Malakai met his gaze evenly. “I trust her to speak for all of us.”
The words were simple, but they landed like a soft touch at the back of my neck, protective without being possessive.
Lionel’s shoulders tightened a fraction. “You trust easily for someone who doesn’t follow orders.”
“Not easily,” Malakai said, voice low. “Just…her.”
Something in his tone made Lionel look away first.
I busied myself with the nearest crate that the soldiers had brought, pretending to check the maps spread across it. The air wasn’t angry, just full of things unsaid. And if I had to pick my own weakness, it had to be sorting things out. Evidentially, I only made things worse by opening my mouth.
Ashley’s voice broke the silence, bright and sharp as flint. “Okay, what’s with the tension-party over here? Do I need to light something up to make it less awkward?”
“Please don’t,” I said, too quickly.
Malakai chuckled under his breath. “Tempting offer.”
Ashley gave him a long, unimpressed look. “You’d enjoy it too much.”
He smiled, real, unguarded. “Probably.”
“That reminds me, how did you hide your fangs all those years in the Ashen Corps?” Ashley asked curiously.
Malakai chuckled. “When someone is good at their work, people rarely question the methods.”
“It’s like he had a free buffet every time they hunted mages,” Nate gasped mockingly and I glared at him.
“Huh,” Ashley huffed disappointed. “And here I thought you killed everyone who found out just to stay safe, or bribed the top dog or something.”
“Who says I didn’t?” he smirked and Ashley’s eyes immediately began sparking with interest once more.
Lionel rubbed the back of his neck and exhaled. “We should eat, then move.”
“Agreed,” I said, shaking my head at Ashley.
As I turned to leave, Malakai’s voice followed me, softer than before. “You did well today.”
I hesitated. “You weren’t there to see it.”
“I didn’t have to be,” he said. “I know how you move when you’ve made up your mind.”
The words lingered, low and certain. They weren’t claiming to know me as much as telling me he had faith in me.
When I met his gaze, he nodded once, and that was enough.
Lionel rushed past me, intentional but careful not to touch. “He shouldn’t talk to you like that.”
I frowned. “Like what?”
“Like he knows you.”
“But he does,” I said quietly. “We’ve been through the same fires.”
Lionel’s jaw tightened, but his voice stayed calm. “Then I guess I’m still catching up.”
I opened my mouth, but Ashley looped her arm through mine, steering me away with a grin too wide to be innocent.
“Okay, fearless leader, before you start burning the air between those two,again, come help me set up the ration line.”
