Two Beds and a Dagger
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"There you are," Lero said. He was sitting on one of the two small beds in the little room. They had gotten him a shirt, I saw. Nothing fancy, but it was a clean tunic that fit him better than what he had been wearing in the cell.
It was good to be back together with Lero. It was the two of us against all of this, even if I didn't really know what to think yet about what had happened to me back in the cell, with my fingernails...and Lero saying I wasn't "awoken" yet, whatever that meant.
"Yes," I said, shutting the door behind me. "What did you say to Joseph, the one who brought you to the room?"
Lero looked a little alarmed. "Can we talk in here?" He glanced at the walls.
I nodded. "The rooms are safe. Trust me. Every thief understands their kinsmen's privacy. There's no secret tunnels here—I've been thorough in confirming that." I sat down on the bed across from Lero. The beds were against opposite walls; each had a small, roughly-cut wooden nightstand with a lit candlestick providing soft and steady light.
I opened the drawer of my nightstand. There were several loose candles inside, and a dagger. I smiled to myself. I had left this here ages ago, for someone else to take after I had gotten my hands on a new one. It was an ankle scabbard with a sturdy strap. I took it from the drawer and affixed it to my leg, comforted by its presence. The Baron had stripped me of mine, of course. How fitting that I'd be using my old one again once we left.
"Myra," Lero said, leaning forward a bit to look at me, not caring about the dagger. He rested his hands on his thighs.
I braced myself for Lero to tell me more things I didn't want to hear—about me being a werewolf, or how Baron Eaves was going to find us here and kill us both.
Instead, he said, "Thank you."
Lero was smiling. His eyes were so impossibly green in the soft light, like they had their own energy behind them. The look on his face was of peace, of someone who was finally ready to accept that, just for this moment, things were all right and there was nothing to worry about.
Seeing that relief on him made the same flood through me, and I was able to pull in a deep breath and ease the edge that had been keeping me tense all these hours.
"I haven't been much help," I responded, looking toward the candle on my nightstand. "I got captured, for one, and all I did was run us both to the closest spot I know."
Lero reached over and took one of my hands in his. He slid his fingers against my palm, and it was only when I felt the heat of his hand on mine that I realized how cold I was. How exhausted I was, and how that tiredness had sapped the heat from my bones and left me small and chilled. I couldn't remember the last time that I had held someone's hand for any other reason than practical necessity. Any other night, any other person, and I probably would have pulled away and left him empty-handed but for a biting remark and a scathing look.
But tonight, with Lero, I would hold his hand. I wanted to hold his hand.
"You saved me," Lero said simply. "I would have rotted in the cell without you. I would have been killed by the Baron." He squeezed my hand, urging his warmth into me.
I shook my head. "We would never have stood a chance at escaping without you. Without your...power." Yes, that was the right word. Power. I felt it in the hand that was holding mine. The steel-strong fingers and the fire burning just under the skin. The lightning in his stare.
"It took both of us," Lero said.
"Yes." I could agree with that.
Lero smiled, but then he pulled his hand away. I almost reached for it before I managed to stop myself.
"What happens after tonight?" he asked me. "What did Jed say?"
"We have the night," I answered. "Just the night. Then we need to clear out of here, both of us. You're only allowed here as my company, and after tonight, well...I'm not allowed here for some time."
"Because of me?"
"No, the job. I broke the rules and brought back a high profile item. I can't be seen around here until things cool down."
"Okay." Lero seemed to accept that. "And when we leave tomorrow...well, I guess we'll have to see then."
Lero wanted to stick together. That didn't surprise me. What did surprise me was that I wanted the same thing, and I was relieved to hear him suggest it. I didn't know where to go after tonight. I didn't have a place to be. As far as I knew, neither of us did, but to be lost together was far preferable to wandering alone.
"We'll see." My exhaustion couldn't be fully warded off by Lero's touch, and I needed to think. "I know that we have a lot to talk about. But for now, let's sleep."
Lero didn't argue, and I was thankful for that. Maybe he was as tired as I was.
I blew out my candle and lied back on the bed, listening to Lero do the same, and thought about how different it was to be comfortable in someone's company so quickly. A stranger. But someone I was feeling an immediate kinship and connection with. I couldn't explain it.
As a thief, I'd counted on no one beyond myself. It was an individual world that required constant vigilance and an inherent distrust in people's words and actions. I'd grown used to that distance, and it had become a reflex. It was an extra piece of clothing I wore around myself, and I had been seeing the world through it.
Maybe Lero had torn a hole in that veil.
I carried that thought with me to sleep.