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“I could talk to Verner.” It sounded more like a suggestion than a convincing argument.
“Why don’t you?” I asked, keeping my tone as light and casual as possible. I’d watched Levana closely enough that I wasfairlyconfident that there was nothing more than friendship between her and Verner.
But it didn’t stop me from feeling a smidge jealous. Mostly that Verner got so much of Levana’s time. I wanted that for myself.
“I guess we don’t have that kind of friendship,” Levana mused before shooting me a sharp look. “Not that you and I do.”
“Of course not.”
“We’re not even friends.”
“Just two Shades who happen to have seen each other naked—”
“That was an accident.”
“Oh, youslippedand fell on my—”
Levana sent out a whip of shadow to flick my shoulder.
“Right, right, sorry. I forgot. We never speak of it.” I grinned at her. “One night only, never to be mentioned again.”
I’d thought that would get a laugh out of her—or at least another irritable sigh—but Levana was quiet as she came to lean against the same tree I was, angling herself to face the high-walled garden, our shoulders almost touching.
“You’re a lot more fun than you let on. And you’re a lot nicer than I expected.”
“Blue, are you breaking up with me?”
She flicked another strand of shadows at me, and I caught it with my own, letting them intertwine for a moment before she sucked in a shocked breath and pulled it back.
“You’re just… more of a complication than I anticipated,” Levana muttered, turning away and firmly ending the conversation.
A complication to what?
“Allerick!”
We both startled at the sounds suddenly coming from the garden. Apparently, the king and queen had found a way to amuse themselves in there.
“You should go,” Levana said hastily, turning and shoving me up the path toward the palace. “They wouldn’t want you to hear this.”
“I doubt Ophelia wantsyouto hear this either,” I snorted, leaning into her touch and dragging my feet, enjoying the feeling of Levana’s hands on me. “What do you think their children will look like? I hope they get her hair.”
“I know you can walk faster than this.”
I slumped back a little more, languishing in her hold. “I’ve had a very long day. I find that I’m tired. Maybe I should sit down for a moment and rest.”
Levana spun me around, capturing my horns in her grip while I steadied myself, and reminding me that she was a trained and accomplished member of the Guard.
She leaned in, her face an inch away from mine, both of our shadows brushing against each other even if she didn’t want to acknowledge it. “You are such a distraction.”
I ran my tongue over my teeth, admiring the angular planes of her face that I so rarely got to see close up. “You need a distraction. You work too hard.”
“You work harder.”
“Then maybe this benefits both of us.”
She huffed out a quiet laugh, releasing my horns and walking backwards toward her post. “Nothing to offer, remember?”
“You won’t let me forget,” I called after her. Levana shook her head, smiling a little, but didn’t reply.
