“Hug me as long as you want, baby.” I murmured. “Everything’s okay. We’re safe.”
“We’re safe,” she repeated.
I held her for several minutes, and eventually I could hear Zephyr beginning to move around a kitchen. He’d been quiet for a moment as if he was waiting to listen to how I handled Skye’s freak out.
Skye finally settled, and I pulled her back a bit to speak to her.
“Do you wanna show me your bedroom?” I asked, half-teasingly, hoping we could move whatever this was out of earshot of her brother. I mean, yeah, he was cool, and he seemed to like me, but he was still a big brother. He’d be kicking my ass any minute now, and his arms alone looked big enough to crush my head.
“He doesn’t want to kick your ass,” Skye whispered in my ear, making me shiver.
“Reading my mind without permission?” I teased. Skye went from looking like she wanted to devour me to looking like she’d melt into a puddle of tears again. “What’s wrong?”
Skye hugged me tight again. “Maybe I do need my room.”
“Have you slept? How long have we been here? Are you hungry?”
Skye chuckled at my rapid-fire questions.
“I haven’t slept or ate. You were only out for a few hours.”
Hours.
A fewhoursI was passed out in that booth.
No wonder my neck was so sore. Zephyr’s healing hadn’t fixedthatannoying thing, of course.
“Come on,” Skye said, pulling my arm gently.
I glanced down the hall to where Zephyr had gone, but Skye pulled my arm again, bringing my attention back to her. We slipped into aroom close by, and I was promptly pushed back onto a large, four poster bed.
The room smelled like Skye, albeit a little stale. She clearly hadn’t been here in a while.
“Baby, I’m a mess.” I said, looking down at my clothes, still covered in soot and dirt and…bloodfrom the fight with Landon. There was one particularly goopy-looking stain on my leg that made me think it’d come from the group of men I’d incinerated.
I almost winced at the memory.
It’d happened so fast. I hadn’t even thought about it. Skye was in danger, and I reacted. Sure, I knew my fire affinity was stronger than people believed, but I’d never actually seen what it could do. I certainly never thought I’d be able tomeltpeople.
Skye wrinkled her nose, looking at the same goopy spot. “Oh, yeah. Come on.”
A strange force pushed against my back while pulling my forearms, and suddenly I was standing again. I realized it must have been Skye’s affinity just as she took my hand and pulled me to follow her.
We slipped through the door next to her closet, and I grinned at the girly bathroom we’d stepped into. Skye’s style was soft and muted, usually blues and grays. But her bathroom waspink. The walls, the tiles, and even her bath towels were all a light blush pink.
Skye gave me a shy smile. “I’d been planning to redo the bathroom in the fall before I was forced into the academy.”
“Whatever,” I said with a shrug. “I’m a real man. Pink doesn’t bother me.”
Skye giggled before she leaned into her standing shower, turning a bunch of knobs in seemingly random directions before the water kicked on. The room quickly filled with steam while Skye turned back to me, her grin faltering when she took in just how fucked up my clothing was. Her gaze dropped to my hands.
“Zephyr,” I explained softly.
Her eyes widened and she gently took my hands, examining them closely. “Zephyr did this?”
I nodded. “He’s good, Skye.”
“He wasn’t always good,” Skye said with an eye-roll. “The last few times he tried to heal anything on me, he ended up making me sick.”
