“Of course I like it,” he said. “No one calls my brother any of those things. Those names are mine. Just mine. It’s nice having something all mine. Don’t tell him though. I don’t want to hurt his feelings. He has some. It seems like he doesn’t, but he does.”
“Why am I going to be mad, Cadet?”
Rin made a face. “There. Like that. I asked my brother to switch places at the start of the summer. I felt like I was being followed. Someone was stalking me and I was worried if I dealt with it on my own my temper would get in the way and I’d do something rash.”
“Someone was stalking you?” Kelevra’s brow furrowed.
Rin dropped a hand over his to keep him from pulling away when it was clear he was about to. “Don’t. There’s nothing for you to do. My brother is handling it.”
“Like hell.”
“Seriously. It’s his problem now. It’s the rule. I don’t get involved in his problems unless he asks and vice versa.”
Kel’s eyes narrowed. “What about how he shot at me in the forest? Doesn’t that count as him getting involved? And what are these rules?”
“The rules were made a long time ago, though I did add one today so he’d never shoot at you again. You’re welcome. They’re simple really. We don’t kill or harm innocent people. We don’t tell anyone the truth about who we are. We respect the other's choices. Blah blah blah. There are a lot. I don’t want to list them all. You get the point.”
Kelevra still looked like he wanted to call up his Retinue and demand they go searching for Rin’s potential stalker.
Rin moved faster than either of them could process, shoving Kel down and straddling his hips. He laughed as he planted his hands on his chest to keep him down, fingers splayed out over the small silver threading that made rose patterns in the pale yellow corset vest he’d helped with this morning.
“You’re so flashy,” he murmured. “I love it.”
“You’re constantly complaining about it,” Kelevra stated.
“Only so you don’t catch on.” He traced the boning on the side. “I still don’t want to wear one myself, but they look so good on you. I try not to say because your ego is already the size of a moon, but it’s true. I thought you were pretty from the beginning. Aren’t most deadly things?”
“Consort. We’re still fighting.”
“Are we?” He hummed. “I don’t have a right to be mad at you, and I suppose you’re allowed to be angry. I’m sorry I tricked you. I didn’t mean it. You came onto me. All of these things are true.”
“Youwereangry with me though,” Kelevra pointed out. “Why?”
Rin’s brow furrowed and his hands stilled. “Even knowing how important my brother is to me, you were just standing there. You were going to let them take him.”
“According to your brother, that was never going to actually happen.”
“Of course not,” he agreed. “There were four guards in the hallway, your sister would have stood aside, and our father isn’t young anymore. The only one who stood a chance at stopping us from escaping was you.”
“Would you have fought me?”
Rin thought it over. “I’m not sure.”
“You would have.”
“If you continued to stand there like a statue when I needed a real partner?” he snapped. “Yeah. Probably would have.”
Kelevra lifted a hand and gently trailed the tips of his fingers down the length of Rin’s throat. “Don’t be mad, sweetheart. Didn’t I stand with you the second I realized? Didn’t I ensure you got exactly what you wanted in the end?”
“It took you long enough.”
“Were you worried?”
“That you were going to abandon me?” Rin asked. “Yeah.”
“I was worried about the same thing,” Kel admitted. “Do you plan to? Your brother said he had money. The two of you could sneak away—”
He snorted. “Like I don’t know you’ve already ordered one of your Retinue to add our names to the No Fly list.” Rin had seen Kel try to sneakily do it on their way up in the elevator. “We couldn’t run now even if we wanted to.”
