Page 16 of A Court of Darkness and Dragons

Remy.

Sitting on it.

Too close.

His hand was just pulling away from hers as the door opened. He turned, startled, but not surprised, and stood up a little too quickly, smoothing his coat as if that might erase what I’d just walked in on.

Veyna looked down.

My pulse thundered in my ears as I stepped into the room, the door swinging shut behind me with a dull thud. Veyna didn’t look up, but Remy did, his mouth already opening, probably to offer some casual, deflective charm.

Too late.

“What exactly do you think you’re doing?” I asked, voice harsh enough to break through the silence.

Remy straightened slowly, eyes flicking to mine with that infuriating calm he wore like a mask. “Nothing,” he said smoothly. “Just getting to know your sister.”

I crossed my arms. “Yeah, I could tell.” My gaze dropped deliberately to the bed where he’d been sitting. Too close. Too familiar.

Veyna stood then, moving to the far side of the room, her back stiff and her expression unreadable. She wasn’t going to speak—wasn’t going to defend it.

Which left him.

“I didn’t realize she was off-limits,” Remy said, voice low but pointed.

“She’s not a distraction, Remy. She’s not something for you to charm while everything burns around us!”

He scoffed, something flickering in his eyes—hurt, maybe. Anger. “I wasn’t charming her.”

I stepped closer. “Then what were you doing?”

“Something honest, for once,” he snapped. “You should try it.”

I froze.

The room crackled with tension, and I felt Kaelith stir at the edge of my mind.

Remy’s jaw clenched. “You’re one to talk,” he muttered, brushing past me, shoulder grazing mine as he stormed toward the door. “Like you aren’t tangled in your own mess of secrets and silence.”

He yanked the door open and left without looking back.

I stood there, the silence closing in again like a wave.

And Veyna… still didn’t say a word.

I stood there for a long moment after the door shut behind Remy, the echo of his footsteps fading like the last note of a fight neither of us really won.

Veyna remained across the room, arms crossed over her chest, her eyes fixed on the floor.

I let out a slow breath and crossed to her bed, sitting down gently on the edge. The mattress gave a soft creak beneath me, the air between us still tight with the weight of what had just passed.

“Come here,” I said softly, patting the spot beside me. “Please.”

She hesitated, then slowly crossed the room and sat beside me, close but not touching. Her posture was stiff, guarded. Like she was expecting me to yell. Or accuse. Or worse.

“I’m not mad at you,” I said, turning slightly toward her. “I’m just…” I sighed. “You don’t know Remy like I do.”

Her chin lifted slightly, eyes finally meeting mine. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”