Chapter 9

Nothing had been solved, or maybe everything had; bounty hunters remained two blocks over at a dilapidated seaside motel awaiting an Arch-Mage’s decision, and some sort of buyer awaiting an illegally captured therianthrope would have to be dealt with, and he should really do something about that…a kindly old wizard had died and they’d have to officially handle that too…Nicholas would have to come clean about the last few months and not really being an apprentice…Nicholas still felt too thin, depleted and generous to the point of self-sacrifice, even wrapped around him…

You want me to be safe, Nicholas had said. As if that were an answer; as if that were one certainty to hold onto.

Certainties, Tom thought. He rolled them over so he landed on top, hands in fluffy red hair, bodies aligned on his too-small mattress. Sheets, white as vanilla cream, ruffled up around them.