Delilah plopped down next to me, curling her legs up under her to get comfortable. She leaned her head against my shoulder and smiled. The smile was for everyone else’s benefit as she hissed in my ear, “You promised you wouldn’t reset time whenever you do something stupid.”
“I didn’t promise, I made a statement,” I replied, keeping my expression neutral. “They aren’t the same thing.”
“Fine, then promise meright nowthat you will only reset time if someone is in danger.”
I stared straight ahead in silent refusal.
Delilah grabbed my face, pinching my cheeks between her fingers as she yanked my head to look at her. She opened her mouth to scold me, but then cried out in pain. She released me as someone else’s hand, wrapped firmly around her wrist, yanked her away.
Trey’s eyes flicked wildly between Delilah and me, his face flushed with anger.
My breath caught as I stared back at him.Maybe more than a stranger after all.
“Ow,” Delilah said, the sound too deliberate to indicate real pain.
Trey immediately dropped her hand and backed away. “It looked like you were hurting him.”
“Well, you didn’t have to hurtme,” Delilah pouted.
“Sorry,” Trey muttered, guilt curving his shoulders until he hunched in on himself. He dropped into the closest chair and stared down at his own hand as if he didn’t recognize it.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Delilah threatened as she slunk off the couch and moved to a chair as far away from her cousin as possible.
Fitz pushed a cart into the room and beamed at his guests. “Who wants tea?” The smile slipped as he saw how far apart we all sat and sensed the awkward atmosphere. “Everyone alright?”
A bell chimed.
Delilah flinched and glared at me.
I rolled my eyes and gestured vaguely toward the ceiling, wherever the doorbell came from.
“That’ll be one of the others.” Fitz headed toward the door, then paused and said, “I know you’re all … friends? Are you friends? Whatever you are, try not to kill each other while I’m gone. Bloodstains are a bitch to get out of books.”
We sat in complete silence for several seconds. Then Delilah finally jumped to her feet and grabbed a small plate from the tea service, piling it high with little treats. One of them almost slipped off the plate, so she stuffed a corner of the cookie into her mouth and held it delicately between her teeth as she balanced her plate and a cup of tea in her hands.
I watched her flounce over to my usual chair—no, not mine anymore—and set her things on the table. Then she settled down in it and removed the cookie from her mouth only to dunk it into her tea. She kept uncomfortable eye contact with me the whole time.
Was she threatening todrownme if I didn’t behave? Or perhaps give me a bath? Cats hated baths, maybe she found them threatening.
Then she bit a chunk off the cookie with a sharp snap of her dull teeth.
Definitely a threat.
The door opened to admit Fitz and the new arrival.
Maximus was so tall and broad that he should have been intimidating—had beenintimidating, the last time I’d seen him—but something about the way he held himself conveyed a shocking softness. He shuffled slightly behind Fitz, his head ducked as if embarrassed to be a head taller than his host and trying to make up for it. When he finally looked up to examine the room, his eyes landed immediately on me. His expression hardened in an instant, like molten metal plunged into cold water.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
Fitz shoved his glasses up to rub his eyes, thoroughly exasperated with his guests, who had only been in the same room for ten minutes yet were already at each other’s throats. And the quest hadn’t even started yet.
I stared steadily at Maximus, refusing to let his harsh tone intimidate me. Unlike Delilah, there was nothing I could offer him to persuade him to join my side. If he remembered me, he would do everything in his power to separate Trey and I. Calmly, I rose and offered my hand to him, “My name is Wilde. I’m a friend of Delilah’s, and I’m a mage here to help your quest.”
Maximus glared at my outstretched hand, refusing to take it.
Fitz cleared his throat and proclaimed with exaggerated excitement, “Wow! A mage! Won’t that be helpful!” The bell chimed again, providing a potential distraction. “That’ll be Angelica. Maximus, why don’t you help me get the door?”
Maximus didn’t move.
