Chapter 207: The Verdict

The next morning, Owen Keats woke with a yawn loud enough to disturb the other bed. He was tucked beneath the hotel comforter, yet the air outside it felt unpleasantly chilly. He rubbed his nose and sat up, squinting toward the balcony.

"Why is it so cold in here?" he muttered.

"The window's probably open," Cyrus answered from his pillow.

Owen had woken him up, and Cyrus saw no reason to make much of an effort with his answer. The window was a convenient explanation. As a Frostborn, Cyrus cooled his surroundings without meaning to, and there wasn't much he could do about it while he slept.

Owen glanced at the balcony door. It hadn't been shut all the way, which seemed to settle the question for him. He scratched his head, got out of bed, and went to wash up. Then, apparently remembering something, he turned back.

"Hey, about last night. Did you get in trouble?"

"Yeah, the teacher caught me," Cyrus said, keeping his eyes closed. "I'm not allowed to leave the hotel during this morning's activities."

Owen stood there for a moment. He'd been the one who persuaded Cyrus to sneak out for food in the first place, and Cyrus had ended up dealing with the consequences alone.

"I'm sorry, man. I shouldn't have talked you into going."

"Don't worry about it. I had plenty of fun yesterday."

Cyrus sounded a little more awake, but he wasn't particularly upset. Missing half a day of sightseeing was unfortunate, not a catastrophe. He heard Owen finish getting ready and leave, the door clicking shut behind him. With nobody left to disturb him, Cyrus rolled over and slept comfortably for another hour.

It was around nine when he finally got up. At the bathroom mirror, he examined the fading mark near the base of his neck. The woman from the school nurse's office had left it, and although the discoloration had lightened, it was still obvious against his pale skin.

At least the trip was nearly over. Once he was back home, he could spend a night sleeping in his own apartment and give the mark more time to fade. Until then, keeping it out of sight would have to do.

He washed, found something to eat, and returned to the bed. Being confined to a hotel room was much less enjoyable now that he'd had a decent night's sleep. He stretched out and stared at the little box beside the bed.

He'd discovered the damage only after returning from the police station. The flowered hair clip he'd bought for Faye had broken into three pieces during the struggle with the thief. The matching purple bracelet had somehow come through without a scratch.

Cyrus picked it up and tossed it lightly from one hand to the other. Yesterday the two pieces had made a nice little set. Now he had one gift and three useless fragments, and he wasn't sure the bracelet looked quite right by itself.

He briefly considered sneaking out again to find a replacement. Given the trouble he'd already caused Ms. Hart, that would be pushing his luck. Besides, the rest of the trip was only a morning. Winter break would come eventually, and then he could decide where to go without school staff counting heads or checking hotel rooms. There was no need to act like Bellhaven was his last chance to leave Grayhaven.

A knock interrupted his thoughts.

Cyrus set the bracelet down and opened the door. Ms. Hart stood outside with two police officers.

A little later, he was back on the shopping street, wearing his cap and walking with considerably more energy than he'd shown all morning.

The visit had turned out to be good news. The officers had come to commend him for stopping the thief and helping recover the vendors' money. They'd also brought him a reward of three hundred dollars. Cyrus had listened politely while they praised his actions, but that unexpected payment had been the part that really brightened his morning.

Ms. Hart had lifted his restriction as well. He was free to go out for a while, provided he followed the school's arrangements. After being told to stay put, getting both permission and extra spending money felt like an unusually favorable outcome.

He didn't go looking for Owen, Audra, or Iris. The others were probably occupied with the morning's activities, and he still hadn't figured out how to face Audra after what she'd said on the bridge.

Two days had sounded like a reasonable amount of time when he'd asked for them. Now he was beginning to suspect that even a week wouldn't produce a refusal that left everything unchanged.

He might have to fall back on the sort of explanation he sometimes used with customers at The Full Moon Lounge. He could refer to his past, his missing memories, or the ring that never left his finger. Those excuses usually discouraged romantic attention without requiring a long argument.

Audra was different, though. She already knew his story, and she'd answered the part about his past before he could raise it. Repeating the same thing now would sound like an excuse because, in her case, it would be one.

Cyrus wasn't an idiot. He'd gone to considerable trouble escaping women who wanted to keep him. What kind of fool would celebrate by willingly putting himself in someone else's hands? He liked Audra, but liking her as a friend didn't mean he wanted to be her boyfriend.

