Her mouth opens and closes repeatedly as indecision wars through her features. Her own rejections surface, and her brow creases in fierce doubt.
“I don’t know. He hasn’t even kissed me since the carriage. Well, and you know, when I attacked him.”
“We’ve had a lot going on. He hasn’t had much of a breather since we broke him out of Hellveilious. Just because he hasn’t kissed you again doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to. The guys haven’t kissed me since the night we returned, but I still know how they feel about me.”
I clear my throat to unclog the sudden lump that formed. Again, I was trying to say something that relates to what she has going on so she knows she isn’t alone.
I didn’t mean to make my own emotions surface like a raging storm.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I don’t want to make this about me or talk about what we’ve got going on in there.”
She gives me a sad smile that I sneer at. She drops the look quickly.
“Sevryn’s been on edge. Every noise makes him jump and he’s constantly looking out the windows. He answered the door for Havar earlier with a sword in his hand.”
My lungs empty.
“The guys have been the same.”
“Are they not talking about it either? I tried to broach the subject once with him when he had a kind of scary moment, but he shut me down. Told me until I talked about what happened, he wasn’t talking either.”
“No, they aren’t talking about it at all. I’m positive if I weren’t here, they’d act like it never happened. I think I’ve pushed them too much. They hide from me in their rooms. I don’t know what to do, Yemi. I don’t know how to help anyone with their own trauma when…”
“When you don’t even process your own.”
“Oh-fucking-kay, Amick junior.”
Her chuckle swiftly turns into a shriek and my heart jumps into my throat.
“What the hell are you two doing?”
Sevryn has Yemi pulled up to her feet in less than a second. Before I can even get my legs uncrossed or fight off the surprised fear pulsing through me, he’s snatching me up as well.
“What the fuck are you two thinking sitting out here by yourselves in the middle of the night? You didn’t even tell me you were leaving the house. Do you both know how stupid and dangerous this is?”
“Sevryn,” Yemi growls in warning, but I place my hand on her arm.
The dazed, haunted glare in his eyes slices me across my chest.
That was the same look Kyzen had when Gladian was at our door.
Gods. They’re all petrified, sitting around waiting for their fathers to react.
“You’re right. We should’ve told you guys we were coming outside. Seismet and Verlet are in the trees, so I didn’t think much about it. We know better now for next time.”
His sneer jerks toward the tree line and his shoulders slump. I honestly have no clue if our Veilataras are right there or not, but they’d get there pretty fast if I needed them to.
“Sorry,” he says, taking a step away from me. He pulls Yemi with him, though. I can’t help the smug grin I give her. “I panicked when you wouldn’t open your door, then when I walked in, it was empty.”
“I’m sorry. I just needed some air.”
“Did you both get enough air?”
“Yeah,” we say at the same time.
No, not at all, but it’s probably best not to argue with him. Plus, we can’t actually talk about shit with him here now.
