Page 27 of Kill the Queens

"Just one night, please." Shelby opened the bag of coins and began poking his finger around it to count.

"Ten tallens, please." She held her hand out. Ace tried to look around Shelby to get a glimpse at the girl. Was she old enough to be manning the desk?

Shelby slowly looked around the room, from the girl to the dirt and rickety furniture. "I'll give you four."

The girl placed her hands on her hips. "Do we look like a charity?"

"Do I look like an idiot?"

Ace let out a little chuckle at Shelby's snarky reply earning herself a dark glare from him. She promptly closed her mouth and looked down to her feet still trying to repress a smile.

"Fine. Four tallens." The girl sighed.

Shelby counted out the four coins. In exchange, they were given a key with instructions to go to the next floor up, first room on their right. The girl only glanced at Ace one time and didn't bother to look too hard before she settled back in her seat and closed her eyes again.

Every step they took up the narrow flight of stairs was creaky and loud. Ace dared to touch a finger to the railing but quickly wiped her hands against her cloak to get rid of the tacky feeling.

They found their room easily but when Shelby stuck the old skeleton key into the lock, he had to rattle the door before the key was able to turn over. A strange musty smell that had Ace waving her hand in front of her face greeted them as they entered the small room—about the size of Ace’s borrowed apartment.

A single slanted window let in the slightest bit of light that cast itself over the lumpy mattress and threadbare quilt. On the opposite side of the room was a dresser, missing a few knobs, and a desk without a chair.

Shelby's frown was near audible. He stopped by the bed, arms crossing over his chest, and shook his head. "I should have only given her three tallens."

"I would have just given her ten in the first place." Ace flopped herself on the bed giving it a good bounce before she reclined into one of the flat pillows. Her sore muscles throbbed as she settled against the thin mattress.

"I'm not at all surprised by that," Shelby countered as he shuffled the couple of steps to the window and pulled the curtains closed. When he turned back to face Ace he found herstaring up at him.

His expression was soft and Ace gave him a delicate smile in return. She patted the space next to her, an offer and a truce. Shelby hovered by the window, giving the room a sweeping glance as if another bed would materialize from the cobwebs and dust.

"I don't bite." She batted her eyelashes. "At least not very hard."

"It might not hurt but I don't doubt a bite from you would give a man rabies." He scoffed but lowered himself on the bed. There was a shadow under the curve of his jaw as he laid on his back staring up at the ceiling. His hands interlaced across his chest.

Ace couldn't look away. Her arm brushed his shoulders as she adjusted her pillow and tried to balance herself on the edge of the bed. Shelby wasn’t a particularly small man and Ace didn't think the bed was quite big enough for him alone. Even his feet hung off the end of it.

The silence that stretched between them was long but it wasn't awkward anymore. Ace had gotten used to his quiet nature and bouts of moodiness.

"Are you still mad at me?" she whispered.

"Yes," he stated, all sense of emotion drawn from the word. Slowly, he turned his head to look at her. The orange in his gaze flared as their eyes met. His voice dripped to a whisper between them. "No."

Ace forced herself still to keep from trembling. Every muscle in her body froze in anticipation as hope bloomed in her chest and the feeling in her stomach exploded into some sort of chaos. Unstable butterflies. That's what it felt like. Clinically insane butterflies.

Shelby rolled to his side, the bed dipping at his weight, rolling Ace toward him. "I would have done the same thing."

"Really?" She wheezed out the last of her breath with the question. Shelby's ghost of a smile returned, his eyebrows lifting at the sound of it.

"I—" His eyes danced from her gaze to her mouth making Ace's butterflies do some sort of a dance inside of her.

"What?"

"You didn't know. I barely believed it myself." Ace was sure he was talking about the whole not having a real soul thing. "If I could have done what you did I would have done it without thinking."

And Ace hadn't been thinking when she'd done it either. His death had nearly driven her to the point of insanity and she couldn't focus on anything else.

Shelby raised his hand, slowly lifting a finger to Ace's face. He hesitated but Ace tipped her cheek to the touch and he let out a shuddering breath. His finger traced over her cheekbone leaving behind a tingling sensation that created goosebumps all over her skin. She closed her eyes as his hand glided down her cheek, along her jaw, and then under her mouth. He drew a line against her bottom lip and her eyes fluttered back open.

"I swear I can feel you now," he said quietly. "When your emotions get big, I swear there's an echo of it inside of me. We're connected now."

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