She pounded on the door. “That rat Mott’s supposed to be with you. Ravana swore he was trustworthy, but he’s out here, not in there. Quinn, open this door now, or I’ll bust it down.”
“Ah,” I called out, turning bright red. “Give me one moment.”
I managed to pull on Ezra’s shirt seconds before Brit, covered in her Majekah-hardened skin, made good on her threat. Bits of wood and plaster flew into the room. Naked as the day he was born, Ezra stepped in front of me, face-to-face with an enraged Brit.
Brit froze with her fists up. “He’s not supposed to be here.”
Ezra stood tall. “Not leaving.”
Her gaze snapped to me. “Quinn. Do you want him here?”
My chest pounded. “I do. I want him here.”Brit nodded and released her Majekah. Without her moss-green skin, a slight blush stained her cheeks. Her gaze drifted toward Ezra’s dick.
I snorted. “Mine, Brit. Eyes up.”
Brit made a yummy noise before finally looking past Ezra to me. “Then we need a plan. You may want him here, but the Westwaters won’t.”
I sat in the far corner of Ravana’s camp, around a round game table, playing Machiavelli. Of all the things to survive the apocalypse, collectible card games weren’t on my list.
On my left sat Brit. Across from me, Joe, rocking bomber pants and a studded leather vest, desperately attempted to understand the rules. And on my right sat Ezra, who looked nothing like Ezra.
“Stop looking at it,” Ezra mumbled.
I couldn’t. Instead, I reached up, running my fingers through his short, hazelwood-colored hair. Brit had cut it herself, buzzed the sides, and left the top a little longer but still neatly cropped. She called it a High and Tight.
It hadn’t occurred to me that Everly and I had to dress as men, beards and all, because magic couldn’t manipulate the physical. It was energy, and, other than cutting off limbs or encouraging more hair growth, it didn’t affect a person's appearance.
Ezra shivered. “It doesn’t feel right. My whole head feels wrong.”
I’d never cut my hair short, but I lived under its weight every day. Sometimes, it made me hot, so I put it up in a ponytail, which sometimes gave me a headache, so I’d have to change to abraid or put in a hair clip. Long story short, I was always messing with my hair.
Now, Ezra didn’t have any locks to mess with or feel the weight of. Brit had even trimmed his eyebrows and dyed them to match. A pair of tiny, stylish specs changed the lighting around his eyes, washing them of their vivid purple. I expected his darker skin to look lighter with the new hair, but the contrast made it look richer, giving him a dramatic and almost artsy-fartsy appearance.
I needed to find this man a zoot suit, fast.
The thought made me grin, a sharp contrast to the haunted look creeping into Ezra’s eyes.
I cupped Ezra’s cheek, forcing him to look at me. “Have you never cut your hair short before?”
Ezra took a deep breath and put his hand over mine on his cheek. “My slaver kept our heads buzzed, easier to clean. I haven’t cut mine since I took my freedom.”
My heart skipped a beat as the gravity of what he’d done sank in. “Ezra. No. I didn’t. You didn’t need to—"
“I did. And I’d do it again.” Ezra squeezed me. “I want you with me. I don’t dwell on the past. But with my hair gone…” He glanced at Brit, who had her full attention on Joe as she helped him with his cards. “I’ve never felt the urge to open that part of me before. But I want you to know who I am.”
Tears blurred my vision, and I launched myself from my chair into Ezra’s arms. “I want to know you too, Ez.”
The door to the main room burst open, and a group of laughing voices stumbled through. I gave Ezra a peck on the lips and slipped back to my seat. The voices turned into a group of laughing, tan-haired Westwaters with one massive raisin-haired man in their center.
Ravana slipped out from under Silas’s arm and literally pranced over to us. She took one look at our card game and sighed.
“How are you this boring already, kid?” Ravana swept in, cutting me off with a flick of her hand. “Don’t answer; I don’t need an excuse. We’re fixing it. Tell me—did you finally take my advice and get a massage?”
I blushed.
“Oh, look at you blushing!” Ravana crowed, bouncing on her toes. “Didn’t think you’d be brave enough for the happy ending, but good for you. Not like those pricks at the castle ever gave you anything worth smiling about.”
I pointedly did not look at Ezra. “It was a different kind of giving.”
