She scoffed and folded her arms.“Please.I’m mysterious.”
His brow rose.“You once threatened to drown a djinn elder in soup because he interrupted your lunch.”
“He knew what he did.”She didn’t really like being reminded of the memory, considering her much too recent history with the djinn elders.
Shade’s quiet laugh settled strangely in the room.
Not sharp.Not mocking, but warm.
And Great Luna help her, something in her chest responded to it before her brain could get involved.That was unacceptable.
Myanin moved farther into the room under the pretense of inspecting the strange shelves lining the walls.Her fingers brushed the spine of one massive book and jerked back immediately when it pulsed beneath her touch.
“Nope,” she announced.“Absolutely not.We are not touching the murder library.”
“The murder library?”he asked as he shifted against the wall.
She threw her hands up in the air.“It feels appropriately descriptive, damn thing went up in flames, we could have died.”
Shade chuckled.“You name terrifying things like an elderly woman naming stray cats.And it obviously doesn’t want us dead.”
“Thank you.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
“Lucky for you, I chose to receive it as one.”
Another paper fragment drifted between them.
Shade caught this one before it vanished.His eyes narrowed briefly as he read the faded writing.
Then something shuttered across his face.
Gone almost instantly.
But not fast enough.
“What does it say?”Myanin asked.
“Nothing useful.”
“Ah.”She nodded solemnly.“So itabsolutelysays something useful.”
Shade folded the fragment between his fingers before it dissolved into dust.“I almost forgot how annoyingly persistent you can be.”
Myanin pursed her lips.“I’m nosy.There’s a distinction there that is important to recognize.”
“No,” he said dryly, “there really isn’t.”
The strange warmth in the room shifted again.
Not physically.Emotionally.
Too much had been exposed between them too quickly.The sharp edges of their banter no longer hid things the way they had before.Every look lingered half a second too long now.Every silence felt inhabited.
Dangerous.
Myanin hated dangerous silences.
