“You’re not miserable.”
“I am,” she says with a sigh, resting her hand on her chin. She looks away, then perks up suddenly. “Oh, hey. It’s your new best friends.” She waves with a sarcastic grin and I turn to see where she’s looking.
My heart drops.
Raef, Daegan, and… Yara stride up the aisle between benches.
I thought she left the other day. She can’t know, can she? Surely they would have mentioned that another person was in on our plan…
She walks with a cool elegance in her black leather pants and sleeveless shirt. I wouldn’t say she’s muscular, exactly, but she clearly trains those arms at least a little.
More than me, anyway.
I shift my gaze to Daegan, who’s looking as bored and casual as usual. His hair is as perfectly messy as always, and he’s in basically the same black ensemble he always adorns.
I glance back again and my cheeks heat immediately when I find Yara’s gaze already locked on me with a scowl. She was watching me study him.
Shit.
“Good morning, elves,” Raef greets us as he reaches us first.
Meela scrunches her nose as I return his greeting.
Raef sits beside me on the bench as Daegan takes the seat across from him, with Yara sitting on his other side. Close.
He hasn’t looked my way.
Meela looks sideways at Raef, but she doesn’t say anything.
“Anything good this morning?” Raef asks, glancing at Meela’s plate, then at her.
“Yes,” she replies.
“We were just about done, actually,” I say, sounding more aggravated than I intended.
Meela looks at me with furrowed brows. “Yeah. Elysande has a busy day in the library ahead of her.”
Raef side-eyes me, saying nothing. Daegan finally meets my gaze, but I don’t get a single read on his thoughts. His defenses are fully up again. I told them to meet me in the library today, but I’m not going to bring that up in front of everyone. They can show up if they want to.
“Sounds thrilling,” Yara drawls.
“It will be,” I say with a smile.
“You can relax, purple eyes,” Meela drawls, glancing at Yara. “She’s had a crush on Adrian since she was a little girl. She has no interest in any of your dragon boys.”
I turn, scowling at my friend. She really just says whatever is on her mind sometimes, no matter how awkward it can make a situation.
“Am I supposed to know who Adrian is? Or care?”
“No,” Meela replies, shrugging and biting into a piece of bread. “But if you want to stop scowling at us for any length of time, we could show you around, teach you how the elves like to party.”
“I’m good,” Yara answers.
Meela shrugs again, focusing on her bread, completely unbothered.
I let my gaze fall on Daegan, who’s looking out a window. I’m not sure he cares about this conversation at all. Or small talk in general.
“I thought most of your people traveled back home?” I ask Raef.
