I halted, my breath catching. “Does the door lock?”
Tink cocked his head to the side. “You can lock it. When you’re in here or when you leave, but you don’t have to.”
Swallowing hard, I said, “Oh, okay.”
He stared at me a moment, and with a rare show of seriousness, he said, “You’re not being kept captive here, Ivy.”
I closed my eyes, breathing through my nose. Then I nodded and made myself go into the bathroom. Closing the door behind me, I walked over to the small shower stall and turned the water on. My thoughts raced a million miles a minute as I stripped off the ruined gown and stepped under the hot water. I focused on the stings and aches as I showered, getting all the dirt and blood off me. Then I turned off the water, dried off, and found the robe. Tink was right. This fluffy gray robe was much nicer than mine.
I didn’t look at myself in the large mirror as I left the bathroom.
Tink wasn’t back yet. I went to the bed and sat down. There was a mountain of pillows at the head of the bed. I looked around as I slid my hands along the robe. This room was nothing like the one at Drake’s, but my stomach churned.
“I’m not there,” I whispered.
I kept repeating that over and over as I scooted back against the pillows. Yes, I was in another house full of fae, and in another bedroom, but this wasn’t the same. It was nothing at all like that, and I—
There was a knock on the door and then it cracked open. Tink came in, carrying one of the weekender bags I rarely used. He walked it over to the dresser and placed it on top. He also had what looked like iron daggers and stakes in his hands, but I wasn’t paying attention to either of those things.
Tink had on some kind of sling, like the kind mothers carry their newborn babies around in. What in the world . . .
“I brought you some weapons, but don’t let the other fae see them.” He arranged them on the dresser like I had them at home, and I thought I saw the sling wiggle. “Iron kind of wigs them out.”
“Understandable,” I murmured, squinting. “Tink—”
“I grabbed some of your jeans and sweaters, and yeah, I kind of had to grab the unmentionables, so I sort of rifled through your underwear”—something made a sound from the sling, a tiny, tinny sound—“and honey child boo-boo, you should buy some thongs, because really, the boy shorts are so yesteryear.”
My lips pursed. “Um, Tink, what’s up with the sling?”
“Oh, this?” He smiled nervously as he ran his hand through his hair. White-blond strands stood straight up. “Well, do you remember before you got all kidnapped by the prince of the Otherworld? I left a message about it, but you probably don’t remember.”
Left a message?
“I’m not even sure you got the message.” He crept toward the bed, and I heard the sound again. Something small in the sling squirmed, and Tink stopped beside me. “I didn’t get it from Amazon. Well, I got this sling from Amazon, but not Dixon.” He reached inside the sling and took out this tiny little ball of gray fur. Holding it up, he said, “Dixon, meet Ivy.”
It meowed pitifully.
My mouth dropped open.
Tink held a kitten—an extraordinarily adorable kitten. A kitten that I had told him not to get, but he had it and he was carrying it around in a sling. Tink sat down and placed the little fur ball on the bed.
It meowed again, prancing up the bed, then clawed its way up my robe-covered leg, continuing until it was in my lap. The kitten was all gray except for the tip of its tail, which looked like it had been dipped in white paint.
“I needed a pet,” he reasoned. “And I haven’t accidentally killed it yet, so win.”
“Yeah,” I whispered, picking it up and lifting it so it was eye-level with me. It gave another admittedly cute meow, and I was lost in the kitten’s brilliant blue eyes.
“Are you mad, Ivy? I know you said no, but well, I don’t have a real excuse. I kind of just did what I wanted.”
I brought the kitten close to my face, smiling when it stretched out a tiny leg and planted its paw on my nose. “I’m not mad. Honestly.” I sat the kitten down on the bed and it waddled off to investigate Tink’s fingers. “Dixon? Named after a certain Walking Dead character?”
“Of course.” Tink jerked his thumbs at his shirt. “Proud Daryl lover over here.”I laughed, and it sounded strange and hoarse to my own ears. I couldn’t remember the last time I genuinely laughed. I took a shaky breath. “What happened?”
