My hands wrap around a bedpost, feeling the smooth wood beneath my palms. “What’s the rota for?”
“To watch you,” Sol says gruffly. “Obviously.”
Oh. They really don’t trust me. Irritation prickles at my neck, and I lift my chin. “I said I’d help.”
Matthias guffaws loudly, slapping a hand over his mouth. “Solomon. Gods, I love you, but you are theworst. He means to watch over you, Selene. Because for all the reasons I mentioned earlier, there are going to be a lot of eyes on you. Some of them aren’t friendly.”
My stomach turns to stone. “You don’t need to waste your resources on me. I’m sure you have better things to do.”
“You don’t understand,” Matthias tries again. There’s a different sort of kindness there, but it irritates me, rather than soothing any fears I might have had.
“Yes,” I say steadily. “Yes, I do. I understand men and their desires far better than you seem to realize. And whether I am in Terrosa or here, I doubt there is much difference.”
The room quiets.
“Do not forget where I was the day the Caelumnai landed.” My hands grip that post tightly as my words strike like hail. “I have seen the appetites of some of yourmen.”
“Wait.” Matthias is hoarse. “You werehere?”
“I told you there was much to share,” Sol murmurs. But then he turns back to me. “The offer is not negotiable. Here, we look out for each other.”
My heart skips. Jumps, almost. As if that longing has struck again, foolish though the thought feels. But Sol isn’t finished.
“And we’ll do the same for you. You can argue all you like, but we won’t listen. This is what we do for our friends.” Sol doesn’t look away as he addresses the still silent male. “Matthias. We should head back if we’re going to make it back to join everyone for dinner. Callan will stay.”
This is what we do for our friends.
Matthias’s embrace is tight, as if conveying an apology. I accept it almost dazedly. Before I realize it, they’re gone and I’m left alone with Callan.
“You seem to be gathering friends at quite a pace.” He crosses his arms. “Perhaps we need another name.”
“I—”
“If you try to argue this again, I’ll call Sol back in.” He straightens, sauntering toward me. “And Sol is quite fastidious about who he allows into his circle. You’re stuck with him now.”
I swallow as he gets closer. He’s somuch.Against the plain background of this room, Callan Edgeborn looks like a god. Too much for the small space, the spiced scent and heat of him brushing against me. “Am I stuck with you too, then?”
“I think we have already established that.” I jerk as he picks up a strand of hair, rubbing it between his fingers. “None of them will touch you.”
“Should they try—”
“I would kill them.” There’s no trace of amusement in his words now. Only a rage that warms my cold bones, soaking into me. “Slowly, and painfully, and I would leave them in pieces so small that their souls would never reach Ellas. I would make it so theyneverset eyes on you again, Selene, in this life or the next.”
Oh, gods. The anger in his words should make me back away. Instead, I find myself leaning closer, my chin tipping up. My body feels heavy, and yet somehow light at the same time, my eyelids lowering. “Callan.”
“Selene.” It sounds as if he’s teasing, but that fire still lingers beneath his words. As if he would burn anyone who dared touch me, just as he’s promising.
Perhaps that is why I don’t want him to leave. “What are we doing?”
“Being friends.” He murmurs the words, and I shiver as his hand shifts, pushing my hair back. “Isn’t that what we agreed?”
We did. I seem to vaguely remember that. My thoughts are hazy, almost slow. But his hand slides from my hair to hover over my wings. “I want to touch these.”
My nod is slow.
He does not grab, or grip, or pull. His finger gently traces the edges of the delicate membrane that stitches my wings together. My entire body trembles at the sensation.
His hand is pressing against my lower back, nudging me closer. My face buries in his neck, and I belong there. As if it’s a space created just for me.
