Baz’s jaw clenched until his jawline looked like it had been carved from stone.
“I see,” Moncho said.
“You see what, exactly?”
“I see we’ve got a major problem.”
“That’s not for you to decide. I’m?—”
“Yeah, Baz, we know who and what you are. No need for all the reminders as of late. Since she showed up, actually. Never needed to remind us you’re our commander all that much before her, did you?”
Baz’s stone jaw would have been answer enough, even if his neck hadn’t flushed.
“What about Cal?”
“What about him?” Baz said.
“This is the whole Shen situation all over again,” Moncho said.
Baz’s jaw pulsed like it might shatter. “No, it’s fucking not.”
“This cunt puts Shen’s efforts to shame. She’s a thousand times worse than Shen. You just met her—oh, and she tried to kill you—and she still has you all wrapped up in her.”
Who the fuck was Shen?
Baz shuffled nearer to me, and I unintentionally leaned toward him. None of the others missed the subtle attempt at closeness.
“See?” Moncho demanded.
“See what?” Baz snarled. “You know what? Never mind. I don’t want to hear it.”
“I’m sure you don’t.”
“I mean it, Monch. You’re not just soldiers at my command, but my closest friends. I owe you an explanation, definitely, but within reason. I know what I’m doing here.”
I knew, without a doubt, that he didn’t, no more than I did. He and I had been very plainly out of control with each other in the dungeon. Based on their dubious expressions, everyone else knew it too, even if they didn’t insist on it.
“I’m all too aware that Soravelle’s presence here complicates things.”
Lev snorted obnoxiously. “Complicates things…”
“Yeah, Lev, okay? She’s the heir to my family’s forever enemy. I get it. How could you think I wouldn’t?”
“Your actions.”
“My actions?”
When Lev looked away instead of answering, Moncho said, “Yeah, Baz, your actions. We don’t blur lines and fuck our enemies. We keep things nice and simple, remember? It’s why we screw whores instead of sänglures. It’s your rule.”
“I don’t need to be reminded of my own rules, and I sure as shit don’t need to get a talking to by my own friends and fellow soldiers. You all listen to me now. Soravelle is a complication that I, and I alone, will work out. She’s bound to me so that she can’t get away. She’s collared so she can’t access her power.”
“If the stories are true, that won’t stop her,” Aziza argued.
Baz pinned her with a glare and she silenced.
“She believes I murdered her brother. She set out to fulfill a righteous vendetta. Any of us would have done the same.”
“Why did she believe that?” Félix asked. Unlike everyone else, the elf’s features remained calm.
