“Hey,” I said quietly.
He looked up at me, then averted his eyes. “Hey.” He threw another knife. It hit the target with a thump.
“I didn’t see you in the food hall.”
“I wasn’t hungry.”
He threw another blade. He still wouldn’t look at me.
“Oh,” I said quietly.
“Did Elliot tell you the plan?” he asked, his voice oddly formal.
“Not yet. I think they are trying to fine tune the details.”
“They won’t hand over Gideon or you without a fight.”
“I know. But I won’t leave Kieran or Ash either. There has to be something I can do.”
He finally looked at me. “Elliot’s good at this stuff. He’ll figure it out. And when he needs me, I’ll go,” Dev said.
I looked at him carefully and lowered myself to the floor against the wall.
“Dev, I wanted to talk about what happened – “
He turned away again, busying himself along the wall as he collected his blades.
“Don’t worry about it. It was just a glitch. We don’t have to go over it.”
I stilled. “A glitch? What do you mean?”
He spun to face me. “You don’t need to make it into something it isn’t,” he said, jaw tight. “It was a mistake. Just two people finding closeness for one moment. It doesn’t change anything.”
“It changes everything!” I exclaimed. “Do you even know what last night meant to me – “
“Well, it didn’t mean the same to me.” His voice cracked. “I’m sorry.”
The lie was painfully clear.
My breath caught. I wanted to hit him. “Stop it!”
“Stop what, Seph?” Dev sighed.
“Stop minimising this! Dev. I like you – “
He shook his head. “No you don’t. Not like that.”
“I do! And last night mattered to me.”
For a moment something flashed in his eyes. Then it was gone.
“Look, Seph. You barely know me. And everything around you is crazy right now. You don’t know how you feel.”
“And I’m not going to let you decide that in the middle of a crisis.”
“You don’t get to tell me how I feel,” I snapped.
Dev threw one of his knives to the ground. “Goddammit Seph. You have had so little damn experience with the world. How can you even expect to know anything?”
