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A smile teased my lips. “Fine, so we both need to shape up. That’s not new for me.”
“Me either, unfortunately.” She flashed me a small grin. “I’ll give it a try if you will.”
“I’m going to hold it against you if it doesn’t work,” I warned her.
She laughed again. “Is that a promise?”
I offered her a hand, and she reached out and shook it.
It felt like more than a promise to try to get out of our comfort zones, honestly.
It felt like… friendship.
Sixteen
Despite my conversation with Mare,I put off a real talk with Calian for a few days. He brought cake every day, and we both ignored the bits of dried blood on his various body parts every time. The bastard even came in to cook for me twice a day, something the other ladies definitely didn’t complain about.
I didn’t ask any serious questions other than making sure the unseelie weren’t starting a war yet (they weren’t), and he didn’t push me for more. It was… honestly, pretty nice, even though we both knew we were avoiding the elephant in the room.
The other ladies and I spent our days playing games of poker with rocks for chips—all of us losing horribly to a grinning Sunny—as well Scrabble, which Dots and Mare alternated winning, and long games of Monopoly. I never won any of them, but to my surprise, I didn’t mind. Having people to play games with was something new for me, and honestly, I was kind of falling in love with it.
A week had gone by before I shuffled to the bathroom one morning and blearily blinked at my reflection.
It took me a minute to really look at myself, but when I did, my jaw fell open.
Thin, elegant golden markings had appeared all over both of my arms. I spun quickly, looking at my back in the mirror, and ripped my tank top off so I could see the magical tattoos better.
They climbed over my shoulders and up my neck, then stretched down my back and wrapped around my ass and thighs.
When I gaped down at my legs, I found more of the golden ink stretching across my skin.
“Holy shit,” I whispered to myself, my gaze glued to my arms and legs, following the gorgeous markings. “Holy fucking shit!” I suddenly understood why people did victory dances after they won things.
It wasawesome. The markings were unique, and gorgeous, and fun—it was like the world’s magic had heard my desire for tattoos and answered it!
My heart beat quickly in my chest, excitement thrumming with the fire magic in my veins.
I didn’t know it could take that long—was my body still changing?
It didn’t matter.
I was excited—and there was one person I wanted to tell above the others.
I rushed toward the door out of my room, but halted abruptly before I could open it.
Shit.
Why was Calian the first person I wanted to tell?
That felt like a bad sign, that I wanted to tell him more than I wanted to tell the other girls. I had been spending plenty of time with all of them except North, but my mind always seemed to go back to the time Lian and I spent flying—and fucking—and just… talking.
Yeah, I was really thinking it was a bad sign.
Was I starting to like the big bastard as more than a friend? Or more than a friend-with-benefits that I’d onlybenefitedfrom once?
“Friends like to tell each other things,” I told myself aloud. “It’s normal. Natural. Not something to stress about.”
Now I was being insane, talking to myself, but whatever.
