It’s not disgust I hear in his tone. It’s restraint. And that sends another flush racing down my neck.
He doesn’t let me go, and my stomach dips at the promise of the last two words. Because I would probably let him have me. I’ve been through so much over the last few days that giving in to my attraction to Kael would be a bright spot in it all. But he just holds me there, like he doesn’t trust himself to move. Like if I shift again, even by accident, everything will unravel.
Before I can think of what to say—before I can even decide if I want to tease him or pretend it didn’t happen—a knock cuts through the moment.
Kael shifts immediately, wings tightening once around me, then pulling back as he shifts me off of him and sits up. He doesn’t look at me right away. Instead, he presses a hand to his face, muttering something in a language I don’t know.
Then he stands, crosses to the door, and opens it just wide enough to speak without letting anyone see me still tangled in his bed.
“What is it?” he asks, voice flat, already slipping back into that unreadable mask he wears like armor.
A pause. “We need to talk. All of us,” Raiden says from the other side.
I scramble to sit up, dragging the sheet with me, trying to make myself look like I didn’t just nearly cause a very specific kind of reaction out of him. My heart’s still thudding from being pressed against Kael’s body. From the feel of his hand on my waist. From the memory of the dream I’m not letting myself think about right now.
Kael glances back at me. His gaze flicks down over me—just once—before he turns to Raiden.
“Give us a minute.”
The door shuts again.
And Kael exhales like he’s been holding that breath since I moved on top of him.
“I’ll get dressed,” I say quickly, cheeks burning.
He nods and turns his back before I even move, jaw clenched tight like he's holding something back. As though if he looks at me again, we’ll both do something we can’t take back.
I slip out of the bed, tugging the hem of his shirt down instinctively as I reach for my tattered dress where it’s folded neatly on the table. I don’t remember folding it last night. Kael must have.
That small detail shouldn’t make my stomach flip, but it does.
The dress feels like paper against my skin, torn in two places and still carrying the acrid scent of the Veil’s magic. I pull it on anyway. I’m not ready to shed the last twenty-four hours, and this dress feels like proof I survived them.
“I’m decent,” I say, even though we both know there’s nothing decent about the tension stretching between us.
Kael turns, slow and guarded. His eyes find mine—and stay there.
“Last night…” he starts, then cuts himself off, shaking his head.
I wait, but he doesn’t finish.
So I nod, like I understand. As if I’m not still feeling the imprint of his fingers on my waist. Like the dream of his lips on mine didn’t follow me into the waking world and curl under my skin.
He opens the door before I can speak, before I can do something stupid like ask him to kiss me for real.
Raiden, Nolan, and Tamsin are all standing there—each of them tense in their own way, eyes flicking between me and Kael.
“We need to talk,” Raiden says again, but his tone is softer this time.
Kael steps aside to let them in, but his body doesn’t move far from mine. It’s not possessive. It’s protective. Not that I need protection from these three.
And I don’t know what that does to my heart, but I know it’s too much to look at right now.
So I drag my attention to the others. To the mess we still have to clean up. To the truth waiting to be told.
Raiden doesn’t waste time. “The Council’s looking for you.”
My spine stiffens before I can stop it. “Looking for me towhat? Try again now that they’ve caught their breath?”
