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When had I last eaten? Sometime the night before, though I didn’t feel it. The part of me that drew on magic took care of that, but it couldn’t be good for the baby. I’d become some sort of magical chimera, like Rogue’s spinning gate, switching from one to the next.
Liam smirked, reading my dismay as clearly as I heard his distaste for my progression from purely human. Athena—bless her unerring timing—showed up then.
“Starling is sleeping. What else can I do?”
I put a hand on her shoulder with utter gratitude. “Could you go light a fire under whoever’s second or third in charge of the food around here? Nancy’s needed here, but surely someone else can handle getting everyone fed.”
“Sure thing, Gwynnie.” She stuck out her tongue and made crazy eyes when I glared at her. “Ol’ Walt’s a piece of work, but he sure cleaned up okay.” She skimmed Liam with a look and shook her head. “Can’t say the same of everyone.”
I smothered a laugh and started to go.
“One more thing, Lady Gwynn.” Liam put a hand out to touch my arm, but dropped it before he made contact. “I know we have had our disagreements and you have reason to dislike me.”
“Water under the bridge, Officer Liam. We both made mistakes.” I emphasized the last word. Talking to him felt like having to endure a conversation with any of a number of guys I’d gone out with once in college. Those one-off dates that ended in kisses and fizzled expectations.
“True enough.” He had the grace to look abashed. “However, I still hold you in high regard. And I’m concerned for you.”
I really couldn’t take anyone else warning me about my association with Rogue. “I’m afraid that ship has sailed.”
“No, not that.” He grinned, some of his sunny nature showing through and he shook his head. “I knew you were out of my league even then. But you can’t blame a guy for taking a chance, right?”
Rogue could, but I figured a little payback wouldn’t hurt him. He stopped grumbling in my head at the reminder.
“No,” Liam continued. “I notice you don’t have your weapons about you. You should. Despite your many…gifts, you remain a mortal woman, yes? Sometimes the fight comes down to who doesn’t bleed to death. I’d hate to think I failed you in not reminding you of that.”
“Good point. Thank you, Liam.”
He bowed, grave now. “Keeping you alive may be the saving of us all, in the end.”
Bemused, I watched him go, then went to find Rogue.
I followed my instincts to the current location of the front gate, which felt easier than it had before. Probably Rogue’s long familiarity with the castle was leaking into my own memories. Certainly the place seemed less uncanny and spine-tingling than it had only a few days ago.
When I found him, he was standing with Marquise and Scourge, surveying the great maw. I hesitated, but screwed down my courage and made myself walk up to them. He wrapped a long arm around my waist and drew me against his side, both comforting me and situating himself firmly as a buffer between us.
“Titania’s forces are nearly to the moat and long-distance sight shows more on the way,” Rogue informed me. “We need to get the drawbridge up.”
A team of human men stood by, ready to work the great wheels. I probably needed someone to send them food too. Athena cheerfully acknowledged the thought before I realized I’d projected it. Rogue, answering a question for Scourge about the drawbridge’s nonmagical properties, gave no evidence that I’d been too loud. Apparently I was getting better at this.
“To get the bridge up, we need to stop the spin. Stopping the spin lets the spiders in. Besides, it’s draining you to keep that up at this speed.” When Rogue raised his eyebrow at me, I smiled. “Goes both ways, cowboy—I can feel it.”
“We can douse or vanish the spiders at a certain range,” Scourge put in, black teeth gleaming against ebony skin, “but they replenish too fast for us to keep them out long enough to raise the gate.”
“Goliath is doing a positively heroic job of guarding the gate, but we can’t raise the drawbridge with his enormous self standing on it.” Marquise both spoke and projected the words at Darling and he mentally preened. Now there was a sucker for flattery.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked Rogue, ignoring the other two. I could stomach being in the same room, pretty much. Friendly chat was beyond me.
He looked down at me and pulled me a bit closer against him, wiping a smudge of something from my cheek. I probably looked like a wreck. The advantage of magical makeup, though—it never smeared or faded.
“I thought you might have an idea,” he said. “You’re the inventive one.”
“She always was, you know.” Marquise crooned.
Scourge nodded. “So creative. Smart for a human. And responsive. Why, I remember—”
Rogue gave him a scalding look that I felt but couldn’t see. Stopped Scourge in his tracks, for which I was hugely grateful.
“If you’re up to it,” Rogue said to me, once again searching my face, no doubt feeling my weariness too. He certainly had a point—neither of us could keep this up indefinitely.
