He looks wrecked by that single word.I am starting to understand how much power lives inside small permissions.
A knock sounds at the door, and I nearly jump out of my skin.Knox moves faster than thought, shifting between me and the door while still somehow keeping his body angled so he doesn’t trap me against the bed.
Progress.Also, deeply annoying.
“Who is it?”he growls.
“It’s your least favorite witch,” Krishka calls.“And breakfast.Mostly breakfast.”
Ari’s voice follows.“And me.”
Knox closes his eyes.“Goddess save me.”
“No goddess wants this job,” Ari says through the door.
I laugh, and it surprises me.Knox looks back at me, and the expression on his face makes the laugh catch in my throat.He looks like he would collect that sound in his hands if he could.
I clutch the sheet tighter.“I need clothes.”
His gaze darkens and then jerks away so fast I almost laugh again.
“Yes.”So very eloquent.
I slide out of bed, taking the sheet with me like a terrible toga.“Turn around.”
He turns so quickly that it’s almost insulting.
Ari snorts from the hallway.“This is adorable.”
“I can still kill people,” Knox says.
“Not through a door, Horns.”
“Do you want to test that theory?”
“No,” Malichai says from farther away.
I pull on leggings and an oversized sweater, wincing when the fabric brushes my shoulder mark.Not from pain exactly.From awareness.
Knox feels that too, and his shoulders tighten.
I walk over and touch the center of his back.“I’m fine.”
He exhales.Then, very softly says, “I felt it.”
His back is warm beneath my palm, and I let my hand stay there for one breath.
“Then remember I can feel you too,” I say.“So maybe try not to murder the people in the hallway before breakfast.”
His head turns slightly.“No promises.”
I step back.“You can turn around.”
When he does, his eyes move to the sweater, my bare legs, the mark hidden beneath the fabric, but not from either of us.Then, to my face, and that’s why I can stand it.
Knox opens the door, and Ari pushes inside first with two bags and absolutely no shame.Krishka follows, carrying a long black case.Akasha trails behind with tea.Cruz appears in the hallway, takes one look at Knox’s bare chest and my flushed face, and grins like a madman.
“Well,” Cruz says.“Somebody got emotionally resolved.”
