“Well, isn’t this cozy? I expected to find you bouncing off the walls.”
I yelped at Laurie’s voice, and the book went flying from my hands. I started to glare at him, but then my gaze dropped to the paper bag he held in one hand. There was grease staining the bottom, and the smell hit me a moment later.
“Okay, don’t let this go to your head, but you’ve never been more attractive to me,” I said fervently, bending to retrieve the book.
Laurie set the bag on the table without trying to barter or tease. This time, I recognized his silence for what it was—planning. Glancing up at him through my lashes, I thought about asking where he’d been. He wore a three-piece gray suit now, and there was a distracted look in his eyes. With Laurie, though, it would be a waste of breath. I’d never get a straight answer. In the end, I just took a container of fries out of the bag.
As I ate, Laurie leaned his forearms along the top of the other armchair. “It’s almost time. Are you ready to fetch Collith and blow this popsicle stand?” he asked.
The fry I had just shoved into my mouth suddenly lost its flavor. I swallowed it, along with a resigned sigh. Now seemed as good a time as any to bring up the questions I’d been considering all day. “You do realize that we won’t be able to stay here once we’ve freed him,” I pointed out. “Viessa and the Guardians will be after us, and then I’ll have two murderous monarchs on my ass. Do you have a new hiding place in mind?”
“Actually, you’ll only have one murderous monarch after you, not two,” Laurie replied cheerfully. “I created a diversion that will keep Belanor’s inner circle occupied for a week or so. Didn’t I mention it?”
We both knew he hadn’t—I also didn’t miss that Laurie had dodged the issue of where we’d go once we pulled off this daring getaway. It was why he’d dangled this new information in front of me. It was the equivalent of saying, Oh, look, something shiny.
“What kind of diversion?” I asked, just as he’d known I would.
Laurie lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug. His eyes traveled downward, almost lazily, taking note of the thin nightgown I still wore. “I may have called in my last favor and had a witch curse them with relentless diarrhea,” he answered. “That won’t stop the cherubim, but something tells me you can handle them. By the time Belanor recovers and lifts the curse off his followers, we’ll have a new plan to deal with him, I’m sure.”
He seemed so certain that Belanor would wake up. Thinking about the night ahead, I reached into the greasy bag again and pulled out a cheeseburger. The wrapper crinkled into the stillness. I decided to revisit my first question. Maybe if I annoyed him enough, Laurie would stop dancing around it.
“And where do you expect Collith to go after we get him out?” I asked again, covering my mouth to hide the bite I’d just taken. “He can’t exactly waltz back to his old room.”
“Why, we’ll all stay at Casa de Sworn, of course.”
My stomach dropped. I held the cheeseburger tighter, hoping Laurie wouldn’t notice, and made an effort to sound calm as I said, “Viessa will find him in a matter of—”
“Relax, I’m kidding. Don’t get your panties in a bunch.” He smirked. “Oh, wait, you can’t. I still have those in my pocket.”
I glared at Laurie again and thrust out my hand. “Hand it over. Now.”
“Such a spoilsport.” Laurie sighed and tossed a pair of underwear into my lap, which I grabbed and shoved beneath me. I didn’t ask why he’d taken them in the first place, because I knew I wouldn’t like any answer.
That was when I realized Laurie had managed to distract me again. Tricky, clever faerie. I took another bite of my burger and asked, “You know, why do you even need me? Can’t you just make the guard believe the room is empty while you slip in and get Collith?”
Laurie shook his head. “It’s not that simple. My sources tell me the Tongue has put a spell on Collith’s cell that only allows the queen and her Guardians over the threshold. There’s also the fact that even I can’t be in two places at once—yes, fucking with the guard’s head is part of the plan, but I need to be near him in order for the illusion to remain. Unless you take no issue with my snapping his neck?”
The guard could be one of the faeries I’d grown to like during my time as queen. “Yes, I take issue,” I said tightly.
“Thought you might. Which is why I’ll remain in the passageway and maintain the illusion while you go into the cell.” Laurie paused. “Oh, I should mention that Collith is currently wearing chains drenched in holy water. That’ll be fun for you, won’t it?”
“Why do I need to be here, exactly?” a voice asked from the doorway.
Laurie raised his eyebrows at Gil. The Seelie Prince must’ve stopped at his room before coming here, I thought. “Because someone needs to be the lookout once I’ve followed Viessa and her guards down into the dungeons. You’ll be stationed near the top of the stairwell,” he informed the vampire.
“Wait, if I can’t get into Collith’s cell, how am I supposed to free him?” I cut in. Appetite gone, I dropped the half-eaten cheeseburger back into the bag. “Not to mention getting him out of the chains? I’m a Nightmare, Laurie. We don’t have supernatural strength.”
“It’s precisely because you’re a Nightmare that you must be the one to free him.”
I waited for him to go on. When he didn’t, I pushed the bag away in a burst of frustration. “I assume you have a plan.”
“Don’t I always?” Laurie stopped again, but this time, I realized it wasn’t him withholding answers—he was giving me a chance to retreat. Change my mind. It felt like once he told me the details of his scheme, there was no going back. I would be in this, to the death. I resisted the urge to sigh again. No matter how badly I wanted to walk out of here, I knew those words would follow me. They’re torturing him, Fortuna.
“I’m listening,” I said, pulling the blanket around me, as if the wool could shield me from whatever happened next.
Laurie didn’t rub his hands together, but he may as well have; his eyes gleamed with cunning. “First, let me ask you a question. Was my spy mistaken in their report of seeing Savannah Simonson leave your room?”
I frowned, wondering where he was going with this. Gil finally entered the room and leaned against an armoire. “She didn’t come in, but she did visit me, yes,” I said.
“Why?”
“She wants to see Matthew. And…” I hesitated. I remembered the look on Savannah’s face when I’d told her I would pass on her message. Her expression was something more than relief and gratitude; there had been hope, too. “I think she wants to be forgiven.”
“So she feels beholden to you.” Laurie didn’t phrase it like a question.
“I guess you could view it like that.” I gave him a hard look. “If you were a manipulative asshole.”
My wily faerie prince just grinned. “Excellent,” he said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Laurie shielded us from sight as we made our way through the maze.