It’s not just about the coffee table. It’s not about borrowed clothes. It's not even about the car.
It’s me.
It’s Talon.
And Cassian doesn’t like that they’ve overlapped.
Well, shit.
“I doubt Talon’s the kind of guy to do anything selfless,” I say. “Especially not for a girl he just slept with.”
He exhales sharply, nostrils flaring. Still won’t look at me.
“So you think it meant nothing,” he says.
I blink. “What?”
His fingers tap once on the wheel before gripping it again. “You think it was just… scratching an itch. For him.”
I swallow. The air is suddenly electric.
“I didn’t realize that was up for debate,” I murmur.
“I see,” he says.
His eyes flick to me and that same burning gaze returns. The same one he had when I changed up in his room.
“Then… was it worth it?”
Oh my god. I actually laugh. Just a little. A soft, disbelieving sound, because what else can I do?
“What?” I ask.
His jaw ticks. Once. Twice.
“Did your… you know, powers get better?”
That shuts me up. A long pause follows. My mouth opens, then closes. Then opens again.
He thinks I slept with Talon to power up?
That wasn’t my intention. But… now that I think about it, I do feel different. My body aches like hell, but I didn’t have to be carried today, did I? I made it through the night, the morning, even scrounging for clothes this afternoon, without a single glitch. No stress, no dimensional slips, not even a stumble.
I even felt like I could fight the wraith with Cassian’s dagger if it showed up.
Pain is still gone, completely. But… shit, I think I actually got better.
Cassian sees it on my face before I say a word.
He turns back to the road with a sharp exhale, muttering something under his breath I can’t quite catch, though I’m pretty sure it starts with “fucking Talon.”
I watch him, stunned.
“Cassian,” I say quietly. “That’s not why I did it.”
He doesn’t answer.
“I didn’t even know it would help,” I press. “It wasn’t like I had a checklist. It just… happened. I wanted to. That’s all.”
