“We’ll talk about that later,” she tells him, not that I know what she’s talking about. “More importantly, you took Baelfire into Limbo again. Is he?—”
“I’m fine,” Baelfire reassures us. “I closed my eyes, so it probably didn't fuck up my head more than it already is.”
I turn my face toward him in surprise. When I do, the shifter gets an eyeful of my face for the first time since he went feral. His golden eyes get round with surprise.
“Holy shit, your face is so fucking?—”
I hold up a hand, not in the mood to deal with his big, fat mouth. “You have thirty seconds to get all comments about my face out of your system. If you say another word after that, I’ll freeze your tongue, snap it off, and shove it up your ass.”
Crypt grins, pointing at me with one of the dismembered fingers. “Good gods! Is this a version of Frost I could actually get on with?”
Baelfire raises his brows, glancing at the others. “Someone’s cranky.”
“We’re all cranky,” Silas snaps nearby, startling everyone. He’s sitting with his back against a wall now, rubbing his temples before swatting at nothing once again. “I’m with Everett. I’d rather not listen to you crack amateur jokes about his complexion for however long we manage to live.”
“Yeah, yeah.Chill outabout your face, Frosty,” Baelfire jokes, slapping my shoulder good-naturedly. “It’s better this way, anyway. Makes you look less like the assfaced douchebag I just took care of for you.”
I pause, a new realization setting in. “Wait. Didyoudo that to protect me, or was it your dragon?”
“You think my dragon gives a single flying fuck about you? Nah, that moron would’ve pushed you out the window and then jumped himself,” he snorts. “Brains aren’t his strong suit.”
“Remind me what other moron just jumped out a window sans plan,” Crypt drawls pointedly.
“Oh, come on. I knew you’d jump out a window for me anytime,buddy,” the shifter teases.
Baelfire just saved my life. On purpose.
That’s weird, but I guess no weirder than Crypt rescuing the oversized lizard.
When I notice that Maven is quietly grinning at us, I sigh.
“I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not because?—”
“It isabsolutelybecause you’re all a bunch of fucking softies,” she inserts. “Incredibly sexy softies, but softies nonetheless.”
Crypt huffs at that idea, as displeased as ever at the thought of getting along with us, but then he looks at me seriously. He looks almost…sad. “My condolences, Frost. Heidi deserved better.”
Bael frowns. “Who’s Heidi?”
“Frost’s sister,” Crypt supplies easily.
“What?”Silas and Baelfire ask in synchrony, both askance.
“Hold the fucking phone. You mean, there’s another Frost running around out there?” Baelfire adds, looking between all of us with wide gold eyes, like that idea is horrible.
“Not anymore,” I say, my voice suddenly too thick for the words to sound right. “Heidi isn’t—wasn’ta normal legacy. If my parents sent her away, she’s?—”
I cut off, turning to stare at Crypt as the entire conversation with my father replays in my head. I know for a fact that neither of us said her name out loud. Frost spreads further up my arms as I take a step toward him.
“Crypt. How the hell did you know my sister’s name?” I demand.
He absentmindedly rubs the place where they previously had a syringe in his neck. His markings light up repeatedly, his gaze drifting to the broken window.
“Suppose that ginger mercenary is still alive?”
He’s clearly trying to brush off this topic. Not about to let him, I test my powers again for the first time, raising a hand. A blunt shard of ice appears, jutting out from the floor and sending Crypt crashing into the wall. Before I can pin him there and demand how he knew about my sister, something big and way too fucking warm slams into my side.
Suddenly,I’mthe one pinned to the wall by a very annoyed Baelfire.
