“Unsurprising.”
Frowning, I huff when he doesn’t expound. Dottie chitters and snuggles closer to my neck, then pulls back, making a face. “Oh, sorry, girl. My hair must smell bad, right?”
The response from my kinkajou makes Slash laugh, and I give him an exasperated look. He just ignores me until Dottie makes a loud noise again, then finally relents. “Fine. Yes, I think they feared I would be quite hard on you. But… I do not think that is why they were being strange.”
“Huh?” I ask as I tilt my head. “What do you mean?”
“Little demon, you have shared things with several of us now, and that will affect how we respond to you spending time with others. It is in the caliphate's nature to share, but not of demons in general, especially those with powerful and dominant bloodlines.”
When he opens the door to Canto IV, I squint at him curiously. “Are you saying that everyone is jealous? Of me? That’s ridiculous.”
“Not of you, Kit. They want to spend time with you—alone, together, teaching, studying,other things. All of that makes men behave… oddly.” This time his expression is indulgent and smug, which makes me want to smack him again. Since my hand is still throbbing, I forgo it, but I sniff at him as I enter the building. “You can be huffy about it if you like, but it will only get worse.”
“Worse?!” I squeak, then cough to hide it. “How could it be any worse? That has to be why Oriel and Salem are muttering about one another, which I also missed.”
“Probably,” the shark demon replies as we head for the elevator. “However, at this moment, you don’t have the Prince of Hell in the mix, and that will make everything much more complicated.”
As we step into the car, I whirl around and look up at the big man incredulously. “Jasper willneverbe… part of this! I mean, I’ll have to tell him eventually, but…he’s not…I’m not… Slash, we don’t even like one another!”
His big hand lands on the shoulder opposite Dottie, and he stares down at me with an indulgent look in his eyes. “If you say so, little demon. However, I have strong suspicions that you were brought to our caliphate for a reason—and that even if you believe this was a coincidence, it was not. I am not… mythological in beliefs as some others are, but my gut told me that I should not cast you as Jasper wanted. Now that we have shared, I think the reason for that is deeper.”
“Deeper?” I ask quietly. “What does that mean, Slash?”
He shakes his head. “I am uncertain yet, so I do not want to give the possibility wings to fly away. But I will tell you once I have more evidence that I am correct. It does not change my promise to you either way, so don’t fret over my silence.”
“You’re telling someone with anxiety and PTSDnotto fret over the unknown? That feels like an ambitious request.” I smile a little, hoping toentice him into sharing with me for my curiosity’s sake alone. “We have trouble with those sorts of demands, to put it lightly.”
The door opens to our floor, and he’s about to answer when Salem appears, his face focused on the inside of the elevator. When he sees us, he curses softly, then kicks the trash can nearby. “Damn it. You guys aren’t DormDash.”
I blink in surprise, looking at my normally easygoing panda demon as he pouts. “No? But… we are…us, Salem. Isn’t that enough?”
He runs a hand through messy, wet strands of black and white hair and then nods. “Well, yeah. I mean,youare always enough, KK. But… I’m waiting for an especially delicious delivery for tonight, and these motherfuckers are even later than you two.”
Slash narrows his eyes at the panda, then crosses his arms over his chest. “That’s why you attacked the furniture rather than greeting us?”
His snark gets him a sheepish grin from my roommate, whose petulant frustration melts under the heat of the big guy’s glare. “Sorry. Again. I mean… I didn’t mean to scare you. But… Why are you so late? Did Slash overwork you? Are you okay? He’s a taskmaster, and if you’re too exhausted to have fun, I’m going to be very?—”
“Ahem.”
I snort when Salem backs up as Slash wards his odd hyperactivity off again. “Salem, did someone give you one of your drinks late in the day? You’re not supposed to have them after mid-afternoon, and I’ve been gone awhile.”
The panda frowns as he holds his arm out to me. “No. But this afternoon was a bit… difficult, and when we got back here, the guys and I put together a plan to soften the blow of how bad today sucked for all of us. I mean, we’ve all had Slash’s version of training, and he’s so fucking hardassed, so you have to be dying to relax. We knew you would be and also… Jasper’s tense, too.”
Slash cuts his eyes to my roommate, his interest very piqued. “Why is the prince worked up?”
“The MajorandLucian showed up to class,” Salem mutters. “I’m probably the least shitty-looking of everyone, so he’s drinking scotch and blaming himself. Big surprise, right?”
“Fuck,” Slash says as he swipes his hand over his face. “We do not have time for him to nurse his wounds over things he cannot change.”
“Yeah, well…”
I look at the two of them, thinking about how good they’ve been at accepting me and helping work through my shit. Oriel and X have been very good, too, and even though I was bristly at first, they’ve all done their best to make sure I stay safe and secure. Hell, they even risked their asses at the ball and in front of Lucian.
This time, it’s my turn to fix something, and Jasper Eversore is the recipient of that debt—Hell help us all.
I See You
Salem
