Page 60 of Solstice

“Stop being a baby,” Siobhan hissed, yanking at a piece of thread. Where the hell had she found stitches? I didn’t have—no, it wasn’t stitches. It was dental floss. I grimaced when I noticed she was using a sewing needle to yank it through his skin. “I’ve stitched up fledglings who were worse off than you.”

Finn’s once glowing complexion had now faded into a dusty pallor that would indicate near death on a human.

I cleared my throat, and three sets of eyes shifted to me.

“No need to lurk by the door,” Finn weakly muttered. “This is your house.”

“Do you need anything?” Lex took a step around me and glanced at the littered supplies. “I can call for a doctor.”

“He’ll be healed by morning,” Siobhan said.

“We think,” Donnelly muttered.

Siobhan’s eyes lifted, shooting daggers into him when she repeated, “He’ll be healed by morning.”

Donnelly glared back at his counterpart, but didn’t argue.

“Please forgive their poor manners,” Finn struggled to say. “I trained them both better than this.”

“Rest,” Donnelly said, kissing the side of Finn’s head. “You need to conserve your energy.”

Finn groaned and leaned in to the touch as Donnelly’s hand stretched down over Finn’s chest to connect with Siobhan’s. I wondered about their relationship, but I didn’t pry. It wasn’t any of my business.

“We’re all set for right now, thank you.” Siobhan sat up straighter, stretching her back muscles. “You look wrecked. Get some sleep, mates. We’ll talk in the morning.”

“Okay,” I nodded and turned to leave, stopping when she called out again.

“Ivy?”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t sleep alone, yeah?”

I nodded, noticing she’d said that in front of both Lex and Carter. Neither would let me get away with breaking that agreement, especially not tonight.

* * *

After we showeredand dressed for bed, I tried to call Miri again, but it went straight to voicemail. Lex tried after that, and she still didn’t answer. It was early in London, or late depending on one’s point of view, so we promised to try her again once we woke up.

“Princess,” Lex said, “we’re okay, but we have news. Call us. Immediately. Stop fucking around. I love you.” When he hung up, he set his tired stare on me and Carter. Under any other circumstances, I imagined Lex would have wanted to fuck us both before calling it a night. But I didn’t have it in me, and perhaps he could tell that because he simply crawled into bed on my other side. Carter passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow, but Lex only narrowed his eyes at me and licked his lips.

“You should have told us you were going to tell your siblings.” He tapped his cigarette into the dish between us.

“It just came out.” I shook my head and sighed. “I didn’t plan on saying anything.”

He nodded, an echo of something sinister behind his eyes. It was there for a moment and gone, almost like I’d imagined it. I knew Lex better than anyone, and it reminded me of the look he’d gotten earlier tonight when Siobhan had mentioned Poppy. But I was exhausted, so I figured I’d deal with that tomorrow.

Lex leaned down and kissed me before putting the ashtray on the end table and sinking farther down into bed. “You scared the shit out of me tonight.”

I ignored the churn in my stomach. “Yeah, me too.”

He intertwined his fingers with mine, the vows on our hands brushing up against each other as we slid palm to palm. “I can’t do this without you, X.”

“Don’t tease me. I’m tired.” I rolled my eyes and scoffed, figuring this was another sarcastic tease from Lucifer reincarnate, but when he grabbed my chin and forced me to look back at him, I paused.

“I mean it.” He looked between my eyes, his hazel counterparts wide. “Whatever happens next, don’t fucking die on me.”

I grabbed his wrist and tried to slide inside his mind the way I always had, but he put up a shield, something he’d never done before. I furrowed my eyebrows and tried harder, but he broke the contact and rolled over so I couldn’t see his face.

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