He tilted his head in that slow way he always did. A wolf surveying something already cornered. The move was nothing but predatory.
“Yourhouse?” His voice was low, almost lazy.
My words stalled, caught somewhere between my throat and chest, but I forced them out anyway.
“Yes. My house. I rented this. Including the room you are standing in. Why would you even do this without consulting me?” I paused, blinking as a wild thought struck. “Wait—hold on. Is this because you saved me? You want me to repay you with a room in my house? If you wanted a place to stay, you could’ve just said so.”
The second I was done unloading whatever nonsense came first to my tongue, he let out a quiet breath. Then he slipped one hand out of his pocket, revealing a phone cradled in his palm.
My lips parted at the sight. It wasn’t because of the phone, but the way it looked small in his hand.
I had the same phone, the same size. But somehow, it looked two times smaller in his grip. His fingers were long and thick, leaving only inappropriate thoughts in my head. My lower stomach twisted as I forced my eyes away.
He swiped across the screen with his thumb, the other hand still tucked casually in his pocket.
Then, with zero warning, he extended the phone towards me. Fast. I flinched, nearly stepping back as it came close to hitting my face. I scowled and moved just enough to read the screen.
It was a digital receipt.
There was the address,41 Yelmel Lane, Nimorran,the rental period, the tenant’s name, the amount paid and the landlord, Garvin Lor.
Blood rushed in my ears. I knew that receipt.
Scrambling, I snatched my own phone from my pocket, hands nearly shaking. I opened the saved image of my rental receipt.
Same address.
Same landlord.
Same rental period.
Except…his payment was double mine.
He’d paid twice the amount I had, to live in this same house.
A breath escaped me.
He slid his phone back into his pocket and straightened.
“Technically,” he said, “I own this house.”
“My receipt is older than yours!” I snapped.
“I paid more than you did.”
“That’s because youcoercedandbribedhim, you fuckingcheater!”
His brows twitched together. A small change, but his whole expression shifted with it.
“What did you call me?”
I called you a cheater, I wanted to say.
But the words stuck. I even swallowed them down when I remembered what Weeny Man had told me. And also the way my body had gone tight and weightless the last timehetouched me.
If magic still breathed in Nimorran—and I knew it did—then the existence of a creature that wasn’t human was no longer a theory. It was a fact. A ninety-nine percent possibility.
But why is the creature living in my house?
