The servants looked at each other. Confusion crossed their faces.
Seconds later, they moved fast. All three grabbed the vases and rushed toward the door. Water sloshed over the rims. A few white petals scattered across the floor as they hurried out.
I stared at the fallen petals, and my skin crawled.
Nyomi stepped forward and her hand touched my arm.
I flinched before I could stop myself.
"Kenji? What's—"
"I'm fine."
My heart slammed so hard I could feel the pulse in my teeth. My body remembered what my mind was trying to cage—the feeling of roots fusing with my organs, of chrysanthemums feeding from my blood, of my own heartbeat changing rhythm to match something that was killing me.
They were roses. Not chrysanthemums. Calm down.
Meanwhile, I knew that Nyomi didn't believe me. I could see it happening behind her eyes—that thing she did where she took apart everything in front of her and reassembled it into the truth. Her gaze moved from my fisted hands to my jaw to the scattered petals on the floor and back to my face, and I could practically hear the pieces clicking into place.
"Stop reading me, Tora."
She blinked.
I cleared my throat. "I'm fine."
She didn't push. But she didn't stop reading me either. I could feel it. She just went quiet with it—took the whole operation underground where I couldn't tell her to stop.
I sighed.
Hiro put out the joint in an ash tray that he must have brought in here with him. “Are you okay, brother?”
I nodded.
His eyes moved from the scattered petals on the floor to my face, and I watched the playfulness drain out of him like water from a cracked glass. He didn't ask what was wrong. He just studied me with the kind of stillness that meant he was cataloging everything—my breathing, my hands, my eyes—and filing it away.
He knew something had happened. He just didn't know what.
Nyomi's hand found my arm again. Gently this time. "Baby. Talk to me."
"It's nothing." I swallowed. "I just don't want white flowers in here."
She didn't believe me. I could see it in her face, but she didn't push.
An uncomfortable silence settled over the room.
The fallen petals sat on the floor.
Then footsteps approached, and Reo appeared in the doorway with two new servants behind him. They carried my tacticalclothes. Black pants reinforced at the knees. A long-sleeve shirt designed for movement. Boots. Weapons belt.
I dropped the towel without ceremony and started getting dressed.
Nyomi's eyes tracked over my body, and I felt her gaze like a physical touch. Heat coiled low in my stomach, and I had to fight the urge to throw her back on the bed and bury myself inside her one more time.
Be careful, Tiger. I'll fuck you right here in front of everybody if you keep looking at me like that.
But I didn't say it out loud. Just pulled on my boxer briefs and pants, then buckled the weapons belt until the weight of it settled against my hips.
Once close to done, I laced my boots.
