Sakane wrings his hands as he glances over his shoulder into the empty hallway. “It isn’t reallybadnews… just maybe not… the best?”
My brows lift as my patience wanes.
“Xeni is leaving,” he blurts.
Surprise knocks me back in my seat before I launch myself to my feet. “What do you mean,leaving?!”
He winces and holds his hands out in front of him. “Not likeleaving-leaving… just leaving the building? Going… out?”
“Where?”
Cato crosses his arms over his chest, his tongue rolling over his teeth behind his lip as he looks anywhere but at me.
“What did you do?” I demand.
He has the decency to be ashamed as his eyes finally meet mine. “You know how he can be!” he complains as his hands fly up into the air, gesturing wildly. “He wanted to come see you, and I…”
He trails off and glances away again.
“Youwhat, Cato?” I demand.
“Might’ve egged him on a little,” he mutters.
My palms land on the desk as I lean forward and glare. “What did you say?”
“I just… kind of said that you were too busy to deal with his bullshit right now.”
Sakane elbows him, and Cato glares at him before letting the rest of his confession spill in a rush.
“And I might’ve insinuated I’d be keeping you company tonight so he didn’t need to worry about you.”
“Cato! He knows we aren’t together!”
“Iknow,” he argues, “but he’s just so fucking cocky, and it’s the only thing that knocks him down a few pegs.”
“Damn it,” I mutter as I push past them and charge down the hall, but when I yank open Xeni’s door, his tiny room is empty. His warm amber scent surrounds me as I walk through, running my fingertips along the messy bed with a rueful laugh.
He was never one to clean up after himself.
My heart thuds as I move into the bathroom, looking for evidence of a broken promise. Droplets of blood, a discarded razor, or the certainty that comes from knowing someone you love is in pain.
I find none of that, and breathe a deep sigh of relief.
“He isn’t here,” Ego says from the doorway. “He was restless.”
I step back into the bedroom to look at her. “So you let him go?”
She tuts and rolls her eyes as her arms cross. “You know as well as I do none of us could hold him here by force. I told him where he could safely blow off some steam.”
My rising temper immediately withers, replaced by a shock of guilt at leaving him alone. Two days have passed since our talk on the rooftop, and I’ve been too emotional—too confused—to see him.
“Where’d he go?”
She cringes and twists a chunk of her short hair around her pointer finger. “Well, I wanted to make sure he went somewhere safe, ya know? A place where he wouldn’t stand out and there wouldn’t be a risk of him getting into a dangerous situation.”
“Ego…”
“I sent him to Zaya’s, alright?”
