Jade clenched his eyes shut in frustration. “I... forgot the schedule.”
I’d never heard him sound so painfully embarrassed. I didn’t understand the gravity of the situation until I remembered the third challenge was supposed to take place this morning, and—glancing at the antique clock on Jade’s bedside table—it was way past that time. We’d both missed it.
That meant the knocking at the door belonged to—
“Jade Chromatimaeus, open up right now!” Aurum barked.
“You’re in big trouble, lizard brain,” Thystle growled.
I raised a brow. The taunts didn’t sound serious coming from Jade’s younger brothers, but then I noticed legitimate shame on his face. He swiftly crawled out of bed, threw on the nearest robe and answered his brothers’ demands. He cracked the door just enough for him to be visible. I remained hidden behind it.
“I am so sorry,” Jade began.
Thystle interrupted him with a scowl. “Yeah, you should be.”
“Like, are you serious, dude?” Aurum said. “After all the timesyougot onourasses about being late, you apparently have no problem doing it yourself.”
“Yes,” Cobalt said, his deep voice adding weight to their group grievance. “You punished me during my season for my tardiness.”
“Me too,” Aurum grumbled.
I felt Jade’s shame radiating like the midday sun. He bowed his head. “I know. I’m very sorry. There’s no excuse for—”
Crimson sniffed the air. “Hang on. I smell... cat.”
I grimaced and sank lower into the bed. Damn that suit-obsessed dragon. Since he was Taylor’s mate, he was familiar with feline scent.
“You smell what now?” Aurum fumed.
Before Jade could stop him, Cobalt pushed the door open. I wasn’t sure whether to hide under the covers in mutual shame with Jade, or proudly puff out my chest as a fellow culprit of this crime. In the end, I sat there with the covers awkwardly pulled up to my chest and faced my fate—the irate glares of Cobalt, Aurum, Thystle, and Crimson. Oh, and Saffron was there too, for good measure.
Jade’s shoulders stiffened as he hung his head. He clearly wasn’t happy with himself.
“Really, Jade?” Aurum asked, as if his brother was a pet that had just soiled the carpet.
Cobalt shook his head. “You, of all people...”
My eyebrow twitched irritably. What gave his brothers the right to berate him like that?
“Oh, come on,” I interrupted. “I love a little drama, but aren’t you all taking this too far?”
Aurum crossed his arms. “Too far? You probably don’t know this, but Jade’s evil when you mess uphisperfectly planned schedules. Hell, I wasn’t even late that one time, but Jade forced me and Saffron to roleplay as horses.”
That was not the answer I expected. I blinked. “I... Did you actually?”
“Yes,” Jade admitted in a sigh.
Sensing it was not the time, I withheld a snort of amusement, but wewouldbe discussing that later.
I cleared my throat. “In any case, he’s clearly ashamed of himself. Right, Jade?”
“Ah-ah, not so fast,” Crimson interjected. “It’s not fair to let Jade off the hook when he’s punished so many of us.”
The wordpunishedmade me flash back to last night’s scene. I suppressed a pleasant shudder at the memory. Again, not the time.
Cobalt sighed deeply. “Jade, I don’t want to pile on and make you feel worse, but I have to agree with Crimson. We put in a lot of effort for today’s challenge. It took a lot of hard work.”
“Yeah, and the contestants all showed up raring to go, ready to give it their best shots and everything,” Saffron added sympathetically.
