Turnsout Talen had a spare key to the outpost this whole time. He unlocks the door and steps inside without a word. We follow, boots dragging, silence stretching between us.
The first door off the corridor creaks open beneath his hand, and the two cadets don’t even hesitate. They look half-dead—sun nearly down, nerves fried—and the second they see the bunk inside, they head straight in and drop.
The room’s barely big enough for the two of them. One bunk bed, no space to move without elbowing the other.
Yeah. I’m not sleeping in here.
Talen glances back, meets my eyes. He doesn’t explain, just gives a small nod,this way, then turns and keeps walking.
I follow. I don’t need much, just a door, a bed. Somewhere to process everything that just happened without having to talk to anyone about it.
Talen stops in front of the second door at the end of the hall.
He opens it, and I freeze in the threshold.
A wide four-poster bed takes up most of the space, its quilt thick and dark, pillows stacked in neat rows at the head. A dresser sits opposite, and at the back—an actual private bathing chamber.
What the fuck, this isn’t a cadet's room. My brows lift before I can stop them.
Talen shifts, glancing over just long enough to catch the look on my face. He exhales through his nose, already bracing like he knows exactly what I’m thinking.
“Union Clause,” he says flatly.
I blink. “What?”
“They assign partners in a Union Clause a shared room on overnight patrols,” he adds with a not-quite-apologetic shrug. “As I’m the officer in charge and you’re my partner, you got upgraded.”
“You didn’t think to mention thisbeforewe got here?”
“I didn’t know.” He hesitates. “Or I forgot.”
My laugh comes easy. “Convenient.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take the floor.” He says it quickly, like it might fix something.
Sharing a room with Talen? Yeah, not sure that’s a great idea.
A week ago, I would’ve jumped at the chance to trap him overnight. But now? Now that I’ve admitted I trust him—want him, in ways that feel bigger than I’m ready for—I’m not so sure. Because handing him the knife? Fully, honestly? I’m not there yet, I don’t even know whattheremeans.
But, fuck, what other option do I have?
I glance back down the corridor. The other room had one small bunk and barely enough floor space to stand, let alone lie down. And this bed… God, I’ve never seen anything like it. And Talen made his boundaries crystal clear. He’s barely said a word to me all day—obviously still pissed. He told me to stop. I didn’t. Six weeks of pushing, and now he won’t even look at me.Fair.
“Fine.” I say, stepping inside and dropping my pack by the door.
Talen follows, closing the door behind him, then nods toward the bathing area, separated from the main room by a thin curtain, half drawn. “You go first. The bath’s ready for you.”
I step past the curtain, and stop. The tub’s massive, carved stone sunk into the floor, filled nearly to the brim. Steam curls off the surface.
“How is it already full?”
“I ran it for you.”
I blink. “When?”
“Earlier.”
I turn back toward him, brows raised. “While you were holding three grown men in the air, you used your magic to run me a bath?”