His fake amnesia had gotten him out of uncomfortable conversations at the lounge plenty of times. When someone was looking for an excuse to claim him, he didn't mind telling her a convincing story. He wasn't about to hand his secrets over to anyone who asked nicely.

Deliberately stringing along a girl who hadn't done anything to deserve that treatment was another matter. He couldn't bring himself to make Audra think they had a future together just to preserve a useful connection.

She had been stubborn when they first met, and she still had a habit of pursuing things once she'd made up her mind. But over the time they'd spent together, she'd helped him far more than she'd inconvenienced him. Without her, he probably wouldn't have thought to speak with Malcolm about adjusting his shifts at the lounge. His schoolwork had improved noticeably too, thanks in large part to her help.

He owed her a decent answer, even if it was one she wouldn't want to hear.

What worried him was what came afterward. They saw each other at school nearly every day, and Owen was part of their friendship too. Cyrus didn't want every shared study session or conversation to become awkward because he'd turned her down.

And there was the glamourkin ring.

He genuinely wanted the chance to borrow that peculiar artifact. If Audra took his refusal badly, asking her for it later might become impossible. He'd be lying if he pretended that didn't matter. He turned the question over again and still couldn't find a satisfying answer.

Cyrus let out a breath and turned his attention back to the vendors. At least buying a replacement gift was a problem he understood.

He searched stall after stall for something that would go with the purple bracelet. None of the pieces he found looked quite right, and the grandmother and granddaughter from the night before hadn't set up their table again. He went down one row, crossed to another, and checked a few more displays before admitting he was getting nowhere.

Two hours passed that way. The extra money in his pocket wasn't helping him find what he wanted.

Then another display caught his attention, and he changed his approach. If he couldn't replace the broken hair clip with something similar, there was no reason to insist on a matching pair. He selected a few other small gifts instead and paid for them, satisfied that he had finally found something worth bringing back.

By the afternoon, the class was gathering for the trip home.

Audra saw Cyrus rejoin the group, and her heart immediately tightened. His face gave away nothing. He looked as reserved as ever, which told her absolutely nothing about what he'd been thinking since she confessed.

She'd never realized how slowly time could pass until she had to wait for his answer. It had been less than a day, yet the uncertainty already seemed endless. She could remember every word she'd said on the bridge and every small change in his expression afterward. None of it gave her the reassurance she wanted.

He might refuse her. She had understood that in theory when she agreed to wait, but imagining him actually saying it made her chest ache with frustration. She couldn't look at him without wondering how she was supposed to act if he chose to remain only her friend.

The bus pulled away along the route they'd taken into Bellhaven. Everyone kept the same seats as before. Around Audra, classmates talked about their favorite parts of the trip, compared purchases, and settled in for the journey. Their voices seemed far away.

Perhaps she'd confessed too suddenly. She'd chosen a night when she thought they could be alone and had said everything she'd been holding back. Maybe she should have waited, as she'd originally intended, until Cyrus was ready to confess to her instead.

Then she wouldn't be sitting here waiting for a verdict she couldn't influence.

A thought surfaced that made even her hesitate. She could take up the glamourkin ring again and make sure he wasn't allowed to refuse. The idea offered an awful kind of certainty. If she could remove the possibility of hearing no, she wouldn't have to endure this helpless waiting.

She didn't reach for anything. The thought remained inside her, spreading through the rest of her worries until it became difficult to think about anything else. She had wanted Cyrus to choose her. Yet the longer she imagined his refusal, the harder it became to hold on to that simple wish without trying to control the answer.

She barely noticed the ride back. One stretch of road passed into another, and then the bus was at St. Alder Academy. Audra followed the others into the familiar classroom and took her usual seat, still caught in the same anxious loop.

Ms. Hart went over the final reminders before dismissing everyone. Bags were collected, chairs scraped, and the classroom gradually emptied. Audra remained seated, scarcely registering when the last voices disappeared into the hall.

"Audra, have you got a minute?"

The familiar voice brought her back all at once. She turned and found Cyrus standing nearby. The ugly thought that had occupied her during the journey lost its hold as soon as she met his face.

"I'm listening," she said, trying to steady herself.

Her stomach tightened. They'd agreed on two days, and it hadn't even been one. Why was he bringing this up already?

She kept her eyes on him despite the urge to look away. Cyrus seemed ready to speak, his expression as unreadable as ever. Audra waited while he parted his lips to deliver his answer.