her fingers through his hair, they stayed like that for what might have been an hour. Finally, he climbed to his feet, helped her up, and led her from the woods. The walk back to her boxcar was silent.
His expression was empty and devoid of anything that she could give a name to other than exhaustion. She didn’t know what this meant for them—or what it meant for him and his faltering sanity.
But as they climbed into her bed and he curled beside her, still in his clothes, she realized he hadn’t once let go of her hand.
5
Turk watched as Maggie flipped over the card onto the table in front of her. Followed by a second. Then a third. Ten in total filled the table before she was finished.
“Well?” He tapped his finger on his thigh. He didn’t like to consult the old crone—he liked consulting her predecessor a great deal less, to be fair. But he didn’t like asking for advice from fate.
Especially not when fate was likely only the mouthpiece to Harrow Faire. The means by which it might speak to the Family.
But he had come to ask his questions all the same.
Maggie looked down at the cards, chuckled sadly, and shook her head. “Oh, Ringmaster. So close, and yet so far, aren’t you?”
“What does that mean?”
“You’ll see…” She grinned knowingly. “You’ll see soon enough.”
***
Cora stretched, grunted, and tucked her arms under the pillow beneath her head. She was in that fuzzy nether world that existed between sleep and awareness. She was comfortable. She was still exhausted. But it was more of an emotional exhaustion than a physical one. But something had woken her up, and as she yawned a second time, she realized what it was—the smell of cooking food.
Weird.
Opening an eye, she saw a sight she never thought she’d witness.
Simon was cooking.
In an apron.
His sunglasses were on the table near him as he stirred whatever sauce he was making. It smelled like garlic and onions, whatever it was. She stretched again and rolled onto her side. “Are you cooking me breakfast?”
“Lunch. It’s two in the afternoon. I’m planning on eating it as well. So, the answer is no on both counts.” He didn’t look at her when he talked. And he didn’t smile, either. He kept his focus on the saucepan on the stove.
Well, this was going to be a great day. Cringing, she climbed out of bed, combed her hands through her hair to smooth it out, and walked up behind him. She wound her arms around his waist and felt him go stiff in her embrace. Kissing the middle of his back between his shoulder blades, she wasn’t sure what to do. He wasn’t wearing a coat or a vest for once. An odd idea came to mind. She went with it.
And bit his arm.
“Ow!” He whirled around, lifting the wooden spatula, covered in pasta sauce, and smacked her with it. Straight across the cheek. It was startling more than painful. She yelped and took a staggering step back, covering where he had hit her with her palm. It was warm. And covered in sauce. She pulled it away to see the red tomato-y liquid on her fingers.
“What the hell?” She wiped at the sauce again.
“You shouldn’t have bitten me.” He waggled the spatula at her. “You deserved that. I, meanwhile, did nothing to deserve being bitten.” He rinsed the spatula off in the sink and went back to what he was doing.
“I was trying to break you out of your mood.”
“You do look amusingly ridiculous right now,” he muttered down at the pasta sauce. She caught the smirk he was trying to hide.
Picking up a dish rag from where it was draped on a handle near the sink, she wiped her face with it. “Jerk.”
“I will reiterate—you bit me.”
“I’ll do it again if you ask nicely.”
The look he gave her was priceless. His eyebrows were almost up by his hairline. She grinned at him. Finally, he laughed. It was a tired, beleaguered thing. But it was a laugh all the same. He shut his eyes and shook his head before looking out the window over the sink. “What am I to do, Cora Glass?”
“First, you apologize for the shit you said. Then we take it one day at a time.”
He rolled his eyes. “The words weren’t meant for you. I had no concept you were standing there.”
“That doesn’t make it better, you realize.” Moving to his other side, she hopped up to sit