He peered at me as if I were slow.
“I don’t need a babysitter,” I snapped.
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, you do. I wouldn’t be much of a protector if I were sleeping outside where I’m more comfortable. Especially with Cassian gone tonight.”
I’d forgotten our nighttime arrangements and that Cassian was gone.
“I can take half the night shift tonight. That way you get some sleep,” I told him.
He looked at me like I’d suggested he swallow a poisonous frog.
“I will take theentirenight shift,” he stated. “I’ll sleep on the train tomorrow en route to the Steel Mountains. No one will dare try anything there with so many officials on board.”
I pointed to Valkaryn at my hip. “Do you think I’m a baby? I can stay up for four hours and keep a lookout! Especially with the King Killer at my disposal.” I tapped Valkaryn. Or Alpha Killer. Whatever she was called.
His eyes narrowed as if deep in thought.
I added, “You will be useless at the trial tomorrow if you haven’t slept at all. We both know you won’t sleep on the train.”
A low growl rumbled in his chest as he finally relented. “Fine. Four hours, from two to six a.m.”
“Okay. Just wake me up at two.” I yawned. It was barely eight at night, but the heavy dinner sat in mystomach like a stone, causing fatigue to pull at my limbs.
“I’m going to head to bed, then. See you at two,” I told him.
He saluted me, going back to sharpening his dagger on the stone in his lap and looking out over the lit-up city of gold and glass. Beyond the pretty gates sat the uneven rooftops of the Dregs. I wondered if the Elites hated us so much because we ruined their view.
The more I learned about Kaelric, the more I wanted to know and realized I didn’t know anything. Did he spend more time in his human half or wolf half? Did he long to go outside and sleep under the stars? Did he have a girlfriend back home?
That last thought entered my mind unbidden, and I blushed. After bathing and changing into nightclothes, I drifted off to sleep easily. I didn’t trust Kaelric to wake me, and I didn’t have a magic time orb like the Elite did, magically set at the hour they wanted it to flare brightly and wake them. So I did what we did in the Dregs. I lit a time candle, sliding in a metal nail at the two a.m. mark. When the wax burned past it, the nail would hit the metal stand below and wake me up. They worked well, assuming you could afford the candle, which wasn’t always possible growing up. We just woke up with the sun and went to sleep with the moon.
The second my head hit the pillow, I was out.
The sound of metal on metal had my eyes snapping open.
I shrieked at the sight of Kaelric looming over my bed.
He scowled at the candle. “You didn’t trust me to wake you?”
My heart beat so frantically, I was worried it would jump out of my chest.
“I… didn’t want to forget,” I lied, sitting up and rubbing my face in an effort to wake.
He looked too tired to care. “There are four entries to this apartment. Front door and three windows. Listen for any noise from any of the directions of those openings and wake me even if you aren’t sure.”
I got out of bed and nodded, standing as I grabbed Valkaryn and attached the sheath to my hip.
I stepped out into the main living room and watched as Kaelric shuffled into his room, leaving the door ajar and falling onto the bed without removing his boots.
I cleared my throat, grabbing a glass of water from the kitchen, and chugging it down. I brushed my teeth in the kitchen sink quietly and then munched on some fresh fruit, not because I was hungry, but because I was trying to awaken. I still felt sluggish and half asleep.
I spent the next hour pacing the apartment. I wentfrom the front door, past the kitchen, to the living room, and then back again, over and over until my feet hurt.
Finally, I sat in front of the couch and faced the giant glass window that looked out onto the city.
The city lights were a steady hum of magical electricity, but beyond, in the Dregs, you could see the flicker of lamp and candlelight. I knew it represented those who were working night shifts to keep food on the table. How many times had I come out to see my mother at the kitchen table doing night shift work? From sewing, to sorting, to cleaning, she and my father always had a night job here and there.
“What’s a little loss of sleep three nights a week for extra pay?” she told my father one night when I was seven and listening in.
