“You don't ask for much, do you,” I complained.
Henrik had lasted a whole...one single day, before breaking the rules. That had to be some kind of record.
He waved as he headed further down the hall.
“This is such a bad idea,” I muttered after I'd closed the door, giving a long-suffering sigh.
“Sometimes you make it really hard to be your friend,” Sarina teased, already tying her coppery locks up into a ponytail. “But I guess every party needs a pooper. It’ll be harmless fun. We'll be careful.”
My gut told me that this would be yet another of Henrik's hair-brained misadventures that resulted in a whole heap of trouble. Sarina looked excited though, and after how she'd deflated at the mention of her birthday, guilt gripped me for even considering dampening that.
“We'll stay for a little bit,” I agreed.
Her beaming smile lit up her face.
It didn't take us long to get ready, neither of us had changed for bed yet.
We snuck like thieves in the night around the rim of the outpost, small pouches of coins strapped tight to our persons. It felt like forever until we made it to the Fitness center, but when we slipped inside I had a moment of confusion as I peered around in the near darkness. The bioluminescent moss blanketing the stone walls was shining brighter than the vaporous moonlight slipping through the window. The sound of hushed conversation and laughter filled the space, but I couldn't pin down the exact direction it was coming from.
“Over here!”
I turned and saw Henrik and a few others gathered around behind one of the mesh screens, the dim light of an everfin oil lamp burning near them.
As Sarina and I got closer, the shapes of Haburi cards on the floor around them became visible, stacked piles of coins in front of each person.
“You're a bad influence,” I grumbled at Henrik as I sat beside him. Henrik’s list of crimes upon entering the Reformatory had been long, and the lesson he’d learned from his imprisonment seemed to be ‘don’t get caught’ instead of ‘don’t commit crimes’.
“Time goes too fast to deny yourself some fun,” he shot back, offering me a cup of amber liquid. When and how had he already gotten ahold of sweetstalk nectar? It smelled pungent, the perfect cage to dull my emotions. Temptation clamped me with the seductive strength of its promise.
Brushing my thumb pad over the scab on my finger, I pushed the cup away with a shake of my head.
“Benji!” Sarina grinned, plopping down beside a man I recognized from the net obstacle.
“Hey Rina,” he gave her a shy smile, shifting his pile of coins to make room for her.
“Right, introductions! Since you two are the last arrivals,” Henrik pointed as he went around the circle.
“Lisia,” he said, and I lifted a hand in greeting. “Izaiah.” A lanky man with sun-bleached floppy curls gave Sarina and I a luxuriant appraisal. “My roommate, Orin.” A stout man leaned back on pale arms, looking bored. “Rosa.” A cute brunette with a dazzling smile waved. “Talissa.” A curvacious woman with beautiful dreads and suspicious eyes shifted where she sat. “And Sarina.” Sarina wiggled her fingers. “And of course, the most important of all, me!” Henrik pointed both hands at himself with flourish.
“Well, you've certainly made it easy to write this up later,” came a low familiar rumble.
My heart plummeted into a pit in my stomach. Sarina startled. Slowly, I turned.
Zevrial Tyrell was looming at the edge of the partition, looking amused and altogether far too handsome to be real.
And suddenly my throat was drier than if it were coated in sand.
Izaiah started moving as if he was going to make a run for it.
“Man, we just got here. We haven't even done anything wrong yet,” Henrik whined.
I could have punched him right in his giant mouth.
Izaiah froze in mid-flight, one leg raised and the other one still lowered, waiting to see how things played out.
Zevrial raised a perfect eyebrow. “By all means, don't let me stop you.”
Rosa twisted to flutter doe-eyes at him. “Or maybe there is some other way we could persuade you not to report us?” She twisted a thick lock of wavy hair around her finger.
