Ink Exchange (Wicked Lovely 2)

“Gancanagh. It’s a sort of family name. But I can’t explain beyond that right now.” Niall sighed and pulled her close. “Tonight I’ll do my best to answer your every question, but Aislinn…She needs to speak with you before I can. No more questions until tonight. I’ll explain to her, that we, that you…She’ll understand. Meet me at the Crow’s Nest? We’ll talk to her.”

She wanted to push him to tell her immediately, but she could tell by his tension and his worried tone that he wasn’t going to. She turned so she was facing him. “Promise you’ll tell me everything? Tonight.”

“Promise.” Niall smiled then.

Leslie kissed him cautiously. She knew he would tell her, felt certain of it, of him.

But he pulled back from their kiss almost immediately and asked, “So can I see what you have so far of the tattoo? Or is it somewhere improper?”

She laughed. “It’s up by my shoulders…. Subtle topic shift.”

It had worked, though—or maybe it was his kiss that made her feel so relaxed. Even though he was holding back, she felt her body responding in a way she hadn’t thought she ever would again.

“So can I see the tattoo?” He started to tilt her forward, still holding her.

“Tonight. Rabbit is finishing it tonight after work. Then you can see it—when it’s all done.” She wasn’t sure why, but from the moment she’d walked out of Rabbit’s shop, she’d had a strong aversion to showing anyone her ink. Not yet.

“Another reason to look forward to our date, then. Talking, looking at your art, and”—he gave her a look that sent her pulse racing—“anything else that makes you happy.”

He gently kissed her forehead, her cheeks, her eyes, her hair.

“I don’t want you to go away,” she whispered, finding it easier to admit in the darkness. “But Keenan’s comments. The way he…I want you with me right now. I’ve wanted you with me for months.”

He kissed her for real then, not gently as he had before, but fiercely.

Afterward he told her, “I’ll leave Keenan and Aislinn’s side if I need to. I’ll walk away from everything, everyone, just for the chance to be with you….”

While she didn’t understand much of what was going on, she did understand that he was offering to give up his family for her. Why? Why would being with me mean that? She traced her fingertips over his face.

He said, “If you want me in your life, I’ll be here. As long as you want. Remember that. It’ll be okay. I’ll stay with you, and we’ll be fine. No matter what else happens or what you learn, remember that.”

She nodded, though she felt like she’d wandered into a weird world where everything she thought she knew had faded away. But even with all the weirdness, being in Niall’s arms made her feel safe, loved, like the world wasn’t awful. She couldn’t stay in Huntsdale, though, not living with Ren and her father, not where everything had gone so horribly wrong. “I can’t ask you to give up everything when I’m not even sure where I’ll be next year. College. And we don’t know each other, not really. And—”

“Do you want to get to know each other?” he asked gently.

“Yes.”

“Then we’ll find a way.” He stood then, with her in his arms, and walked toward the train. A yard or so away from it, he put her down. “Go in and sleep. I will be here when you wake. Tonight Aislinn will talk to you…or I will.”

And when Leslie curled up in bed, she felt herself believing in Niall, believing in them, believing it really could be okay. Those dreams of finding someone who cared about her, who saw her as a person—maybe they weren’t as impossible as they’d seemed.

CHAPTER 20

The morning was barely upon him when Irial walked into Pins and Needles, watching the mortals outside the shop with a new interest. Leslie would give him enough of her mortality that he’d be able to feed on them, to grow stronger. It had worked for a few of the thistle-fey, had worked for Jenny Greenteeth and her sisters. He couldn’t grow weak. He couldn’t allow his fey to grow weak and be ended by mortals. That wasn’t an option. He’d have his mortal, nourish himself—through her—to feed his court. If they were strong enough, he and his mortal, they could survive it. If she was not as strong as he thought, she would die or slip into madness; he’d starve, fade, or worse—fail his court.

But she’s a strong mortal. He hoped they would both survive. He’d never cared for one of them; there were a few halflings, like Rabbit, who’d mattered—but no true mortals.

“Iri.” Rabbit’s face lit with the inexplicable happiness he seemed to feel when Irial visited.

“Bunny-boy.”

Rabbit scowled. “Man, you really need to stop calling me that. Ani and Tish are around somewhere. You know how they are.”

“I know.” Irial grinned. He couldn’t see Rabbit as a grown man, despite the proof in front of him. “How are the pups?”

“Troublesome.”

“Told you. It’s all in the blood.” Irial pulled out the book he’d brought with him. “Gabriel sends his best.”