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“Is that comfort?” Nick asked slowly
Mae took a deep breath “Yes So like that”
It s, so it made perfect sense that she had to strip-ive him an instruction manual
“Your dad,” she said “Daniel, I mean You shouldn’t feel bad because you didn’t say it back He liked going to the DIY shop with you You made him feel better, even if you sometimes made him feel worse That’s what’s important”
“Clearly, that’s why he asked,” Nick said dryly “I want to know so about—what he asked me About that”
“I can’t define love,” said Mae, feeling a sudden burst of panic she didn’t even kno to explain to herself She wanted to leave suddenly, just go running down the attic stairs and never look back “Don’t ask me that I don’t kno to I don’t want to—”
Nick looked at her full-on for a ht outside her s trying to crawl in “I have to know,” he said “And everything I can find out says so different Some people say it lasts forever Does it?”
“Love,” Mae said
Nick nodded slowly, not breaking their gaze
She didn’t want to lie to hi Her father had been no Daniel Ryves He hadn’t been Black Arthur, either He’d been the warm one, who made time to play with the kids, who pushed her and Jamie to play sports neither of them were interested in but that meant they ith him He’d been the one anted kids He’d loved them
At some point he’d become disillusioned with his family; he’d realized that they weren’t the way he wanted his faave up He told Annabel it wasn’t working, as if they had been a failed experiment The starter faain
The memory of how he’d left could still hurt Mae But he couldn’t, not anymore
“No,” Mae said, dragging the words out reluctantly “No So yourself and you aren’t the person someone else wants you to be, the person they want to love, sometimes they stop And if—if so the else stays, all the pain and the ets lost”
Nick shut his eyes and said, “I see”
Mae are she’d just drawn a picture clear as any of Seb’s had been, of Nick failing to be hu true
She wanted to tell hi to let it happen, but she needed to be sure her plan would work
It was then it hit her
“Hey,” she said “I went to the icians’ house today I saw their circle of stones”
“You did what?” Nick roared
“Celeste Drake was there,” Mae said, ignoring hi up its answers, the plan falling into place “She wanted to recruit the whole Obsidian Circle That’s hoeak she thinks they are She thought she could have the, they can’t trust hi a ton of power is when he’s alone!”
“Oh,” Nick said, and grinned
Mae grinned back “You see what I’ at?”
“Sure,” Nick said “If aa weapon, he doesn’t have it”
“The circle gives all the icians equal shares of power, but the mark Gerald’s invented icians in your Circle when you need it,” Mae continued, her voice gathering force as she gained conviction and the glearew more pronounced “Which is very useful when you’re alone, but no good if the whole Circle is there”
“The whole Circle would be a bit of a problehtfully “I was sort of thinking about picking them off one by one Guess that plan’s out”
Mae’s plan was perfectly in place Nick and the Goblin Market together could take the Circle down
“We’ll have to work so else out,” she said, and beamed at him
“Don’t go to that house again,” Nick said abruptly He crouched down so he was almost at her eye level, and reached out for her mark Then he checked hiers curled against her cheek and looking uncertain what to do next
The attic room see in on theether
Nick smiled, easy and flirtatious in a way she’d seen him be once but not since she knew the truth about hi hu his hand He seenize the same dissonance she felt The sone for an escape hatch and found out it was a trap door
He was crouched watching her, and she couldn’t tell whether he lookedto work out her alien ways
“Why?” Mae asked “You worried about me?”
Nick frowned at her
“Concerned,” Mae explained in a low voice, and when he kept frowning she asked, “Do you want to keep me safe?”
He nodded slowly
“Why?”
Mae wished she could take the question back as soon as she spoke It was pathetic and obvious, and she was just left staring at hi horrified at herself
“Well, it’s like you said,” Nick said, his voice scraping in his throat in a way that sounded angry but which Mae suspectedaard “Sometimes I feel better around you I kind of like your face”
Mae sed down breath like a desperate gulp of medicine and refused to let herself press her face into his palhtly, the tips of his sword-callused fingers barely grazing her skin, and she was almost certain that if she moved he would shy away
p>
“Is that comfort?” Nick asked slowly
Mae took a deep breath “Yes So like that”
It s, so it made perfect sense that she had to strip-ive him an instruction manual
“Your dad,” she said “Daniel, I mean You shouldn’t feel bad because you didn’t say it back He liked going to the DIY shop with you You made him feel better, even if you sometimes made him feel worse That’s what’s important”
“Clearly, that’s why he asked,” Nick said dryly “I want to know so about—what he asked me About that”
“I can’t define love,” said Mae, feeling a sudden burst of panic she didn’t even kno to explain to herself She wanted to leave suddenly, just go running down the attic stairs and never look back “Don’t ask me that I don’t kno to I don’t want to—”
Nick looked at her full-on for a ht outside her s trying to crawl in “I have to know,” he said “And everything I can find out says so different Some people say it lasts forever Does it?”
“Love,” Mae said
Nick nodded slowly, not breaking their gaze
She didn’t want to lie to hi Her father had been no Daniel Ryves He hadn’t been Black Arthur, either He’d been the warm one, who made time to play with the kids, who pushed her and Jamie to play sports neither of them were interested in but that meant they ith him He’d been the one anted kids He’d loved them
At some point he’d become disillusioned with his family; he’d realized that they weren’t the way he wanted his faave up He told Annabel it wasn’t working, as if they had been a failed experiment The starter faain
The memory of how he’d left could still hurt Mae But he couldn’t, not anymore
“No,” Mae said, dragging the words out reluctantly “No So yourself and you aren’t the person someone else wants you to be, the person they want to love, sometimes they stop And if—if so the else stays, all the pain and the ets lost”
Nick shut his eyes and said, “I see”
Mae are she’d just drawn a picture clear as any of Seb’s had been, of Nick failing to be hu true
She wanted to tell hi to let it happen, but she needed to be sure her plan would work
It was then it hit her
“Hey,” she said “I went to the icians’ house today I saw their circle of stones”
“You did what?” Nick roared
“Celeste Drake was there,” Mae said, ignoring hi up its answers, the plan falling into place “She wanted to recruit the whole Obsidian Circle That’s hoeak she thinks they are She thought she could have the, they can’t trust hi a ton of power is when he’s alone!”