“I have classes!” she screamed, dousing the air with the scent of her magick. “A roommate. A life! I can’t just disappear, there will be questions.”
We’d already thought of all that, and temporarily, it wasn’t a problem.
“Then I guess it’s a good thing spring break just started, and we have a week to figure it out.”
With a disgusted sound, she stomped away from the still-frozen door and up the stairs. I followed. We were far from done with this conversation, but she slammed the door to my room—my room—in my face. I sighed and rested my forehead against the wood. She needed space to calm down. I could give her that at least. Trudging back to the living room, I readied myself for a long wait.
The afternoon passed in quiet torture. I roamed my apartment like a zombie; barely cognizant, but highly aware of my preynearby. Shuffle into the living room, straighten up the coffee table. Shuffle to the dining room, clean another table. Back to the living room to clean under the couch cushions. By the time I wiped down the counters in the kitchen and started dinner, I was ready to bound up the stairs and demand my stubborn bond get her ass down here and stop acting like a child.
The hair on my neck rose as the wards around the front door activated. Ez strolled in, fresh from patrol and already salivating over the sauce I had simmering on the stove.
“Homemade lasagna?” He smirked. “Trying a little hard there, cuz, don’t you think?”
I ignored his teasing and stirred the pot again so it wouldn’t burn. He wasn’t far from the truth. Only, I wasn’t trying to impress her this time.
“I was hoping the strong aroma would bring her downstairs,” I grumbled while draining pasta water.
She missed lunch and had only eaten half of her breakfast. If she allowed herself to grow too weak, she’d relapse. My worry was held in check only because I could sense her health through our bond. I tried to give her privacy, which was why I only snuck a few peeks.
“The cold shoulder. Harsh.” Ez swung onto the counter, ignoring the perfectly good stools on the other side of the island.
“It won’t last much longer,” I swore. “She will eat.”
“I’d take your quiet over the day I’ve had.”
I took in my cousin, assessing him for any injuries or signs that his patrol had gone awry. He’d call if things were too bad, but it was possible that with Eryn here, he had taken on more than he could handle.
“Relax, dude. There wasn’t a djinn to be found. Not even an illusion for some mild entertainment.”
“They’re waiting to see if the poison took,” I noted. “The second she’s spotted around campus, the attacks will resume.”
I began layering the lasagna. Pasta, meat, ricotta, sauce. Pasta, meat, ricotta, sauce. It wasn’t calming me down. Fuck. This was only a temporary reprieve. They wouldn’t stop coming, not until the bond was complete. Probably not even then, but she’d be harder to kill, and hopefully tucked away under the protection of the faction by then.
“She was right, though,” Ezra said, interrupting my internal panic. “We can’t keep her locked in here indefinitely.”
I knew that, but what else was I supposed to do? Even with our protection, she nearly died. My silence was enough to tell Ez what I was thinking. He knew me well.
“Let her go.”
Maybe not that well. I dropped the ladle of sauce, sending blood-red splatter across the stovetop. Fitting. His idea was guaranteed death for her.
“That’s the literal worst idea you’ve ever had,” I told him, vigorously wiping at the mess.
“I didn't say let her go defenseless,” he argued, humor drenching his tone. I was so glad he took this seriously. “We keep guarding her, of course, but closer than before, and with a crystal to warn her of poisons this time.”
Thatwas more like it. Still a shit plan, though.
Lasagna stacked, I smothered it with cheese. Ez let me think through his suggestion. It would allow her some freedom, but it was still dangerous. Too dangerous for my liking. Unfortunately, unless we took out every djinn or the leader of their faction who sent them—which would declare open war—they’d keep coming. This was going to be a long four years.
“There’s one other problem,” Ez hinted. I slid the lasagna into the oven, set a timer on my watch, and then turned and braced myself. My cousin rubbed the back of his neck, a guilty look on his face. “Rani cornered me on campus and went all Rambo, demanding to know where her friend was.”
“She cornered you?” Yeah, that was hard to believe.
“Well, I allowed her to corner me.” I rolled my eyes. “What? It was the first time she willingly talked to me.”
“And how’d that go for you?”
He winced. “She accused us of kidnapping. Which wasn’t far from the truth.”
