“I think it’s because you make me think of my old cat—she was a scowler who was completely unimpressed with the world at large. Every time you glower at me, I get all nostalgic and think, ‘Oh, Bitsy.’ Then I feel so warm and fuzzy inside.”
His eyelids flickered as he appeared to be fighting the urge to roll those pretty peepers.
“Now, I have to go sit before my legs fall off. See ya.” I swiped my tankard off the bar and made my way to Khalida’s table.
Or tried to.
Bevan slid into my path—not on purpose, just with the arrogance of someone whoexpectedothers to stop for them or get out of their way. But when he spotted me, he broke stride and gave me a smirk.
“How’s your face?” he asked, and I knew he was thinking of how he’d accidentally elbowed my cheek while exercising yesterday. At the time, he’d gone to apologize. But once he’d seen it was me, he had only grinned.
“Looks better than yours,” I sniped, flicking a glance at the ugly-ass bruise spanning one side of his face after he took a hard punch during a combat lesson.
His eyes flared. “You know something?”
“Whatever it is, I really don’t care.”
“That’s too bad, because—” He stopped talking, his gaze snapping to something behind me. And when fear sparked in his eyes, I knew that it could only be Talon whose body heat I could feel radiating against my back.
Neither Talon nor the Marshalls liked it when candidates argued. They stressed that the Black Tapestry was a family; that there was no room for people who wouldn’t have the back ofeveryofficiate, their personal feelings about each other be damned.
Bevan averted his gaze and walked off. I glanced behind me to give Talon a nod of thanks, but he’d already turned away.
I crossed to the table on which my new friends sat and slipped onto the bench beside Khalida, who was leaning into Quillen. A tray of bread slices sat in the center of the table beside a jug of ale. Meals weren’t served here, but bread was often laid out. Soule was currently launching bits of it at a sleeping officiate’s head.
Quillen scowled at Soule. “You’re wasting perfectly good food.”
“Well, I’m bored,” said the Nemean with a defensive shrug. “And Nakoa won’t let me sing.”
On his left, the female Nemean sighed. “Because you sing like shit—and I say that with affection.”
He frowned. “How exactly does that communicate affection?”
Snorting, Khalida turned to me. “I noticed that Bevan was giving you trouble again. Looks like Jelani’s having a word with him about it, although I’m not sure it’s necessary after the death glare that Talon gave him,” she said, drawing my attention to where a pissed-off Jelani had cornered Bevan on the opposite side of the space.
I felt my lips twitch. “Damn, I’ve never seen Bevan’s face so red.”
She looked at Quillen, saw he was in deep conversation with Soule, and then nudged me with her elbow. “Not sure if you’ve noticed, but Jelani has a bit of a thing for you.”
I whipped my head back to face her. “What?”
“A few males here do,” Nakoa told me, keeping her voice low. “But Jelani warned them off.” She cocked her head. “You didn’t sense that he’s interested in you?”
“Not really,” I replied. “I mean, he flirts with me, but he flirts witheveryone.So I didn’t think anything of it.”
“Ah,” said Khalida. “Well, I’m pretty sure he plans to make a move if you join the Order—which I’m quite confident that you will.”
I scratched my cheek. “Hmm.”
“What does ‘hmm’ mean?”
“It means I’d rather that he didn’t. I’d prefer to have an arrangement with someone, like what you have with Quillen. And from all I’ve learned, Jelani isn’t big on exclusivity. He likes the freedom to do whatever he wishes with whoever he wishes. Which is fine, just not my style.”
Her nose wrinkled. “That’s true. I’d say he might be different with you, but …”
“But it’s likely that he just wants to be the first to fuck me,” I supplied.
“Maybe,” she conceded. “But not in a cold way. It would be more like he wants to get there first because if someone offers you an exclusive arrangement and you take it, he might neverget thereat all.”
