Hadrian’s eyes went wide. “That can’t be true. What about last week?” He wiped his face with a quick hand.
The look Anees gave him spoke volumes about how much of a supposed orgasm had been part of Hadrian’s imagination.
“No—” His eyes were the size of pancakes. “And the week before?”
Annes shook her head.
“Really? How about that time on the stairs to?—”
“Gods, no,” Anees interrupted him. “That was horrible.” I had a bruise on my ass for a whole week.”
Hadrian looked like he was about to sink into the ground. “That time on Dunveil’s desk?” he asked meekly.
“Oh, that one was real,” Anees revealed with a nod and a grin. “Took you long enough to figure things out.” With a sideways glance at Lory, she added, “Sorry you had to hear this, but someone had to get Hadrian off his high horse. I don’t know what he’s paying all those women to spread word about how excellent he is in bed.”
Hadrian’s cheeks turned the color of pink desert roses as he protested. “I’m not paying anyone. I don’t have to.” As he was still speaking, his face lit up with an idea. “Oh my Guardians…. It’s not me; it’s you.”
Anees’s eyebrows knitted together in a frown. “If you want to break up with someone, you probably want to use that phrase the other way around.”
But Hadrian was shaking his head. “It’s not me. Itisyou, Anees.” Dropping the blue silk, he slapped his hands together, rubbing them as he beamed with excitement. “What if you’re non-receptive to my magic?”
Anees rolled her eyes. “Please. I’m not—” She stopped mid-sentence, her expression going slack. “Fuck.”
Hadrian nodded.
“You think that’s possible?”
Another nod from the Gilded phantom.
“Really? I mean… How could I never have noticed?”
For a while, Lory watched their conversation go back and forth in an exchange of surprise and incredulity, until she could no longer bear not knowing what was going on.
“What’s happening?” Her gaze bounced from Hadrian to Anees and back to Hadrian.
“I think we just figured out an additional power Anees is unwittingly wielding.” Pride shone in Hadrian’s eyes as he glanced down at Anees, whose expression was still wandering between bewildered and bemused.
“So, you’re basically saying that, all this time, Iwasgenuinely attracted to you?”
To Hadrian’s credit, he didn’t take offense at the grimace on Anees’s face. “I guess you aren’t immune to my natural charms.”
“Not to ruin this moment,” Lory interrupted sheepishly, “but how likely is it I have an additional power, too? Youknow, something useful that the world isn’t afraid of.” It was a long shot, but perhaps one of them had noticed a clue that she had another ability.
“Only time can tell if there’s more to you than a little fire bug,” Anees said with the sort of affection an older sister might have, and Lory’s heart warmed at the sight of the two people with whom she didn’t need to pretend. They knew about her magic, her past, and about Khayrivven. She didn’t need to worry which questions to ask or about accidentally compromising Khayrivven’s secrets. They were his inner circle, and together, they’d survive.
Not Aiden, though. The fourth man in this circle was missing, and Lory’s heart ached at the memory of the white-blond ice wielder, who had dedicated his time at Ashthorn to making up for his failure on the day Evven was killed.
One day, she’d be able to face his plea for forgiveness, and perhaps, one day, she’d be ready to fully forgive him. As for now, her heart throbbed at the loss of him in so many ways.
“Fire bug,” she repeated. “I think Aiden would have approved of that name.”
That drew a laugh from Anees, and she turned around, heading for the cupboard to extract another piece of fabric, and handed it to Lory, this one black like her uniform.
“Time for another try, Fire Bug,” she said, stepping back to Hadrian’s side and folding her arms. “Remember, less is more. And control is everything.”
Twenty
Aiden
