“I’m fine,” Lenore said with a smile “Sorry to scare you.” She picked a few pieces of moss out her dark hair before shifting the blade from her back to her lap. A faint purple light still seeped from the edge of scabbard where the leather met the hilt. He was worried we would fall to our deaths, Syren said in, her mind-voice laced with disapproval. Really, one would think you’d learn to be more careful by now. Lenore suppressed a cringe, keeping her eyes on Darien’s face to avoid glaring at the sword. She could hear his pulse, which while slower than it had been when he first appeared, was still pounding out a staccato rhythm in his chest. She felt a twinge of guilt at that. She was the last person anyone should be worried about. Lenore hefted the blade in one hand considering the weight of it for a moment.
“I never really considered it,” she said. “She’s not a normal sword.” Lenore sat quietly for a moment before putting the strap back over her head and moving it back into its normal position on her back. She looked around her one more time before tilting her head to look at the hole in the floor far above them. “Amazing that the library stays up there at all; you’d think it’d just come crashing down,” she said as she scratched absently behind one of her horns. “Don’t suppose you have a plan for getting back up?”
His parting shot had been more of the same, but it was the strange, hollow note in it, like a punch that had suddenly been robbed of its force, that struck a chord in her. Tia didn’t turn around right then, to do so was to both let the door smack into her face and to invite further attention. So she acted like she hadn’t heard as the door swung shut behind her with the faint jingle of bells. It was dark out, the air cool but not yet chilly. She made her way across the street to the bus stop and sat between a teenager with headphones and a tired-looking heavy set woman. Why she watched him, she really couldn’t say. Through the glass of the bar window she saw him look at her money for a moment, the expression on his face containing all of his earlier contempt. As he picked it up however, it shifted, into that of a man who was overtired of…of… something.
I'm a one-eyed Seraph whose wings don't work anymore, working in a bar where people come to forget who they are.
What had he given up, his wings, his eye, or something deeper, more secret, to come here? Tia imagined walking back into the bar and asking him if it was worth it, wondered if shock would skitter across his face at being asked something so outrageously personal by someone he clearly had no respect or particular liking for. A year of your life and a few memories. A bargain really, and you’ll be able to give your parents, your band, everyone you care about everything they ever wanted. She watched the Seraph from her seat until the bus rolled up and she got on. Once seated, Tia pulled out a little notebook from one of the wide pockets in her pants and wrote until all the other passengers had gotten off and the driver informed her he was heading back to the garage. She’d have to get off now, please. It was only then that Tia called the car to come get her.
Her agent was waiting when she got back to the apartment. The tight set of her mouth said she was angry, the pen tapping against her thigh said she was furious.
“Christiana, you have to stop doing this,” she said
“Doing what?” Tia asked raising an eyebrow. “I wasn’t breaking any laws. I just went out.”
“Without your security staff! And you didn’t tell anyone where you were going. I’ve tried hard to keep you out of the bad press, but dammitall, if one, just one of those tabloids found out you regularly leave your apartment alone, they’d invent some mystery lover or god knows what else.”
“Maybe we should let them, then at least someone would think I’m getting laid,” Tia said dryly. “Maybe I should get a stalker. Oh wait, I probably already have one.”
Her agent gave her a dirty look.
“And what about your music? The studio’s expecting another single and you haven’t given them anything for weeks.”
Tia looked at the notebook in her hand and smiled faintly. She very much doubted the Seraph would appreciate being her inspiration if he ever found out, but there it was.
“I’m working on something. I’ll have it done by the end of the week.”
“And the sneaking out?”
Tia shrugged and headed towards the bathroom.
“There, I can’t promise anything.”
Alexsia stared at him for a moment, a slight frown on her face. He looked so panicked, clinging to the chair as if something terrible would happen if he let go. Maybe he was in some kind of trouble, running from someone. And then he answered her question in a voice that was so nervous and shaking she felt bad for him.
“Well then. You should stay here then,” she said at the exact same time as Leo said absolutely not. Alexsia turned to frown at him.
“Leo, how can you say such a thing?” she said. “He’s obviously in some kind of trouble, and he’s hurt. We can’t just kick him out!”
Her friend’s handsome face twisted into a scowl.
“Alexsia, we don’t even know where he’s from. What if-”
“What if he’s one of Arno’s men? What if he’s here to kill us in our sleep? Leo are you even looking at him? I don’t know about you but I’ve never seen a selkie or a merman with hair the color of fire. He doesn’t even have gills.” She pushed away from the table, angrily packing up the bandages without looking at her friend.
“Alexsia…” Leo said with a touch of reproach. “I’m just trying to protect you. I promised-”
Her shoulders slumped a little.
“I know Leo. But I’m tired of living every day looking over my shoulder and wondering if every stranger who shows up at my door is somebody Arno sent to find me. It’s never going to end and I hate it.”
Leo only stared at her with his golden eyes, as cool as she had ever seen them.
“He’s staying here for as long as he needs to,” Alexsia said, squaring her shoulders. Leo gave a mocking bow, rolling his wrist like some old court gentleman.
“I’m going out,” he said as he took his crossbow from the peg it hung on and slung it over his shoulder. “You do what you like with your pet.”
Alexsia’s whole body stiffened as if he’d hit her, but her expression did not twitch. She did not call after him as he left.
“Sorry about that,” she said, hating the way her voice wobbled just a little when she spoke. “He means well, he can just be…stubborn.” She turned back to Jaden with a smile that was just a shade too bright. “Let’s find you a space to sleep, shall we? We don’t enough bedrooms to give you your own, but I imagine we can make something to give you a little privacy.”
