by Lish McBride
Merit thought she heard them toss a “we’ll be in touch!” casually over their shoulders, but she couldn’t be sure if it was meant to be reassurance or a threat.
Tevin watched them go, a lost look on his face, which he quickly covered with a blank mask. He held the door open for Merit and Val before following them up to the front desk so Val could collect her things.
Val accepted her belongings—a leather belt and side irons— back from the guard. Merit waited for the guard to bring something for Tevin, but nothing else appeared.
“Where are your things?”
Tevin scoffed. “Like I’d bring anything of value with me into a jail. Prisoners’ things have a tendency to evaporate into the ether.”
“Hey!” Val said, her ears pink. “Why didn’t you say anything to me?”
“Losing a pistol or two would have been a fantastic learning tool, wouldn’t it?” Tevin asked mildly. “As an elder, it’s my duty to enlighten the youth.”
Val punched him in the arm. “You’re full of it. I know for a fact you didn’t bring anything with you.”
Tevin jammed his hands into his pockets, his step light. “The lesson stands.” Then he laughed as Val took another swing at him.
Merit wondered, briefly, if she’d made the wrong decision. She’d traded a prisoner for unknown quantities that seemed quite used to trouble. It occurred to her that maybe that was what she needed. A little trouble could sometimes do a lot of good, couldn’t it? Either way, it was too late now. All she could do was make the best of it.
Merit had borrowed one of her mother’s carriages to come over to the jail, and now she wished she hadn’t. It was fancier than she liked—the carriage a glossy cream and airy as spun sugar. Gilding caught the light even when it wasn’t moving, drawing the eye. It practically shouted, Look at me, and she didn’t care for drawing stares. The metal constructs pulling it were shaped like hieracosphinxes, their hawk heads so lifelike Merit wanted to touch the feathers that blended into the lion bodies that made up the rest of the animals. The blue spark of mage light shone out of the construct’s eyes as she stepped close and tapped the lead hieracosphinx, whispering her location to it.
Then they all clambered in, Val bouncing on the leather seats. “Fancy.”
“You’re the only fairyborn we have,” Tevin said. “Try to be dignified.”
Val shoved him over. “My family’s barony is rural. We don’t have much use for fancy carriages. But I do know hog-tyin’, and if you don’t hobble your lip, I’ll be demonstrating it right quick.”
“What do you look like when the bloom wears off?” Tevin crossed his legs and made himself comfortable in the plush leather. Merit caught the sharp look in his eyes. He might pretend to be idly curious, but Merit thought he missed very little.
“More horns, I bet,” Val said, stretching her arms out over the back of the seat, clearly enjoying herself.
“Furrier.” Tevin grinned, getting in on the game. “I heard she has wings and haunts the night.”
“You’re both very funny,” Merit said primly. “Have you considered becoming street jesters?”
Val leaned over and carefully grabbed Tevin’s hand. Merit didn’t think he’d even realized he’d been chewing on the tip of his thumb. A nervous gesture that obviously embarrassed him as he glanced to see if Merit had noticed. She pretended she hadn’t, fussing instead with the shade that blocked the window. It was stuck and wouldn’t come down. She didn’t want people trying to peek in at her. She’d have enough of that soon with all the balls and social parading.
“Yes to the fur and the horns, no to the wings.” She yanked too hard, and the shade snapped off. “Blast.” She huffed out a breath. “Wings would have been interesting.”
Val pulled down the other shade with a deft tug while Tevin took Merit’s seat and edged her over and away from the open window so no one could see her. They really were good at reading what people needed. She felt better about her decision.
Merit felt the warmth of Tevin along her side, tempting her to lean into him. What would it be like, to have someone to hold her up? To comfort her? To have siblings who pretended they were fine but hugged you so hard you knew they were desperately sad at the idea of you leaving? Or a cousin who loved you so much they didn’t think twice about throwing their chips in with yours and jumping into a beast’s carriage?
