But something changes.
His jaw locks. His shoulders rise, just barely. A muscle ticks in his cheek.
Then, silence stretches too long.
My pulse skitters.
And then he moves.
One breath, and he’s across the room. The next, Talon is ripped from his chair and slammed into the wall so hard the plaster cracks like ice.
The whole room jolts.
Cassian’s forearm crushes into his throat, pinning him there, so hard Talon’s boots lift clean off the ground for a heartbeat. But Talon doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t blink. His grin just grows, even as his breath turns ragged.
“Ouch. Getting violent,” he rasps, voice raw and needling. “Does the hypocrisy sting that bad?”
“Shut your fucking mouth,” Cassian snarls. The sound rips from his chest, raw, almost inhuman. “Don’t talk about Skye like that. She’s not one of those sluts you sneak off with.”
Sluts?
The ones he sneaks off with?
That’s news to me.
I thought neither of them had anyone.
Then again, sneaking off with someone doesn’t necessarily mean they’rewithsomeone.
“Touchy,” Talon coughs, still smiling. “The way she goes around, she might as well be. But never mind that. I’m more pissed at what a fucking coward you are. Wasn’t it you always whispering in my ear not to touch her? Why? Wanted her first?”
“Cassian,” Nathaniel calls sharply from across the room. “Let him go.”
Cassian doesn’t move. His jaw is clenched, stone-hard. His arm stays locked across Talon’s throat, like he’s one breath away from killing a different kind of killer this time.
“Do you even hear him?” he grinds out.
“Yes,” Nathaniel says. “But we don’t have time for this. Deal with it later.”
And it’s that, not morality, not loyalty, not me watching from the sidelines. That finally makes Cassian pull back. It’s time.
But before he does, he leans in, voice dropping to a low, intimate growl.
“Say whatever the fuck you want about me. But don’t talk about Skye. Not when you can’t even look in the mirror because of your past.”
Talon’s grin falters.
Just slightly.
Cassian lets him go.
Talon stumbles back, rubbing his throat. The smirk lingers, but something flickers behind his eyes now. Guilt. Shame. Regret, for whatever Cassian meant.
Cassian doesn’t look back. He turns away, jaw tight, hands flexing like he’s still weighing whether to finish the job.
Nathaniel sighs and tosses Talon a water bottle.
“Next time you want to antagonize someone who could crush your spine without a second thought, maybe wait until after we summon the wraith.”
