“I don’t know. But I think it might be an allergic reaction.” Crash leaned on my forearm and pinned it to the table, which meant it was pressed against his side. The heat of his body was intense. I rolled my head to see a knife in his hand, poised over my fingers. “Hey, don’t be poking me with that. I thought I was holding Feish down for you.”

Confusion reigned and then the knife was poking my skin. I yelped and tried to buck, but there was a weight across my legs and lower body. I would have turned my head, but it was feeling heavier by the second.

“That hurts,” I said, only I’m not sure whether I said it out loud. “Why are you even helping me?”

“The gods only know,” Crash muttered.

“Because you are my friend,” Feish said quietly, and with so much sincerity that my throat tightened a little.

“But I’m old,” I whimpered the words, “and out of shape, and I can only remember some of the things my gran taught me, and no one thinks I can do anything! Over the hill, no good for anything!” The words turned into a wail of despair.

“Hush.” Crash put a hand over my mouth. “Just hush.”

The sobs continued, tears spilling out of my eyes and sliding back into my hair. Probably all my grays were showing anyway, so what did it matter if I was a mess?

“She is slipping,” Feish said. “Please hurry!”

Crash’s eyes had locked on mine, and he seemed to struggle to pull away. He slid his hand off my mouth. “Be quiet while we get these hairs out.”

The tip of his knife pressed against my hand. There was a tiny pop, and a pressure I hadn’t felt building in my hand eased off a little. Another pop, and another, and with each one the coiling tension that had been gathering in my muscles slid away, and so did everything else. My worry about my age. The fact that Crash was lovely to look at but would never look at me, even with the fancy fae makeup. The knowledge that Eric was waiting for me at my grandmother’s house and was in great danger even there.

I closed my eyes, drifted off, and passed out.

19

Warmth surrounded me, and I snuggled deeper into the covers that smelled of fire and metal and something else. I arched my back as I stretched, muscles looser than they had been in the last two weeks. That arching put my butt up against a very hard body that was exceptionally warm. A large hand settled on my hip, tugging me closer to the body it was attached to.