“Look at me,” he says.
I can’t.The music pounds in my skull.A hand grips my hair in memory, yanking my head back.Teeth scrape my throat.
“Briana.”Knox’s voice is sharper now.Commanding.
It should make it worse, but it doesn’t.Because beneath the command is fear.For me.
I force my eyes up.
His face fills my vision.Dark eyes.Hard jaw.A scar through his eyebrow.Not them.Not them.
I drag in a breath.Then another.The bar returns.Akasha has lowered the invitation.Her face is pale, and Korvin’s hand is wrapped around the back of her neck as if he is holding himself in place through contact alone.
“I’m sorry,” she says.
I shake my head, though my throat feels full of broken glass.“What did you see?”
“Not enough.”Her voice is strained.“But the invitation is connected to the location.I can follow the thread.”
“Without using blood?”Aldron asks.
“Yes.But not tonight.I need supplies from Krishka.”
Krishka nods.“I have what you need.”
“Good,” Aldron says.“Then we don’t have to attend tomorrow blind.”
“We?”Knox asks.
Aldron looks at him.“You didn’t think you were going alone, did you?”
Knox says nothing while everyone stares at him.
Cruz laughs.“He absolutely thought he was going alone.”
“Idiot,” Korvin mutters.
“That’s rich coming from you,” Akasha says, and Korvin grunts.
The tiny normal moment loosens something in my chest.
Then Aldron looks at me.“And you won’t attend unless we can guarantee layered protections and an exit.”
Knox opens his mouth.Aldron points at him.“Don’t.”Knox closes his mouth again.
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling.It’s probably inappropriate, but still satisfying.
The meeting shifts into strategy after that.Words fly around me.Glamour.Wards.Entry points.Emergency signals.Blood marks.Moira’s warning.
Something in my blood.
No one says much about that part, but I notice.Of course, I notice.
Eventually, the conversation becomes too large.Too many voices.Too many plans involving me, around me, near me.The walls begin to creep inward, slowly and subtly.My skin tightens, and my breathing shallows.
Knox’s eyes find mine across the room.This time, he doesn’t step toward me.He looks at the back door instead, an offer without words.Space.
I take it.“I need air,” I say, and everyone stops.“I’m not running,” I add, irritated.“Just breathing somewhere else.”
