I went to help her up, and she made an attempt to shove me away as she rubbed her eyes. “No, I have to put these books away.” She gestured to the hefty stacks of books piled on and below the table.
“Fates, Blaise. You’ve read all of these?” I asked, running my hands through my hair as guilt twinged at my stomach. I’d noticed that Blaise seemed more tired than usual lately. I’d thought she’d been out with farmhands all hours of the night, not poring over law books on my behalf. Some of them weren’t even law books, now that I looked more closely. Within the messy stacks were titles like Breaking Bargains, The Human’s Guide to Reversing Fae Magic, and Fae Divorce Law.
There were even a few books on elemental magic, a type of magic uncontrolled by the fae and therefore highly illegal. Granted, it was a good idea. It was possible for elemental magic to supersede fae magic, another reason it had been outlawed. I supposed it made sense that a more powerful source of magic could erase a bargain made by fae magic, but still… If my father caught Blaise looking into this kind of thing on my behalf and punished her for it, I would never forgive myself.
“Not all of them…” she mumbled, her chin jerking as she fought to keep herself awake. Dark circles had begun to form underneath her eyes.
This time, she didn’t fight me when I picked her up and carried her back to her room. As soon as I lifted her feet off the floor, sleep overtook her and she tucked her face into my chest, just like she used to do as a child, her black hair falling tangled and matted into her eyes. A smile tugged at my mouth. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d carried her to her bed, but it would have been years ago.
I expected Imogen to be asleep in bed at this hour, but when I approached the door, the glow of candlelight was seeping from underneath the door. Given that she was clearly awake, it took Imogen longer than I would have thought to come to the door after I knocked. There was the scraping of a chair against the floor, like the sound had startled her, then a rustling of papers, the patter of feet, and the slamming of a drawer before Imogen cracked open the door. “Don’t tell me you’ve lost your key a—Oh. It’s you.” Imogen’s eyes went wide, and magically that sliver she’d initially allowed in the doorway widened. “Your Highness,” she said, curtsying as her gaze flitted to Blaise, who was still limp in my arms.
For a moment, I thought I noticed Imogen’s eyes narrow, but it could have been a shadow cast from the flickering lantern light in the hall. She moved out of my way, and I entered their quarters.
Instantly, I searched the room for evidence of what Imogen so clearly had been rushing to hide from Blaise. It wasn’t that I was particularly suspicious of Imogen, but I couldn’t help my curiosity. The ink on the desk was uncorked, like Imogen had been writing something, but there were no parchments in sight. Except for the corner of one that protruded from the closed drawer of Imogen’s desk.
Oh, well. It wasn’t really any of my business, was it? Perhaps Imogen had a suitor she didn’t want Blaise to know about. I couldn’t really blame her. Knowing Blaise, she’d probably tease Imogen about it endlessly.
I crossed to Blaise’s side of the room, the boundary clearly marked by a line of haphazard clutter, and set her on top of the sheets. When her head hit the pillow, her eyes fluttered opened, and she smiled, drunk with sleepiness.
“I found it, Andy,” she said, her words garbled by a yawn.
“Found what?”
She squinted, like she was trying to squeeze the drowsiness from her eyes. “At least, I think I found it. A way to break the bargain with Ellie.”
I went very, very still.
Imogen shifted in the corner.
“You haven’t said anything,” I replied.
Blaise stretched her arms outward, fighting to keep her eyes open. “Yeah. I meant I just wanted to make sure…” She jerked her head toward me, blinking rapidly. “Are you mad?”
“I…” Imogen’s eyes lit up as I glanced up at her. She wasn’t exactly the witness I wanted to this revelation, not when she dared to look so pleased when I was…when I was…
I was happy. Of course. This was the news I’d been waiting for.
I swallowed. “I’m not mad. I just want to be sure… No need in getting Ellie’s hopes up if it doesn’t work.” That was true enough. If anyone deserved a choice in this, it was Ellie. Granted, the idea of extending that choice to her gnawed a hole in my gut, one I would have rather ignored.
Even in her stupor, Blaise must have been able to sense the not-lie, the dodginess in my response, because she frowned and pushed herself upright, leaning against the headboard.
“You’re upset.”
“I’m not—” My throat hitched, that dreadful fae curse tugging on the latch of my windpipe. Imogen’s eyes went wide. I turned my attention back to Blaise, whose brow had creased with concern. “Okay, I’m upset. I’ve grown fond of Ellie. Of her friendship. And I’ll miss her when she’s gone.”
“Andy…do you love Ellie?”
Imogen coughed, then quickly excused herself from the room, muttering something under her breath about fetching Blaise a glass of water.
I couldn’t help but notice that Imogen’s footsteps didn’t patter all the way down the hall.
“Does she eavesdrop often?” I whispered to Blaise, but my friend was having none of it.
“Fates, you do love her. Don’t you?”
I blinked, forcing the little that I knew to be true from my lips. “I don’t know.” It was true. I didn’t know what I felt for Ellie, but that wasn’t even the worst part. I didn’t even know what I felt for Cinderella. It should have been simple, after she outed herself as the murdering sort, but I couldn’t deny there was still a part of myself I’d let her sink her claws into, the dark disgusting part of me I didn’t like to admit existed. But Ellie…
Well, it hadn’t been thoughts of Cinderella that had kept me from sleep tonight, had it?
Blaise’s brown eyes shimmered, and she buried her face in her hands and…groaned?
“Blaise? What’s wrong? Why are you—”
“Do you mean to tell me,” she said, her shoulders slumping, “that I spent hours of my mortal existence scouring law code for nothing?”
I placed my hand on the nape of my neck and rubbed, unable to decide if I wanted to be amused or exasperated by Blaise’s dramatics.
“Not for nothing,” I said, running my fingers through my hair. “I’m sure Ellie will be glad of it, at least.”
Blaise let her hands fall to her lap and frowned. “You think she’ll choose to break the bargain?”
“I don’t know what Ellie will do.”
“But you’re going to tell her anyway?”
“When I find the right moment, yeah.”
Blaise reached out and held my hand, her already pale face white with sorrow on my behalf. “If she chooses to break the bond… She’s my friend too, you know.” Blaise chewed her lip, her eyes flitting back and forth. “I can always come up with excuses to get her to visit. You know, if you wanted to happen to be around at the same time.”
