appreciated if you told me instead of letting me make a fool of myself.”
Hold on. How was any of this my fault? “I thought . . . What I mean is . . . I assumed you knew what inviting someone like me to your inn meant.” That she understood the implications and didn’t care. “Although now that I think of it, you did the same thing last night and paid for a separate room.”She looked genuinely horrified. Where was the woman who had touched my mouth and teased me about the size of my cock? I wanted her back. “Do you want to go inside or stay out here?”
The pinched look of disapproval returned. “Since I don’t want to sleep in the stable and I can’t go home, I don’t have much of a choice, now do I?” she huffed.
That was the gist of it.
The other inns would be full of patrons. I didn’t know anyone in town besides Maeve. And I wasn’t about to interrupt her and Padraig.
“What do I need to do?” Keelynn asked, planting her hands on her hips.
When I told her she needed to climb, you’d swear I’d suggested she bend over the feckin’ hedge.
“Are you mad?” Keelynn’s jaw dropped. “You expect me to climb up there?”
Not on her own, obviously. “I’ll help you.”