Dy opened the lid of the crate and Cha held her breath—nice to be able to—and anxiously peered within.
Azul still slept, apparently none the worse for wear.
Hopefully not dead.
“He’s fine,” Dy said, putting a hand on Cha’s bare arm.“Only sleeping.Let’s put him in the hidey hole.”
“Right.”They rearranged the crates and opened the secret compartment Cha had so recently ridden in.“Never thought we’d be smuggling a fae prince,” she noted.
“I’ve stopped keeping track of all the things we’ve done that I never thought I’d do,” Dy replied drily.“You look like a wraith.A naked and surly one.Are you able to help lift Prince Charming into the nook?”
“With the dregs of my strength,” Cha answered.“Let’s get him in there and us out of here.”
She almost couldn’t do it, even with Dy taking the heavier end of his dead weight—that word again—but fuck her if she’d drop Azul at this point.He may have tumbled a bit more into the hidey hole than was ideal, but hopefully any bruises he’d gotten would heal while he slept and he’d never know.
“Riding or driving?”Dy asked.“Before you answer, I suggest riding.You’re dead on your feet.”
“Have you ever noticed how many common phrases have the word ‘dead’ in them?”
“Riding,” Dy decided.“You’re in no shape to ride the ley lines.”
“What about you—don’t you need to sleep?”
“I napped quite a bit while you were otherwise occupied.”
“But can you get down the mountain?”
“Slick as goose shit through a tin horn.”
“Yuck.”
“I agree.Goose shit is really slick though.”As she spoke, Dy found some of Cha’s extra clothes—thankfully some soft, schleppy pants and a shirt for sleeping in—and tossed them at her.
“Thanks.But why put goose shit in a tin horn?”
“You are so punchy.Get in the bin and sleep.Katu can stay out with me.I don’t think there’s room for all three of you.”
Cha surveyed the logistics with a jaundiced eye.With Azul out like the dead—that fucking metaphor again—the space looked uncannily like a coffin, a thought that had never before occurred to her.“There’s not much room,” she said dubiously.
Dy snorted.“As if you’ll mind being snuggled up with your obsession.”
Obsession.She wasn’t obsessed with Azul.Was she?Besides, she didn’t mind the snuggling.And sleeping was sounding better all the time.It was the waking up and his inevitable fury that concerned her.“He won’t wake until we’re out of Citrine?”
“He should sleep all the way through Moonstone.I’ll wake you if there’s pursuit.”
That sharpened her focus.“Do you expect pursuit?What did happen back there?”
Dy gave her a perfectly blank look.“I handled it.And we always expect pursuit.Rule number two, which you’d remember if you weren’t exhausted.Now get in or I’ll knock you out again and throw you in.”
“You’re so tough since you became a mom,” Cha grumbled, climbing gingerly into the compartment, trying not to step on Azul’s wings.
“Motherhood teaches you not to tolerate shit from tired and cranky people,” Dy agreed, and shut the lid.
Though Cha’s body screamed with weary relief at being able to at last lie down, her mind kept going, chugging away as if she were still trapped in that circular labyrinth beneath the Citrine Palace.At first she thought she couldn’t settle out of concern for Azul’s discomfort.She rummaged around for quite a while in the dark, checking the fold of his wings and the lie of his limbs, making sure she wasn’t hurting him.Then she had to do it all over again becauseshewas uncomfortable.
It didn’t help that it was pitch dark in the compartment.They’d debated adding light at various points in time, but that would have required magic of some sort and that kind of thing was detectable in an inspection.Finally she settled on a position kind of lying on her side, head pillowed on his shoulder, which was rather bony in his unconscious state, not at all like when they’d cuddled on other occasions.Not at all like she’d fantasized being together with him again would be like.
Then there was the dizzying spiral of Betty catching the ley line down the mountain.Her rumbling stomach rebelled, churning with empty threat.She supposed that was the upside of not having had anything to eat or drink in however many days it had been—at least she couldn’t hurl all over Azul in the cramped, nearly airless compartment.What a joythatwould’ve been.