The Curiosities (Carolrhoda Ya) by Brenna Yovanoff Tessa Gratton Maggie Stiefvater Read Free Book Online Page B

suite, which was only a floor above mine, holding hands. His fingers weren’t smooth, and I changed my mind about him being a fighter. It was possible he knew his way around a spear. His family was healthy middle-class these days, so it was unlikely he’d roughed up his hands with manual labor.

    I was so busy thinking maybe he wasn’t so full of shit that I didn’t notice at first when he leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Can I come inside?” I asked.
    Sean Hardy blinked and made a real expression for the first time all evening. He frowned.
    I just waited, slowly raising my eyebrows and putting on a tiny, polite smile.
    He pushed open his door, pulled me quickly in by the wrist, and slammed it shut in the faces of all those reporters.
    While Sean stripped off his coat, snaked free his tie, and went for the minibar, I leaned back against the door and thought about what in Hel I was doing.
    “Soda?” he asked.
    “Yes, god yes.” I didn’t move, though. The suite was shockingly sterile, given that I was pretty sure he’d been living in it for a few weeks. Vacuum tracks pressed into the carpet, the TV remote lay next to hotel brochures, the bed I could see through an arch was perfectly made. No suitcases, no half-full cups. Nothing but his discarded tie, curled on the carpet, suggested life. And that hadn’t been there half a minute before.
    Through the door I could hear frantic conversation, and I turned the bolt. Sure they could find a manager, but would they? If this was Sean Hardy’s final request?

    Sean poured a can of Coke into two glasses. Then he just stood there with one in each hand. The carbonation popped and fizzed. I walked to him, took one, and then sunk down onto the floor. The carpet was dark blue and thick, so I kicked off my heels and sat cross-legged. The skirt of my teal dress was full enough to fall into my lap and protect my modesty.
    I tilted my head up at Sean. He stared at me for a moment, then joined me on the floor. Whereas I sat with my back against the back of the plush sofa, Sean stretched out completely. He set his Coke next to my knee, then lifted his legs so he could untie the shiny dress shoes. His socks were striped green and red .
    I laughed.
    Then Sean Hardy slid me a grin so unlike anything I’d seen from him before I felt like not only had we known each other for years, but we’d planned this whole thing start to finish. Every step of the dance had gone exactly as we’d wished, every moment was a triumph.
    It was a nice fantasy, so I said, “Couldn’t have gone better if we’d planned it.”
    “Right,” he drawled, half his face scrunched, the other half skeptical. “I’ve wanted an awkward date with a girl clearly using me for my money at a closed restaurant the night before I’m basically guaranteed to die for so long.”
    That killed my smile.
    Sean winced. “Sorry. I’ll try to be less melancholy.”

    “Naw, no worries.” I shrugged and had to adjust the extremely thin shoulder strap so it didn’t fall off. “Melancholy is in. Totally sexy.”
    “Good. Be sure to tell...somebody. My mother. The newspapers.” Sean spread his hands out over him, as if displaying a front page headline. “SEAN HARDY: WENT OUT SEXY.”
    “You really don’t think you can do it again?” I leaned down so my elbows were on my knees, then took a drink so I didn’t have to look at his face. It suddenly mattered.
    I heard him shift against the carpet. After a pause he said, “Well. Maybe. I don’t know. Last time...” He trailed off, and I glanced up. He was watching me. When I caught him his eyes flickered to the ceiling. “Last time, Vera, I didn’t have weeks to think about it. I just saw the dragon, ran at it, killed it. There wasn’t all this brooding and stuff. When you don’t have time to be afraid, I guess it’s easy to be brave.”
    Pushing aside his untouched glass of soda, I stretched out next to him. From my side I studied his profile. He had nice lips, but