“I don’t want to say hello to you, Mara. Gladian was supposed to meet with Creed and Sevryn, and none of his Valtrue were supposed to be here today. You’re going to freak everyone out.”
She glances over my shoulder for a moment, then flicks her attention back to us.
“I’m not that scary.”
“Cut the shit now and tell me what you’re doing or just go.”
We stare at one another until she finally drops her crossed arms and the facade. Her unsure gaze jerks between Yemi and me.
“I don’t want to be stuck at the barrier with Mellcom and Jeremiah every day. I was asking Kyzen if he thought it’d be okay with you if I stayed here and assisted you. He told me I’d have to man up and ask you myself. So I’m manning up.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why the fuck not?”
“Because of that right there.” I point my finger at her face and I swear she snarls. “Your mouth and attitude. These aren’t Defenders who’ve been training every day for gods only know how long. These are Attendants who are scared of all the changes being thrown their way. I’m not going to have you here being a bitch and discouraging them.”
“I’m not going to be a bitch or discourage them. I’ll listen to whatever you say.”
My eyebrows scrunch together as I search for her lie. As my eyes squint, I catch the difference I couldn’t put my finger on when I walked up.
She slaps my hand away as I reach out toward her. “Don’t touch me.”
“Don’t knock my hand away again or I’ll knock you out.”
She clenches her jaw as I brush my thumb across her cheek, smearing the strange, tinted ointment she has on.
Covering her black eye.
I hum.
“Which one did it this time?”
“None of your business.”
“I’m making it my business. You tell me, or I go show my ass to Gladian. I should do that anyways, but take your pick.”
“Why the fuck does it bother you so much? Why can’t you just tell me I can stay in here and that be the end of it?”
“Because I know all too well what it feels like to walk around like that because of them and have no fucking one stand up for me. You may get on my last damn nerve, but I’m not going to drop shit like that.”
Her chest heaves as she stares at me.
“Gladian is taking up for me. Now. Hence why I’m here. He made me come here with him rather than go to the barrier with them.”
“Why now? He should’ve gotten his point across more clearly the first time this happened.”
“Because the last time, it was here in the Court during sparing, not in the middle of our kitchen when I told Mellcom to fuck off.”
Anger brews beneath my skin as flashes of my past assault my mind.
Pieces of fucking shit.
“Mara.”
The energy in the Court instantly shifts with Gladian’s loud-ass yell. All the Attendants take a step back and Mara peers over her shoulder.
“Never mind. Don’t worry about it.”
