Julien’s eyes flicked straight back to Cinn. “I think he’s twitching more. Look.”
“You said that five times already.” They fell back into silence until Elliot said in a soft, low voice, “I’m not blind, you know.” He nodded to Cinn.
Oh God.Julien knew this was coming sooner or later, but the sudden lurch into this conversation threw him.
“Hmm?”
Darcy quickly slipped back out of the room.
“I can see the way you look at him. That he looks at you.”
A moment of deafening silence.
“I’m sorry,” Julien eventually whispered, more to the floor than Elliot, unable to bear any hurt in his best friend’s eyes.
“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. He’s a cool dude. I like him. So much, in fact, I want him to stick around.” Elliot’s tone spelled out a clear message underneath his words. “But if there is something going on, I would rather you didn’t hide it from me.”
Julien nodded, and Elliot quietly stood up and walked out, leaving him alone with Cinn.
Exhaling a heavy, shaky breath, Julien moved closer to him. Asleep, he looked years younger, the stresses of life washed away from his face, leaving a boyish innocence in its wake. A freckle on his right eyelid that Julien hadn’t noticed before drew his attention. He brushed his finger over it, lightly tugging it upwards towards the tiny metal bar that shot through his eyebrow.
Julien tucked some of Cinn’s chestnut waves back up under his new beanie, running his thumb over the ribbed cuff. He smiled. Cinn had worn it every possible moment since he’d given it to him.
Mission success.
Of course, Julien definitelyhadn’tspent almost two hours browsing high-end clothing boutiques before finding this perfect hat on a corner market stall.
He’d definitelynotspent an age considering how the beautiful shade of olive green would complement the earthiness of his hazel eyes.
And his heart definitelydid notbeat impossibly fast when he’d awaited Cinn’s reaction to it.
“Julien, why are you touching him?” Darcy snapped from behind him, making him jump. “Just leave him alone.”
Elliot’s laugh almost distracted him from noticing Cinn twitch again, a brief spasm that raised his torso from the wooden table. Julien pressed two fingers against Cinn’s neck, feeling the strong pulse of his increasing heart rate.
Another twitch, the tiniest of moans escaping Cinn’s lips.
In the space of a blink, the symbols Julien drew earlier faded away, the ink seemingly absorbed to leave behind a blank canvas of light-brown skin.
“Non!What’s happening? Darcy, put the band back on him, now!”
Darcy lunged for the golden bangle but froze when a strange sound emanated from Cinn’s mouth. A cross between a cough and a grunt, Cinn’s unconscious form abruptly heaved, as if he was choking.
“What the hell?” muttered Elliot.
“Turn him over,” Julien called out, and rushed to do just that.
“The recovery position!” shouted Darcy, but Julien and Elliot only blinked in response. “Oh, for goodness sake,” she snapped, pushing Julien out of the way to bend Cinn’s arms and legs, creating a contoured L-shape.
His strange seizing continued, his eyelids fluttering slightly ajar. “I think he’s coming back,” said Julien, relief pouring into his voice.
One more almighty cough, and then miniscule flecks of darkness came bursting out of his mouth all at once, a thousand or more floating balls, impossibly emitting the darkest form of light.
Stunned, Julien could only watch as they appeared to organise, swirling and glueing together to fashion some sort of shape.
“Shadowmotes?” Darcy flinched away from them. “But—”
They all gasped as the shape became distinctively animalistic. Four legs, three tails. Two ears. A writhing shadow-creature of darkness, although only a small one. A touch bigger than the average cat, and still expanding, the shadowmotes multiplying to create a denser form.
