I swung my head at Quazar. He snuggled deeper into my pillows, wriggling his eyebrows. He wasn’t going anywhere.
“Just leave him. Come on.”
I grabbed Ellabeth’s hand, dragging her up the stairs to the platform my bedcloud was perched on. Quazar wouldn’t move, so I shoved his legs out of the way, plopping into the middle ofthe bed while Ellabeth settled on the other side. I waved a hand summoning hair gel, oil, mousse, a wide-toothed comb, bristle brush, spray bottle with water in it, and hair clips.
“Well, well,” Ellabeth grumbled, reaching for the spray bottle after parting my dry, tangled hair into six large sections. “I guess we can thank crack-kisser Kaelthos for turning us into one big happy family.”
I snorted loud, wheezing as I cackled. Quazar laughed with his mouth full of more cookies while Ellabeth began wrestling with my hair.
Chapter 40
“So hear me out,” Daelun said, shoving another cinnamon roll into his mouth. He waved his gooey fingers, his eyes dancing. “We’re in some kind of simulation and we’re all trapped. Us, the gods, the shifters. Everyone.”
I stopped mid-chew, my mouth half full of bacon, while I held two pieces of fried plantain. My eyebrows rose to my hairline.
“I promise he gets dumber,” Isandra said, rolling her eyes. She flipped her long, black hair over her shoulder while digging into her plate of spaghetti mixed with sausage links.
“And more ridiculous,” Amayah chimed in quietly, sipping on her mangogo cider. “The conspiracies keep growing with this one.”
“Your friends are idiots,”Quazar said down our bond while he continued piling meat onto his plate. His mouth was full of eggs and bacon, and he used one wing to grab a platter of fruit, while using another to refill his goblet with more mangogo cider.“The astronomical kind.”
“Piss off,”was my only answer. He chuckled down the bond while stuffing his mouth with more food.
Seventh Choir and the Xadari Talons had taken to eating all meals together since the dawn Kaelthos nearly had me killed by the Scourgers.
A wall had broken between us from that moment on. It felt nice no longer being separated by Quazar’s wall of shadows. Or glaring at one another every second of each dawn. Now we were all in the mess hall of our wingtower, scarfing down firstfast before it was time to go to Sanctuary.
“Daelun,” I started slowly after swallowing the food in my mouth. “We are…notin some kind of simulation. This is very, very real.”
“I don’t believe it.” He shook his head, determined. “Because we are in a temple,Safah. A temple! All of this bloodshed. All of this death. All of this torture. In a temple?” He looked around, looking for support. “Come on. I can’t be the only who thinks this is a simulation. This can’t be entirely real. This is not a Spiritscape.”
Dakairi snorted, filling his plate as full as Quazar’s. Ellabeth watched him. Her face was wrinkled with an interesting expression. She had a twinkle in her eyes.
Ellabeth watched Dakairi scarf down his eggs and bacon. Then he took a sip of his cider. Some of the juice slid down the planes of his handsome chin. Ellabeth trailed that drip of juice all the way down until it fell onto his plate. Dakairi licked his lips. Ellabeth’s cheeks flushed.
“What the heck happened between those two that I missed?”I asked Quazar.
He slid his gaze to me, the emerald of his eyes twinkling.
“That’s not our business you know.”
“They are our best friends.Everythingabout them is our business. Spill!”
Quazar smirked, turning back to his plate.
“This conversation isn’t addressing anything important,” he said out loud. Every head at the table turned to him. “What I want to know is, why in the Hèls have they not fed us any rice and beans yet?”
“Nowthatis worthy of discussion,” Ivyana chimed in. She lifted a piece of bacon off her plate, chowing down. I noticed her plate was as full as all of the Talons. Stars. How much did these Legionnaires need to eat? “I want rice. Beans. Pikliz. Plantains. Fried pork. Yuka.”
“Same, little sister. Same.” Quazar nodded.
So, shewashis little sister.
A million questions popped into my head. Chiefly, how in thestarsdid she get conscripted into enrolling at Azarath Academy when she was clearly so much younger than the rest of the Talons? Had she been raised by the Fallen King, too?
“I don’t think there’s anything serious between them.”Quazar snuck his tendrils of shadow across our bond, letting them slip into my hearts. Into my spirit.“Pretty sure they get on each other’s nerves.”
“I know Ellie better than I know myself. It’s not her expression to look at. It’s her eyes.”