Tink wiggled his fingers for the kitten. “Maybe you should tell Tink what happened to you.”
Biting my lip, I shook my head. “I . . . I . . . Can you just tell me first?”
For a moment, I thought he was going to protest. “You left Wednesday morning and that was it. Then, about a week later, Ren showed up. He told me that you’d been taken by the prince. He didn’t know how to get back to you. He said he barely remembered his time at the house where you two were kept, and he had no idea how to find it.”
God, I hoped that was the case. I really did. It would be a blessing, a true gift, to have no memories.
“Then a fae showed up at your place. Not a good one. We took care of that. Together.” He paused, grinning proudly. “The fae was totally gunning for Ren. Said he was going to take Ren’s body back to the prince, and he would be awarded something creepy like humans for dinner for life, but that obviously didn’t happen.”
My hands curled into fists. Son of a bitch. I knew it. The prince couldn’t touch Ren, but I knew the other fae would be going after him to gain some kind of favor from their leader.
“We talked about going to the Order, but he knew that wouldn’t be smart, because of what you are. You told him.”
I opened my mouth.
“Can’t get pissed at you for that, because it’s kind of a moot point considering he got captured and would’ve found out anyway. But you lied to me. When you were upset and said you two had a fight, it was because you told him the truth. Actually, that doesn’t even matter now.” As he talked, the kitten grew tired of trying to jump on his fingers and moseyed on up my legs, plopping down in my lap. “Anyway, it was only like a day after the fae attack when Kalen showed up. Or maybe Dane? I don’t know. They all look alike.”
My brows inched up my forehead as I scratched Dixon behind the ear.
“Dane or possibly Kalen said that he could help us get you back. Of course, Ren tried to kill him. It was kind of dramatic, but finally Dane slash possibly Kalen mentioned this Merle person, who by the way, is pretty cool but a bit of an odd bird. And Ren started listening to him. Dane slash possibly Kalen said that they had someone on the inside who would get in contact when they thought they could help you get out,” he continued. “We tried to look for you first. I left the house with him. It was loud. I forgot how loud the world is, but we didn’t know where to look.”
“You worked with Ren?” I asked. At least now I knew how they came to be with these fae. Not all my questions were answered, but things were starting to fall into place. “I’m surprised.”
He raised a shoulder. “I had to find my Ivy-Divy.”
I smiled as the kitten stretched out his tiny legs. Tink leaving the house and pairing up with Ren was a big deal even if he didn’t say it. “Thank you,” I told him, drawing a shaky breath. My skin felt too raw as he lifted his gaze to mine. “Thank you for looking for me and—”
“You don’t have to thank me,” Tink said. “It’s what friends do. And we’re the very best friends.”
My smile returned.
“And it’s what boyfriends do, right? I wouldn’t know. Don’t currently have a boyfriend or a girlfriend,” he added, and then rolled his eyes. “Ren wasn’t going to stop until he got you back.”
Air caught in my throat. Boyfriend? Girlfriend? Oh God, pressure clamped down on my chest and my throat burned. It had nothing to do with Valor’s earlier death grip. “I don’t know if Ren is my . . . I think he was just doing his duty, Tink. He knew I couldn’t b
e left there.”
Tink frowned. “I don’t think it’s just his duty. He wanted to storm that house from the moment Dane slash possibly Kalen told him he had someone on the inside. The Order hasn’t been involved in any of this.”
I continued petting Dixon, liking how his little body rumbled like a tiny engine. There was no way that things were the same as before. No way.
“As much as it hurts my soul to say this, and yes, I believe I have a soul full of glitter and rainbows, I don’t think you’re giving him enough credit,” he said, and if I wasn’t already sitting down, I would’ve fallen down. “I don’t know exactly what happened between you two or what came afterward for both of you, but he . . . he barely slept or ate during this time. He . . . he missed you, Ivy. He worried.”
I watched Dixon’s paw twitch as he slept, thinking about what Tink was saying. I could think of a lot of reasons why Ren would have had problems eating or sleeping even if he didn’t remember exactly what had happened to him. And of course he would have worried. My womb was a ticking time bomb.