Luis stopped. "You know, though, Val said something else that was weird. She's got a friend among the exiled fey in the city. She said that he'd been paid a visit from your Lord Roiben himself a couple of days ago. Must have been before Roiben's visit to the Seelie Court.”
Corny frowned. His tired brain couldn't make any sense of that. "Huh. Weird. Well, I guess now all we do is wait. Kaye knows her way in. We'd all be better off if we could get some real sleep.”
Luis hit the switch, and Corny blinked, letting his eyes adjust to the room. Lights trimming nearby trailers made it bright enough to see Luis kneel back down.
"You're gay?" Luis whispered.
Corny nodded, although Luis might not see that in the dim light. "You knew, didn't you? You acted like you knew. You kissed me like you knew.”
"I figured it didn't matter.”
"Nice," Corny whispered.
"No, I don't mean it like that," Luis said, kicking his feet out from under the afghan. He laughed softly. "I mean, you were bespelled. Girls, boys, you didn't care. If it had a mouth, you were kissing it.”
"And you had a mouth," said Corny. He could feel the close proximity of their bodies, noticed every movement of his thighs, the clamminess of his hands inside the gloves. His heart beat so loudly he was afraid that Luis could hear it. "It was smart, though. Quick thinking.”
"Thanks." Luis's voice seemed slowed somehow, like he couldn't quite get his breath. "I wasn't sure it would work.”
Corny wanted to lean in and taste those words.
He wanted to tell him it would have worked, even if he hadn't been bespelled.
He wanted to tell him that it would work right now.
Instead, Corny flipped over, so that Luis couldn't see his face. "Good night," he said, and shut his eyes against regret.
• • •
Corny woke from a dream where he'd been paddling, doggy-style, through an ocean of blood. His legs would tire, and when he missed a kick, he would drop under and glimpse, through the red, a city under the waves, full of friendly beckoning fiends.
He woke as his leg kicked ineffectually at the blankets. He saw a figure near the window and for a moment thought that it was Kaye, sneaking in so as not to disturb his mother and stepfather.
"Brought us right to your hidey spot, he did," a voice hissed. "For just a lick of nectar.”
Cold air drifted down to chill Corny.
"I get it," he heard Luis whisper. He was the figure, but Corny couldn't see who he was speaking with. "I'll trade. Ethine for my brother. I'll bring her to the front door.”
Corny's whole body tightened with betrayal.
Metal flashed in the moonlight as the creature handed the key through. Corny felt like an idiot. He'd thrown it right to them.
He stayed very still as Luis walked toward the bed, then grabbed his leg. Luis fell and Corny rolled on top of him. He ripped off the glove with his teeth and brought down his fingers, spread like a net, to inches above Luis's face.
"Traitor," Corny said.
Luis bent his head back, as far from Corny's hands as he could get. He swallowed, his eyes wide. "Oh, shit. Neil, please.”
"Please what? With sugar on top? Pretty please, let me fuck you over?”
"They have David. My brother. He didn't get on the train—he went to them instead. They'll kill him.”
"Ethine is the only thing keeping us safe," Corny said. "You can't trade away our safety.”
"I can't let them have him," Luis said. "He's my brother. I thought you'd understand. You said yourself that there was no safe for us.”
"Oh, come on. You thought I'd understand? That's why you're sneaking around in the dark. You seem real sure." His bare hand clenched in a fist just inches from Luis's throat. "Oh, I understand all right. I understand you'd sell us out.”