Page 94 of Ramshackle
Aiden responds just as calmly as before, “He has a special gift that says otherwise. Are you willing to meet him and find out?”
“Are you saying I have a choice?” It’s Aiden. I’m sure he’s made up his mind about what’s best for me. Do I want to put myself through false hope?
“If you want to think about it, he can stay here for a bit until you decide. If you’re adamant this isn’t what you want, then I’ll send him home right now.”
We hold eye contact as I consider what he’s saying. Would he really send him home if I asked him to? After whatever work was put into finding this guy?
A part of me wants to do that. Just to see if he’ll follow through on it.
“Don’t you want to at least hear what he has to say?” Dane chimes in softly. “This isn’t another healer like Cassandra. And it took Aiden—”
Aiden slashes him a look, and he stops.
It took Aiden what?
“What would you like me to do?” Aiden prompts.
I glance at the others in the room. Kellan and Jackson both stay quiet, letting me decide what I want. It’s clear that Dane wants me to give this a try.
The piece of information that’s prodding at me is how Aiden found this guy. If he’s a guest, then he’s not part of the Guild. Where did he come from? And how did he happen to findsomeone who may or may not be able to fix an already-healed injury?
“I’ll meet him.” I won’t get my hopes up. I’m just going to meet this person that Aiden apparently found and treat it like that. Nothing at stake.
Aiden nods and calls someone on his phone. “Yes, she would like to meet him. I’ll unlock the door for when you get here.” He taps more on his phone and the door clicks open.
They must have been waiting nearby because it’s only a few minutes before Cibrina walks in with two strangers.
The first one is as tall as Kellan but smaller in size. He’s not bulky or a fighter from what I can tell. He’s wearing dark pants, a checkered shirt with a black dress vest on top, and he has multiple piercings. One in his nose, on his lip, two beads over an eyebrow, and then his ears are lined with them. His hair is buzzed on one side and long on top, flipped and hanging to one side and red at the tips before it fades to black midway up.
He peers around the room, looking at each of us and then checking out the rest of it with a bored expression.
The second one is average height with short brown hair sticking up in all directions. He’s wearing skinny-jeans and what looks like a woman’s cardigan. It has a plush interior and feathers running along either side of the opening in the front and along the edge of the sleeves.
This guy beams at us the moment he enters the room. “Well, hello!” he greets cheerfully. His gaze flips through everyone and then lands on me. He beelines it to me, and both Kellan and Jack are on either side of my chair in an instant. Dane and Aiden stand at once. “Oh! Did I get too close to the queen bee?”
He takes a polite step back, bumping into the first guest who had followed him like his own personal guard. Then he bows at the waist and slaps his hands together like he’s praying, bending his head behind them. “Sorry, sorry. Introductions first.” Hestraightens with another smile. “I’m Gabriel. Or Gabe. Or Gabby. Or Gabe-ey. Or whatever else you’d like to call me,” he adds with a chuckle.
The man behind him manages to frown harder.
Gabriel whips his hand over his shoulder to hit his statuesque friend in the chest. “And this is Zedd. He’s a bit of a grump, but he’s my grump, so don’t be too hard on him.”
“Wait.” Dane stares incredulously at the grump. “Zedd, the singer?”
“I don’t do autographs,” Zedd replies in a bored tone.
Dane slams his fist onto the table. “I wasn’t asking!”
“Right!” Gabriel claps his hands together. “Now that’s out of the way, is it correct of me to assume you’re Raegan?”
“Uh, yes, that’s me.”
“Wonderful.” He pulls out the open seat next to me. “Can I have a seat? Standing isincrediblyexhausting.”
I don’t know why I bother, but I reply, “Sure,” after he’s already plopped himself in it.
Gabriel sets his elbow on the table and leans into his hand as he settles in, making himself comfortable. “So, tell me what you need, dear.”
Kellan growls at the endearment, and Gabriel rolls his eyes at me with a smile. I can’t help but smile back. His energy is infectious. Already, I feel more relaxed in his presence.
