“We’re going,” I decide, pulling the other leg through and tugging the waistband into place. I expect him to tell me where the Skystones are, but before he can, Talon groans into a pillow like he’s being murdered, then springs upright like a jack-in-the-box.
“Fine,” he mutters, rubbing a hand over his face. “We’re coming back to reality, then. The Skystones are as far from thehospital main room as possible. In case one of those bastards decides to get out.”
Supposedly just a matter of time, I think.Death did make it sound like a ticking bomb.
“The rooftop?” I ask.
“Hell no.” Talon shakes his head. “I wouldn’t take you there if there’s even a chance we’re in danger.”
“Why were you there in the first place?” Cassian asks, brow furrowing. He and Nathaniel know nothing about our little rooftop confession. Talon and I decided that moment would stay between us.
I don’t mind them knowing everything about me equally, but if Talon wants to keep certain things private, I’ll respect that.
“That’s for Little Grim and me to know, and for you to wonder about, my man,” Talon replies with a lazy grin, rifling through the clothes on the floor with absolutely no urgency.
Cassian’s stare flicks between us. There’s no jealousy in it, but it grates on him anyway. He likes knowing everything about everything. No missing variables.
He swings his legs off the bed and stands, unhurried and massive and silent in that Cassian way that makes the air feel heavier. Talon finally pulls on a pair of joggers that hang low on his hips, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“So where are the Skystones, then?” I press.
Talon lifts a brow and gestures vaguely. “Underground.”
“Underground where? With Mark?”
“No. Underground underground,” he deadpans.
I just stare.
Cassian sighs.
Cassian exhales through his nose. “There’s a reinforced bunker beneath the old radiology wing. We drilled through a section years ago. When you told us about the wraiths possibly coming out, we moved the Skystones down there.”
“Well, they can go through walls, so that’s not exactly foolproof,” I say.
“No, but Laura Collins took a while to get her bearings after she turned,” Talon cuts in, waving his hand. “So we figured if these souls wake up in complete darkness, they’d be disoriented. Slower to, you know… thrash. Kill. All that fun stuff.”
Yeah, well… a tactic’s a tactic. Our situation doesn’t exactly come with perfect options.
“Anyway, I want to see them,” I say.
Cassian steps forward, close enough that I can feel the heat coming off his bare chest.
“You can,” he says evenly. “But there are rules.”
Of course there are. Gods forbid anything revolvingsafetybe simple.
Talon snorts. “Here we go.”
Cassian ignores him and folds his arms. “One: you don’t go near the stones alone. Two: you don’t touch anything unless we tell you to. And three—”
“Oh my god,” Talon cuts in. “Just say it—‘don’t lick the murder rocks,’ Cassian. It’s fine.”
“I wasn’t going to say that,” Cassian mutters.
“But now you kind of want to,” Talon fires back with a grin. “Right?”
I grin, too. “Don’t worry, Cassian. I won’t lick the murder rocks.”
