The Autumn Prince

28. Enchanted

Rachel slept until late that afternoon and woke up moody, but far better off than she had been. Miss Gold dropped off another bag of fast food before vanishing without a word along with her diminutive companion. Lacking a table or chairs, the rest of us gathered around Katherine's bed to talk and feast on greasy burgers and crinkle-cut fries, strolling aimlessly through conversation while deliberately avoiding all mention of the previous few days, except for a brief account of Katherine's healing and her antlered physician.

At nightfall, I accompanied Rachel and Becca to their separate rooms. It was far too easy to indulge in more than a simple, necessary kiss, and it terrified me further to know that they wouldn't resist if I did. I flattered myself to think I wasn't capable of taking advantage of them, but I allowed guilt to wash over me anyway, as a reminder of all the things I valued more than pleasure.

Once they were tucked in, I returned to Katherine and sat next to her bed for two hours, talking about nothing until she was tired enough to sleep. I'd planned to crash in the office like the night before, but she insisted I stay.

"We slept together two nights ago just fine," she said, "and this bed is huge compared to yours. You don't even have to worry about any funny business because this still hurts like hell." She laid a hand over her abdomen. "Besides, if I have to pee in the night it'll be nice to have someone here to make sure I make it to the toilet without falling." I doubted she'd have trouble. The sheds were absurdly small, and it would take effort to walk the length of one without bumping into a wall.

I eventually agreed to stay. I couldn't deny that I wanted Katherine close, but remained cautious of the effect I had on her, so I tried to sleep in my denim jumpsuit until she gave me so much grief that I shed it and crawled beneath the sheet wearing only boxers.

"That's better," she said, "not perfect, but better."

"You said no funny business."

"And I meant it, but that doesn't mean I'm not appreciative of the preview."

"Preview of what?"

"Funny business."

I sighed and turned to face her, "We talked about this."

"And now we're talking about it again. It's an open issue."

"It's too risky, we don't know what will happen. Miss Gold implied that sex would be exponentially worse than a kiss."

"You told me she said stronger, not worse. We don't know anything except three of us are supposed to be following you around like brainless puppies, and we're not. Well, most of us aren't."

"Be nice."

"Sorry, but you know what I mean. You saw what your dad did to Rachel, and that's not me. How do you know what will happen if we took it further?"

"Kath, this isn't you talking."

"Don't do that," she said, clearly upset, "I know how your touch and your kiss affect me better than you do. I'm the same person inside. Yes, the desire gets pretty intense, but I'm managing it just fine."

"You weren't asking me to bang you a week ago."

"Shut up," she hit me, but her injury wouldn't let her put any force into it.

"Kath, we never even hinted at this before I infected you."

She made a face at my choice of words. "Do you think it's because I didn't want to? I'm not bringing it up because I'm weak or giving in. I believe in you. I know you'll fix things somehow, but in the meantime, you can't protect me from this and it's just going to keep building up until I really do have to change who I am. That, or go crazy."