I make myself go slow even though my body wants to inhale everything in sight. One cracker. Sip of water. Another cracker. Vaelor watches without commenting, and I’m halfway through the sleeve when I feel it. That prickle at the back of my neck.
I look up.
Vaelor’s watching me. Not the food. Me.
I take another bite. His eyes follow the movement.
“What?”
“Nothing.” But his voice is lower than it was a second ago. “Glad you’re eating.”
I take another bite and his gaze tracks to my mouth and—oh.
Oh.
I shove another cracker in because it’s easier than figuring out what my face is doing.
I finish what I can. Set the rest down. My stomach feels strange—not full, but not empty. Something in between.
Beckett moves from his spot by the window. Takes the glass from me, sets it on the coffee table, then drops onto the couch beside me.
Vaelor takes the package of crackers without asking. “I’ll grab you a real blanket. That one smells like Rane.”
He heads upstairs. I hear his footsteps overhead.
“How you feeling?”
“Fine.”
He gives me a look. The kind that says he’s notbuying it.
“Nova. You don’t have to be brave with us. You can tell us what’s going on.”
I take a breath. Something in my chest loosens, just a little. “I’m just—”
Vaelor’s footsteps on the stairs. Coming back down.
The door opens.
“She’s up,” Beckett says without turning around.
Voices in the hallway, the thud of bags being dropped, footsteps. And then they’re coming through together. Rane first, moving fast, pulling up short at the edge of the couch. My skin remembers his chest against my shoulder. The way I leaned into him without meaning to.
Locke behind him, stopping in the doorway. Arms crossed. Jaw tight.
And suddenly I’m back on those steps. His hand on my face. His mouth on mine. The sound he made against my lips—
My whole body flushes hot.
I look away so fast I almost give myself whiplash. Stare at my hands like they’re the most interesting things I’ve ever seen. My heart is pounding and I don’t know if it’s from the memory or from him beingright thereand we haven’t talked about it and everyone probably knows and—
There’s movement behind Locke, and I lift my head to look again.
Trey.
He’s still standing in the doorway when his eyes find mine.
I think I stop breathing.