* * *
• • •
Tevin had felt shabby sitting in the jail. Amaury might have used his sewing kit on the train to mend Tevin’s shirt—he’d been too sick to do it himself—but he was still missing two buttons, and hadn’t shaved or showered. Gently cushioned in Merit’s elegant hack, he’d moved beyond “shabby” and somewhere into “seedy and disreputable.” He ran a hand over his jaw and wondered how he was going to set himself to rights when he only had the clothes on his back.
Val pressed her face against the side of the hack to get a better view out the window. “I think we’re here.”
Seconds later the hack slowed, proving her right. Val opened the door, revealing the Cravans’ city home, a beautiful brownstone in a nice neighborhood. Too big for two people, but Tevin didn’t think that Merit and her mother were ever only two people. There would be a cook, maids, a butler, a secretary, and who knew how many others. The aristocratic fairyborn always lived with an entourage.
What he hadn’t expected was to see Amaury leaning indolently against the bricks beside Merit’s door.
Merit stopped next to him, placing her fingers on the back of his wrist. “How did he beat us here?”
Tevin swore.
Merit ignored his cursing as she breezed into her home, leaving Tevin, Val, and Amaury to follow her lead. Normally, someone like Merit would hand off gloves and perhaps a hat to the butler. Tevin realized that she wasn’t wearing gloves and had no hat, though a butler had, indeed, opened the door. Merit requested refreshments and was walking into a cheery yellow parlor when she was accosted by a young Hanian woman who moved like a fencer.
“You dashed off without me.”
Merit blinked. “Oh, Kaiya. I’m sorry. This morning I was just so—” She cut herself off, seeming to remember that they weren’t alone. “Kaiya, this is Tevin DuMont and his younger brother, Amaury. The young woman with the hat is their cousin Val. Two of them will be staying with us. Amaury was about to explain what he was doing here.”
Val took off her hat, bowing to Kaiya with a flourish. Then she straightened, hitting Kaiya with a smile that was pure flirt. If Kaiya noticed it, Tevin couldn’t tell. She assessed them all with an equally critical eye as Tevin and Amaury greeted her while Val frowned and handed her hat off to the butler.
Tevin swallowed a laugh, and it came out like a strangled cough. Val was obviously used to getting more of a response from her flirty grin. Irritated, Val snatched his hat off his head, tossing it into the waiting butler’s hand. Val lingered until everyone else had started following Merit into the parlor before throwing Tevin a rude gesture with her hand.
The parlor was decorated to within an inch of its life, and Tevin knew it was probably Merit’s least favorite room. He wondered, then, why she chose it.
After they settled in, the butler came in with a tea service, coffee, and sandwiches, followed by a slender dark-haired man about Tevin’s age. Though he still had his bowler on, he wore no jacket, just his shirtsleeves, trousers, and a gray waistcoat. He took off his hat and hung it on a hook behind a door. “Milady, I—” He paused, adjusting his wire-rim spectacles and looking about the room. “I was unaware we had guests.”
Merit waved a hand at him. “I’ll explain later.” She rattled off their names again, this time to the newcomer, whom she introduced as her healer, Dev Ellery Detante. Tevin caught the honorific, even if Merit didn’t stress it, and he wondered if she was testing him to see if he knew what it meant. He immediately discarded the idea. Merit
wasn’t one to play games like that, especially if the outcome could prove hurtful to her friend, and Ellery was obviously a family friend. Tevin glanced at Val and Amaury to make sure they caught it. Dev was the honorific sprigganborns used instead of Miss, Mr., or Mrs., because their culture didn’t have a strict gender binary. Just in case Val and Amaury had missed it, Tevin stepped forward, offering his hand to the healer. “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Dev Detante.”
Ellery shook his hand, their expression guarded. “Pleasure’s mine, probably.”
Merit collapsed into a chair. “Tevin and Val will be staying here for the foreseeable future. Amaury, I assume you are as well?” She rested her head against the chairback. “I suppose it’s only sporting that I warn you both that all three of them are criminals.”
“Allegedly,” Val said, though Tevin kept his mouth shut. Amaury only acknowledged that he would, indeed, be staying, by nodding his head.
“Allegedly,” Merit repeated. “Though I did bring them directly from a jail cell.”
