His laugh filters through the bathroom as she hauls ass out the door with nothing but a towel wrapped around her. I shake my head as their bickering fills the silence. Amick snorts behind me and the sound makes me jump.
The smile on his face makes my heart stop.
I haven’t seen that singular dimple in…
Fuck, since we were children.
I’m almost too afraid to speak.
“You good?”
His smile does slowly fade, but not from him hiding it from me. He lets a small smirk linger as he nods.
“Better than good.”
My head whips toward the bathroom door as Thayla crashes into it, hopping around as she tries to shove her leg into a pair of pants.
“Get out here right now and get dressed. Havar and Collum are fighting. Rose just came to the door for help, freaking out.”
She skips back through the door and my power bursts free, wrapping around Amick and me as we shoot out of the bathroom behind her. In the time it takes her to finish putting a bra and shirt on, we get ourselves completely covered, then sprint out the door.
Yemi and Lambrit are pressing against Havar’s chest, holding him back as Creed, Riven, and Sevryn stand between Gladian, his Valtrue, and Collum. Everyone’s shouting to the point it’s impossible to follow what’s going on.
“Enough!” My voice bellows over the upper deck and all heads turn toward me. “What the fuck is going on?”
“I’ll tell you what’s going on. Your Escort thinks that because we’re not in the Godsdawn, he can slack on the fucking job. Then dare lay his hands on me when I try to correct his error.”
Error? Havar doesn’t make mistakes when it comes to Seismet and Verlet. Any of the Veilatara as far as I’ve seen.
“Verlet, what the hell happened?”
“Collum attempted to move our strappings back over our wings. Havar confronted him and told him not to touch us. Collum continued to try. Havar pushed him away. The argument has escalated from there.”
“Did you try to touch my Veilatara?”
Shit. Verlet spoke to all of us.
Riven’s giggle flutters through the space and his eyes start to swirl burgundy. Thayla yips and races to his side.
I can’t hear the quiet words she says as she tugs him by his arm until he leans down.
Whatever she says works.
To an extent.
His eyes stop swirling, but that dangerous smile stays plastered on his lips.
“You know the rules, Kyzen. I’ve let it slide so there wouldn’t be issues, but now issues have come up. Go back to following the rules of the Godsdawn,” Gladian declares and my fingers shake.
I take a slow, steady breath and put my hands in my pockets.
I suppress the desire to slice him in half and throw him over the edge.
Barely.
“I never said the rules of the Godsdawn didn’t matter out here. Did it ever occur to you why we didn’t strap the Veilatara’s wings back?”
His eyes narrow on me, but he doesn’t respond.
