Page 59 of Nocte

Their rules aren’t what I fear.

“Heal her, or I will rip you limb from limb,” I tell her.

She swallows hard. She knows I mean it.

I will. I would.

But if I set the fae down in order to bite and tear, she’ll die faster. Already, I can feel her slipping away. Away from me. Leaving me behind like I left her.

“Do it!” I bellow.

The mundane sighs. “I can’t heal her, you idiot. That isn’t my skill. Besides, if you lay a hand on me, the boneys will throw you in the pits where you belong.”

A refusal. Then I will rip her to pieces. I start to set the fae down.

“But,” the woman continues. “I know someone who can help. It will take her a while to make it out this way though. Your girl might be gone by then. Better to just pay off a boney. They’ll pay good money for one of them kind, I think. We can split the fee.” Split a fee. A price for the dead fae. A price nowhere near high enough to compensate for what I’ve done. No stupid mortal coin could ever be worth enough.

“Call your healer,” I demand. “No one else. If anyone touches her, you die. If she dies…you die.”

Her cheeks hollow. She sputters and spins around for a hook on the wall. Several hooks, most sporting keys.

“Fine, you stupid bastard.” She snatches a handful of metal and throws it at me. “Last room on the left. a suite for your high and mightiness. I’ll call the healer girl, but I’ve warned you. She won’t get it at least until the morning. If that woman dies before then, don’t you dare let it stink. We’ve got other paying customers to tend to. The last time you were here we had to close down for a fucking week to repair the damages.”

The last time. When was the last time? I wrack my brain but it’s a mess. There are too many new memories to sort. Too many old ones demanding attention. Cassius kept my thoughts neat and orderly, but without him….

It’s a chaotic mess. Good. I’d rather be insane than be under his thumb. I’d rather be here with her.

Stupid fae. Dying fae. She struggles in my arms, croaking out her last few breaths.

No.I refuse to let her die here. Not now.

I take the keys the woman threw and go up to the last room on the left. There is only a dank, long hallway and ten rooms in total.

She gave me the suite, or so she claimed.

It’s a square box with a bed and a closet holding a porcelain toilet and sink. Mortals. They construct their dwellings in strange, illogical ways. A boxy bed. A narrow window with a view of brick.

And a porcelain tub nowhere near big enough to capture the dripping blood pouring from my fading, dying fae.

I drop her onto the bed instead. Then I watch and wait. I’m wasting time by being here.

All of this is for nothing. Nothing.

I’ve brought her here for nothing. Wasted my moment to inflict her death sweetly, slowly, for nothing.

She will die for nothing.

No. I won’t let her. I crouch onto the bed and hover above her, body braced on both hands planted beside her head.

“Look at me,” I command.

She does. With one open, bruised, bleeding eye she looks at me. She’s never stopped looking.

And in that eye, my brain goes silent. The anger I’ve known and craved is snuffed out. Cassius is a forgotten, fading thing on the edges of my psyche.

I look at her, and all I see is her. My fae. Mine.

“Don’t you dare die,” I tell her.