“Pleased to meet you.” Val stuck out a hand to shake Ellery’s. “And I have no current arrest record.”
Tevin coughed into his hand.
“Except for the occasional tavern brawl,” Val conceded.
“I have the honor of being Merit’s healer,” Ellery said, shaking her hand before placing themselves between Merit and the DuMonts. By the obstinate set of their jaw, Tevin decided that Ellery didn’t care for them much. Tevin batted his eyelashes at the healer. Ellery cared for that even less.
“Is my mother at home?” Merit asked, smoothing her skirt.
“No, milady. She’s on a social call.” Ellery fetched Merit a cup of tea and pressed it into her hands.
Tevin was tempted to let the scene play out. You learned a lot more by being quiet and letting people forget they had an audience than by barging in, but his nerves were strained by the day, he was tired and dirty, and they had a timeline.
“Speaking of your mother, we’ll need her list of prospective suitors as well as a list of the social occasions you’ll be attending.” Tevin wasn’t that hungry, but he grabbed a sandwich anyway. You never knew when you’d be fed again. “You’re going to need to let your mother know that we’re staying here, Merit.”
Ellery’s expression was scathing. “You should not address her so familiarly.”
Merit sighed. “Ellery, there is no need to be protective.” She looked at her watch. “In thirty minutes, I will revert to my curse. If they do something wrong, I’ll simply bite them.”
Ellery looked like they wanted to argue, but Kaiya spoke instead. “Merit, I’m dying to know why I’m not throwing the criminals back onto the street. I hate to be nosy, but as your guard, it is actually my job.”
“You love being nosy,” Merit said. Kaiya shrugged.
“I’m here to help Merit pick a husband,” Tevin said.
“I’m here to help,” Val added.
Everyone looked at Amaury. His grin was a feral thing. “And I’m a spy.”
“I don’t think spies are supposed to tell you that they’re spies,” Merit said.
Tevin dropped his head into his hands. Had he really thought his parents weren’t going to put their hands in, or would pass up an opportunity like this? He was going to spend weeks among the pigeons—it wasn’t enough for him to trade himself for his mother’s freedom. He’d be expected to come home with coin in hand, or at least some leads for them to follow. Always scheming, that was his parents’ motto. They should engrave it above their mantel and be done with it.
“He’s telling us so we can choose what information to pass on. They let us go too easily. I should have guessed.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “I’d put you on the next train home, but you’d just come back. If you’re here, who’s taking care of Kate?”
“Kate is taking care of Kate.” Amaury brushed at something on his sleeve. “Novel idea, but we’re seeing how it goes.”
Tevin wanted to argue but knew it to be a futile endeavor. Even if Amaury desired to go, Florencia and Brouchard wanted him here. He’d simply be sent back. “Fine.”
“Merit, based on this conversation alone, you can’t possibly let these people stay. Kaiya, back me up on this, please?” The healer sent a beseeching look to Kaiya.
Kaiya grinned. “Oh, no. They should definitely stay.”
“Thank you,” Merit said.
The look Kaiya gave Tevin made him squirm. “I like to know exactly where my enemies are.”
Ellery glowered at her.
Tevin carefully set his empty plate aside and stood. He was taller than Ellery and broader. Though the healer was in good shape, judging by the muscle tone he could see, Tevin wasn’t worried. He knew how to size up an opponent, and he could take Ellery easily. Not that it would help him any. If he beat up Merit’s friend and healer, she would be unhappy. If she was unhappy, she wouldn’t listen to him. He needed to defuse this. Tevin crossed his arms, his stance not aggressive, but sure and steady. “Merit can give you more details, but we’re here by her request and invested in her happiness. We’re on the same side.” The more he talked, the more Ellery softened. Most people didn’t notice, but Merit’s healer seemed alarmed by the change.
Ellery looked almost panicked when they glanced at Merit. “I want to listen to him and trust him, but I don’t. I want to toss him out on his pretty face. What’s happening?” They rubbed their hands over their arms. “I don’t like it.”
