"Four o'clock."
"Then we have two hours." I glance at her. "Teach me that joint-lock you mentioned last week. The one that works regardless of size differential."
Sage looks at me for a moment, reading whatever she finds in my face, and then nods.
"Alright," she says. "You're going to need a mat."
Chapter 14
"She's here," Sage says when I find her in the commons corridor. She doesn't say who. She doesn't need to.
The bond already told me. A sideways jerk in my chest that made me stop walking halfway down the main stairs like someone had grabbed a rope I didn't know was attached to me.
"Where?"
"Main commons. Made quite the entrance." Sage falls into step beside me. "Ryder was there when she walked in. She put her hand on his arm and he just stood there."
"Good for him."
"Angelic."
"What? That's the correct response, isn't it? Formal engagement. She shows up to make it official. Everything's perfectly in order." I turn the corner and stop.
Lady Eveline is worse than I imagined.
She's tall and pale and expensive-looking, standing by the fireplace with one hand resting on Ryder's arm like she owns it. Dark hair swept up in some elaborate thing that probably tookan hour. The kind of beautiful that knows exactly what it costs and makes sure you know too.
Ryder's standing beside her wearing his meeting-face, the blank one he uses when he'd rather be anywhere else.
And then something twists in my chest.
Not the usual bond hum. Something sharper. Like feedback. Like—
Oh.
She's touching him and I can feel it. Not like I'm touching him. Like the bond is carrying it straight into my chest, every point of contact, every shift of pressure. Here's what his body registers. Here's what you have no right to.
I turn around and walk out before I do something stupid.
"Don't follow me," I tell Sage without looking back.
She doesn't.
I make it to the east corridor before I have to stop and put my hand against the wall. The sensation fades as the distance grows, settling back to the usual low pull that tells me he's southeast, two floors down, still standing there letting her touch him.
I take my hand off the wall and head for his office.
His door is unlocked. I don't knock.
Ryder's already inside, jacket off, sleeves rolled up like he came straight from the commons. He goes still when I close the door.
"Close the bond," I say.
"I can't close it."
"You're a reaper. Figure it out."
"It doesn't work that way. A partial bond can't be—"
