“Sy won’t come in,” she said, keeping her face averted. “He keeps guarding the door to my room. So, I was sitting with him.”
“What does he think he’s protecting you from? You’re safe here. You know that.”
“He’s a dragon, K. You expect him to be normal?” She folded her arms tight, then dropped them again. “I’m going to go back—”
“Please don’t,” I hated how it sounded like a plea. “Stay with me.”
She looked away.
“K.”
“Kieran,” I said quietly. “I told you to call me that.”
“Yeah,” she said. “You told me a lot of things.”
She finally looked back at me.
“You just didn’t tell me the important ones.”
A bitter note had entered her voice, and I hated it.
“Seph,” I said carefully. “You have to know I didn’t want to keep Sable from you.”
She laughed — sharp and humourless.
“Actually, I don’t,” she said, anger bleeding into her eyes. “You keep so much else from me.”
“Seph, it wasn’t safe – “
“Safe for who?” she shot back. “For me?”
She stepped forward. “Or for you?”
“I didn’t want you involved in all this, Seph. What’s wrong with that?”
“You never even gave me a chance! You were my best friend. I told you things – “ She shook her head.
“Even when things were shitty, I always knew I had you, Kieran. You were just there, with me. You didn’t judge me or hate me for being different. And to know none of it was real – “
“I’m sorry I hurt you, Seph. You have no idea how sorry.” I swallowed. “But we made a call.”
The word felt wrong even as I said it.
“I made a call.”
“We,” she whispered. “You and Sable made a call about my life, you mean. One that didn’t include me.”
“Neither one of us wanted to draw attention to you. We thought we were protecting you.”
Her mouth twisted. “From what exactly, Kieran?”
She stepped back, putting distance between us.
“From my father? From Marr?”
Her voice dropped, steady and lethal.
“I don’t think you realise this — but it didn’t work.”
