laugh floated down the hallway. My gaze snapped to her doorway. The flickering light of the wall lamps illuminated her, but there was someone standing before her. A man dressed in all black.
Feet and hips pivoted toward her as he brought a hand to her cheek. “You’ve got dirt on your face.”
Calem.
Gently, Leena brushed his fingers aside. “I should get cleaned up.”
“Need any help?”
I was across the hall before I knew the shadows had taken me there. “Am I interrupting something?”
Leena shifted her weight as Calem straightened, a strained smile replacing the flirtatious one that had been there moments ago. “Not at all. Leena was just on her way to the bath. I, of course, offered my assistance, but maybe you could help instead.”
“That’s enough,” I said.
“Why?” Calem folded his arms across his chest. “Someone should get laid around here.”
“Noc,” Leena started, “really, he was just—”
“You’re being disrespectful,” I spat at Calem.
He winked. “In the best kind of way.”
I wanted to punch him, but I kept my hands lax at my side. Who was I to interfere if this was what she wanted? Never mind that the thought of Calem anywhere near her felt like needles pulling barbed threads through my skin. Over and over again. “Fine. Do as you please.”
“Gods, Noc. It was a joke.” Calem’s gaze darted from Leena to me. Assessing. If she wanted him, I had no doubt he’d say yes. Unless he thought I felt otherwise. His eyes searched my face.
Down the hall, Ozias’s and Kost’s doors opened, and the pair strolled out to meet us. As much as I tried to hide my frustration, tension rippled across my shoulders, and shadows naturally began to fester near my fingertips.
Kost placed a firm hand on my back. “What’s going on?”
Calem hardly breathed until Leena spoke.
“Nothing.” Leena held my gaze for a moment before shifting to Kost. She twisted the ring on her finger.
“I don’t believe you.” Kost narrowed his eyes.
Calem stepped closer to her. “I made a bad joke. Happens all the time.”
I longed to fall back into the shadow realm. To allow darkness to wash away the brewing feelings in my chest. Instead, I felt compelled to ask, “What were you two doing, anyway?”
Again, he moved closer to her. “We may have been on a beast hunt.”
“You were what?” The last time she’d attempted to tame a beast alone, she’d nearly died. My gaze raked over her body. Smeared in dirt. A few minor scratches on her hands. Nothing overtly wrong. But that didn’t keep my heightened pulse from roaring in my ears.
Kost’s calculating gaze tracked my tenuous control. “I can’t believe you went without us. Without at least informing Noc. You report to him when on a job, not Leena.”
“I swear, Kost, now is not the time.” Calem cracked his knuckles, red eyes bouncing between him and me. “She had a beast for me, so we acted. There was no danger involved.”
No danger? I couldn’t beat the rage building inside me into submission. We’d only been attacked yesterday.
Kost’s nostrils flared. “I will not allow a job to dictate our orders. I will execute the problem if need be.”
Shock bolted through Leena, and her stricken face and slack jaw speared my already throbbing heart. She met my gaze for a long moment. Waiting. Accusing. When I didn’t say anything, she turned on her heels and stormed into her room, slamming the door behind her.
“Now you’ve done it.” Twin blades forming in either of his hands, Calem toed off with Kost. “Let’s roll, Four-Eyes.”
Ozias pulled him off, wrapping his arms in a bear hug. “Kid, first you piss off Noc, and now you’re going after Kost? Are you sure Noc’s the one with the problem?”
“There wasn’t any danger involved.” Calem glowered at Kost.
“Enough.” I ground out the command through clenched teeth. “My room. Now.”
Calem pursed his lips as Ozias placed a hand on his shoulder, shoving him after Kost and me. Once we were locked behind the door of my bedroom, exhaustion and disappointment and frustration with myself added weight to my limbs. I slumped into the sofa at the foot of the bed.
“It’s weird to see you so…agitated,” Ozias said as he took an armchair across from me. Calem followed suit, lips still pressed into a thin line, and dropped into another chair before propping his feet up on the coffee table between us. Kost leaned against the doorframe, and I stared past him through the open windows at the endless horizon, where the ink-black