I fumble to catch the tea towel, practically smacking myself in the face with it. As soon as I have it in my hands, he tosses me the bread.
Which I catch on instinct, in the hand without the tea towel.
“Hot,” I exclaim, bouncing it up and trying to manipulate the tea towel before it lands on the floor.
The needs-to-be-swept-and-mopped-but-damned-if-I’m-doing-it floor.
Killian starts chuckling, and as soon as I have a grip on my bread, I glare up at him. “Why?”
“I like you,” he chuckles, and that sound stops everything again.
Damn it – that’s just impossible to argue with.
I growl under my breath and rip off a small corner of the bread to chew slowly. He’s given me half the loaf, and it’s warming my hands through the tea towel. It’s such a nice feeling that I don’t want it to end. Something moves in the corner of my eye, dashing behind Killian’s shoulder again. Or at least I think it did, just a flicker of a shadow, but there’s no flickering candles or firelight in here.
I point over his left shoulder. “What was that?”
“What?” he asks, turning in a full circle to look behind him.
He’s wearing his long sleeve black shirt with the leather on the forearms and a criss-cross tie in a V on his chest – but no shadow.
“Nothing,” I sigh, tearing off another piece of bread. “I need you to help me understand the dynamics here. I don’t like feeling caged, and it’s not the bubble that’s bugging me – it’s the people.”
He nods. “You were jealous of our servants at the castle; of course, you’re jealous of our equals.”
“Then give me the damn key – or a weapon.”
“To cut through the bars?”
“No, to remove your equals.”
His chuckle turns into a full belly laugh, drawing my eyes to his lips. The stubble on his chin, the small creases of his laughter – and his lips. I bite my own and try not to admit I’d be less jealous if he’d just let me kiss him.
Not going to happen, I remind myself.
I’ve tried. He pushed me back. I’m not a sucker for that kind of punishment – instead I suffer in silence.
“Eat,” he insists.
And I obey.
A part of me still plans on killing every female Saber in existence, which makes Killian laugh. It doesn’t make me laugh; what it does is twist my insides up in a tight little knot.
Killian wipes the palm of his hands over his eyes, saying, “So jealous.”
First one, then another Elorsin begins to thump down the stairs, and I lean back, craning my neck to see exactly who is going to emerge first.
Seth, who meets my gaze and beams and joins us.
“Why don’t you just tell her we’re not interested in any of them and put her out of her misery?” he says. The bread in my hands has cooled, and I begin to devour it, enjoying the show. “Even Darkness isn’t interested, Vexy. There’s too much at stake right now.”
“How do you know?” Killian asks him, grabbing the other half of the loaf – well, of this loaf since there are several others on the bench.
Seth shrugs. “I mostly pay attention, brother.”
Pax appears, looks at Seth, points with his head outside, then goes straight for the front door.
I’m not going to lie, that makes me feel a little hollow.
Seth blows me a little kiss, miming being dragged out the door by an invisible rope around the neck, which I’m pretty sure Pax doesn’t see because the Commander is already talking and pointing.
I chuckle over the first part of Pax’s sentence and only hear half of his order.
“… around the perimeter, I want to see everything.”
“Yes, boss,” Seth says, then takes off at a jog.
“What’s going on?” I ask Killian.
He grunts a ‘no idea’ kind of noise. If he doesn’t know, and I don’t know, and we’re in here, and they’re all out there, then there’s not much we can do to find out.
I try a different question instead. “What’s Pax’s problem?”
Which earns me another ‘no idea’ response.
“What’s Roarke doing?”
‘No idea.’
“What do you know?”
He points at the roof and says, “Jada’s coming down.” Then at me. “No murder.”
My jaw drops. First, when did Jada go up? I didn’t even hear footsteps, and second, why can’t I murder her? It would certainly be entertaining.
And relaxing.
And rewarding.
And refreshing – apple juice is refreshing, and wine is only fruit juice left in a barrel for a while.
Note to self – source a barrel to store Jada in.
Before I’ve finished my daydreaming, she alights softly on the bottom step, spots us, smiles warmly, and saunters over.
Really, there’s nothing threatening about her. She has a soft air, a gentle kind of power, and brings herself into the room with every sense that she belongs here.
Which makes that something that’s getting under my skin even more annoying – because I can’t explain it. What does it matter if she rests a hand on one of my guys? It wasn’t her lips – or any other body part. They can choose their own mates, even Pax. His power may have decided to like me, and his wolf apparently, but that doesn’t mean that Pax has chosen me. The man can’t even stop for two minutes to say hello.
Which means there is no logical reason to murder Jada – just a whole lot of illogical ones, which I mentally try to shove in the apple cellar so I can focus and do as Killian has asked.
Killian pats me on the head, saying, “Good Shadow.”
I’m pretty sure he’s referring to my current train of thought that has led me away from another bout of full-blown jealousy – for now.
“Okay, I best know the mortal’s story then. What’s her name?” Jada says, walking up to the loaf of bread and cutting herself a nice clean slice.
I’m not going to bother answering, but Killian plants a hand either side of me on the bench and looks me in the
