Uncertain Allies

25

Meryl agreed to come back to my place for the night. She didn’t want to stay at Briallen’s, and I didn’t want her to be alone. Going to her house was out of the question still. Meryl never let anyone in her house, not even me. I didn’t even know she had a house until we argued about where she would sleep. She had always referred to it as her place. She didn’t want me rambling around while she slept, so we went to my apartment. I understood. She was as nosy as I was, but I cared less if she rummaged through my stuff.

We curled on the futon in the living room, Meryl’s head tucked under my chin, my arms wrapped around her. “I missed this.”

“It feels like yesterday to me,” she said.

“Yeah, that was sweet,” I said.

She poked me with an elbow. “You have no idea how odd this feels, like time travel or something. Who’s president?”

“It wasn’t that long,” I said.

She giggled and shifted in my arms. “You know, people wish they can go to bed and wake up three months later and all their problems will be gone. I did, but now there are new problems to contend with.”

“Don’t think about it yet. No one knows you’re awake except me and Briallen,” I said.

“And whoever she’s told by now,” she said.

I ran my hand along her thigh. “You told Eorla.”

“You said she was upset about what happened. A sending was common courtesy,” she said.

I tickled her. “Yeah, you’re sooo courteous.”

She struggled against me, and I stopped. “Yeah, well, the bitch owes me. I lose three months, and she gets to be Queen of the Unseelie Court.”

I laughed. “That’s a little exaggeration.”

Meryl rolled and looked up at me. “Grey? The solitaries and the Dead have rallied to her cause. She took leadership against Maeve and Donor. That’s how the Unseelie Court forms. It’s a gestalt fey court with attitude.”

I traced my finger along her chin. “You’re right. I assumed you had to be a solitary to lead the Court.”

“Nope. Just angry,” she said.

“That must be why Maeve’s so freaked out. Donor says she’s moving her troops into defensive postures,” I said.

“Donor says? Since when do you talk to the Elven King?”

I leaned over and kissed her. “Since he came to Boston to threaten me and Eorla. He’s much fatter in person.”

Meryl propped herself up on an elbow. “The Elven King is here. In Boston.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s bad,” she said.

“Well, yeah,” I said.

“No, it’s bad because the Elven King was in my dream,” she said.

Meryl had a geasa on her for her Dreaming. If someone was in her Dreams, she was compelled to tell them. “Damn. Are you going to tell him?”

She settled down on her side. “Hell, no. I have to tell people what I Dream if I meet them. I don’t have to seek them out unless I want to.”

“What did you Dream?” I asked.

She didn’t answer for the longest time. “I don’t remember.”

Druids never forget unless, like me, something was wrong with them. “What do you mean?”

“I can see the Dream, but only the shape of it. The details are vague. That’s never happened before,” she said. She didn’t speak for so long, I thought she had fallen asleep. “I’m probably burned-out out from knocking Nigel into the trance.”

I debated whether to argue. Meryl liked to choose her discussions, and forcing her to talk about something didn’t work. I let it go. I had her back. That was all that mattered. “I wish I had been there.”

“I took care of it, Grey. Stop with the he-man thing,” she said.

I chuckled. “Oh, that’s not it. I wish I could have seen the look on his face when you beat him at his own mind game, then slammed the door on his ass. That bastard lied to me. He said it was safe. I don’t care what Briallen says. I’m glad you did what you did.”

She leaned over and kissed me. Gods, I missed her kiss. For months I had pressed my lips against hers with no response. I pulled her closer. She nestled down against my chest. “I never trusted him, you know.”

“I warned you,” I said.

“Yeah, but you were angry and bitter about him. I didn’t trust him because Nigel never does anything without an ulterior motive. I liked talking to him, and I learned a helluva lot from him, but I always knew someday he would disappoint me in some despicable manner short of murder. I underestimated him,” she said.

“You’re a lot smarter than me.”

She patted my chest and sighed. “I know.”

I poked her, and she laughed. “Why did I miss you?”

“ ’Cause you were bored,” she said.

“I wish.”

Her breathing became slow and even. My eyes slipped closed in the dark. For the first time in a long time, I was happy—allowed myself to feel happy. Despite everything, the one thing I feared was not having Meryl with me. I don’t know when that feeling happened and didn’t know where it would lead, but I liked it as much as it scared me.

“By the way, Grey, I love the plywood curtains,” Meryl said.

I kissed the top of her head. “That’s why I missed you.”