Tevin felt sorry for Ellery. It was bad enough to be manipulated, but worse to know it was happening and not be able to do anything about it. It was a feeling Tevin knew well from being around his parents. “What you’re feeling is my fairy gift. All of my siblings have gifts. Mine is charm.” He gestured to Ellery’s arms. “The more I talk, the more my magic will try to mold your will so that you’re disposed to like me.”
“Well, cut it out,” Ellery said, their body stiffening.
“I can’t.” Tevin crossed his arms, trying to ignore his wrinkled shirt and the fact that he desperately needed a bath and a shave. Ellery would have been less suspicious if Tevin didn’t look so disreputable. He was disreputable, but he didn’t usually look it. “I’m sorry, but I can’t control it.”
Ellery jerked a finger toward Merit. “Is that why she agreed to bring you here? Your charm?” They didn’t wait for Tevin to answer but strode toward the bellpull. “Don’t worry, milady, I’ll take care of this riffraff.”
When the healer went to reach for the pull, their hand met Amaury’s chest. Tevin’s brother shook his head and pointed Ellery back to the sitting area.
“And let him charm us more?” Ellery scoffed. “I think not.”
Amaury continued to block Ellery, waiting for Tevin, who was staring at Merit and thinking back through the morning. “Actually, Merit’s immune to my charm.”
Ellery glowered at him again. “Convenient, don’t you think? How could we know that’s true?”
Val, ignoring the tense undercurrents of the conversation, was selecting a pie from the tray and sneaking glances at Kaiya. “She’s been arguing with him. Wouldn’t do that if she’d been charmed.”
Tevin leaned his hip against Merit’s chair, his smile meant only for her. “Merit, you should fire your healer.”
“Absolutely not,” Merit said, frowning up at him. “Are you mad?”
“I’m awfully cold,” Tevin said, dropping down into a crouch, his face inches from hers. The faintest hint of peach tinting her cheeks was the only indication that she was affected by how close he’d come. “May I have your dress?”
Ellery choked in outrage, but Merit only sipped her tea. “Now you’re being cheeky.”
“Why’d you pick this parlor?”
She blinked at the abrupt change in topic. “My tincture will wear off soon. The beast has claws, and I despise this parlor. This
way I don’t have to worry about the furniture.”
“But you’re not worried about your dress? It’s a pretty little thing.” His words were soft, intimate, but they carried through the quiet room. “Don’t you think it would look good on me?”
“I have no doubt that it would,” Merit said dryly. “But I’m attached to it.”
Tevin laughed, delighted at her response. “Ellery, if my charm worked, you’d be fired, and I’d have a new dress.” He grinned, still crouched close to Merit and enjoying how pink her cheeks had gone. “Some people simply don’t want to be charmed.”
“He can’t charm me, either,” Val said. “Or Amaury.”
Everyone looked at Kaiya. She gazed back steadily. “Don’t worry about me. He can be as charming as he wants. Wouldn’t stop a blade, now, would it?”
“I still don’t believe you, any of you,” Ellery said, indignant.
“Ellery, do sit down,” Tevin said, suddenly realizing how long he’d been staring at Merit. He straightened abruptly, waving his hand at the tray of food. “And have something to eat. Your fussing is upsetting Merit.”
Ellery walked across the room and sat by the tea service, taking a plate before they blinked and looked at Tevin. “Oh.”
Tevin sat back down. “I cannot make Merit do anything she doesn’t want to do. I’m here to help her not be charmed by any of the suitors her mother has picked.”
Kaiya waved a hand at Amaury and Val. “What about them?”
“They’ll be endlessly useful,” Tevin said. “I promise.”
Ellery’s mouth opened, and Merit huffed. “That’s enough, Ellery. They’re staying until I decide they aren’t.” She frowned over her tea. “So all your siblings have fairy gifts? It’s unusual to have so much wealth in one family, especially when you have no fairy blood. Are your parents gifted, too?”
Amaury grunted in the negative but didn’t elaborate.
Tevin helped himself to a piece of shortbread. “Our parents have lied, cheated, and stolen to make sure we all have gifts that are helpful to them, but they themselves are not gifted.”