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The smile lingered on his face, but his eyes hardened. “If you think you can simply break in, you’re more foolish than I took you for. ”
“I’ll figure ou
t a way. What if I threw a fight? I could lose on purpose, and—”
“Don’t even think it. Don’t even say it. ” He stepped closer, lowering his voice to a menacing whisper. “You go into that castle, you’ll never come out again. ” Pain bled onto his features, until he looked genuinely distressed by the thought.
“Don’t tell me you care, Ronan. ”
He blew out a shaky breath. “Good Christ, Annelise. ”
I couldn’t help the smile that popped onto my face. Maybe I wasn’t as alone as I thought. Not nearly. “You do care, don’t you?”
His upper lip twitched—a smile he didn’t want to give me just then. “For one so smart, you’re quite clueless. ”
It was a clear night, the moonlight vibrating on my skin, so I sensed the veil of shadow the moment it fell over my shoulder. Carden, standing behind me. I’d been so focused on how close the girls were, I’d forgotten how likely it was that he’d appear. I was still getting used to our connection. He’d probably set out to find me the moment he sensed my distress on the beach.
“Clueless. ” My vampire repeated Ronan’s last word, and he didn’t sound too pleased. Great. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see Carden, or that I kept secrets from him. On the contrary, I’ve confided so much more to him than I’ve ever told Ronan. I just wanted to chat with Ronan without Carden misunderstanding…like he was clearly doing now.
I couldn’t see his face, but if Ronan’s utterly blank expression was any indication, Carden was giving him his best death glare.
“Master McCloud,” Ronan said. “We were just finishing up class. To what do we owe this honor?”
Ronan would wonder what Carden was doing there, and sure enough, I heard his thought process in the shifting tone of his voice…at first surprise, then skepticism, and finally the sound of a suspicion confirmed. And of course it was—showing up like this was a pretty bold move on Carden’s part. If Ronan had had a hunch about our relationship before, Carden appearing like this would be enough to confirm it.
“Perhaps you can explain,” the vampire pressed, “about what, exactly, do you find our Annelise to be clueless?”
Oh hell. There it was. Final confirmation, if any had been needed.
“Clueless?” I interjected quickly. I didn’t like the wrath I sensed in my vampire’s voice, and I was so not ready for any I-know-you-know sort of showdowns. I cared about both of them too much. “I’m not clueless,” I added, trying to break the tension with humor. “I’ve always thought I was more, you know, like a scattered-professor type. ”
Silence.
My mind raced for the conversational pleasantries that might break this level of tension, but I was pulling a blank. I decided on some version of the truth. “I was asking Ronan about the keep. ”
Carden’s expression shuttered. “This again?”
I nodded sheepishly. Caught.
“I told you to think not on such things. ” My vampire paused briefly, an unreadable look crossing his face. “Nor should this Tracer allow you to entertain such questions. ”
“I was in the process of telling her as much,” a steely-eyed Ronan said.
Great. Now they were both on me. Meanwhile, I’d begun shivering again, both from the confrontation and the dropping temperature, and Carden fully registered my condition. He shot a quick glare Ronan’s way, then turned his full attention back to me. “You’re drenched,” he said, with an accusing edge in his voice. He adjusted himself beside me, sheltering me from the January wind. Feeling his body close was a relief.
Affection for him swelled in me, but I tried to hide it. He was being pretty blatant about his interest in me, and it was making me nervous. I gave his arm a discreet squeeze. “I’m fine. ”
He ignored this to glare at Ronan some more. “She will become ill. ”
Ronan bristled. Gathered himself. Then he dropped a bomb. “Acari Drew,” he said slowly, meaningfully, “is stronger than any of us realize. ”
I gaped. What a statement. It shocked me into silence. I wasn’t the only one, either. We stood there, awkwardly, for what felt like an eternity, and I imagined each of us was weighing all the various things those words could imply.
It was my stomach that saved the day. It grumbled, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Hunger, so ordinary and yet so undeniable. Cheerily, I announced, “Hey, dinnertime. ” Chirpy didn’t come naturally to me, and I was sure I sounded like a complete moron, but it did the trick.
Reluctantly, Carden nodded. “I will escort you back. ” He was in full knight-in-shining-armor mode, his grim expression suggesting we were heading to battle instead of just the dining hall.
I realized he never gave his reason for seeking me out. Wasn’t he worried the Tracer would figure out what was between us? Ronan was obviously beginning to put two and two together. Though Carden wasn’t stupid—maybe that was what he’d wanted.
