So cold. I brought my fingers to my lips, hoping to reignite the heat he had left. Why had he acted that way? With Noc gone, my body ached to follow him. To understand. Had he felt our connection, too? Maybe that’s why he’d shut down. It was so intense and unexpected. Even with Wynn, another Charmer, I’d never felt such a pull.
Kost swiveled in place, shined shoes clipping against the wood, and he pinned me with his stern expression. Frustration bubbled over, and I narrowed my eyes. “What’s your problem?”
Kost snapped. Baring his teeth and towering above me, he cornered me against the wall. “You, Leena, are my problem.”
Pressing my palms flat against his blood-red formal tunic, I shoved him. He didn’t budge, so I leaned forward, bringing my nose inches from his. “Get out of my way, Kost.”
“Leave Noc alone.”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
Kost formed a fist with his gloved hand and held it tight for a solid minute before uncurling his fingers. “Leave. Him. Alone.” The vein along his temple throbbed.
I itched to smack him. To knock his glasses to the ground and mess up that perfectly styled gods-damned hair. “What do you have against me, Kost?”
“You’re a job,” he said. I winced, but he kept going, voice trembling. “You don’t even realize what you’ve done. You’ve jeopardized everything.”
“Kost—”
“What is it about you that makes him throw caution to the wind?” He studied my face for answers. Apparently came up empty, because he grimaced. “I hate that you fit.”
My body went numb. “What?”
“You’re like a gods-damned puzzle piece. And the rest of us? We’ve been helping him put together the larger, more important picture for years. But there you are, the single piece he can’t ignore. The only one that fits. There’s nothing quite like that feeling of relief and satisfaction when the last piece finds its home.” A tight laugh punctuated his words. “It doesn’t matter how long the rest of us have been lying around.”
“Us?”
“Us! Me. I…” His expression cracked, and his shoulders curled toward his chest.
His words shattered like lightning, striking in the small space between us and rooting me to the ground. A quiet ringing followed his outburst, and he slid his fingers between his spectacles and his nose, hiding his eyes. Realization hit me with the force of the turbulent ocean waters.
“You love him.” My words were barely a whisper, but Kost flinched.
“Don’t act like you know anything about me, Leena. This is for Noc’s sake, not mine.” His voice hitched an octave higher. Caught on a shuddering breath.
I tried to get a grip on my racing thoughts. “Does he know?”
“Enough.” He slipped his glasses from his face and polished the lenses. “Just stay away.” Gaze unobstructed by frames, he peered at me. Hurt laced the fields of green, and my throat constricted. How long had he and Noc been friends? And for me to just come in and change their dynamic… To be Noc’s missing piece, at least in Kost’s eyes… Words shaped and disappeared, nothing substantial enough forming in my mind.
Finally, I managed a weak “Kost, I’m sorry. It’s not serious—”
He barked out a fragile laugh. “Where Noc is concerned, everything is serious.” He turned away, took several visible breaths. After a moment, he replaced his glasses. Ran his hands over the length of his tunic. Only then did he glance over his shoulder at me. “Tell me, what are you willing to risk? Because if it isn’t death, you may as well leave now.”
“You’d risk your life for him?”
Muscles jumped along his jaw. “I’d risk anything. Remember, Leena, assassins don’t fear death. You’ll always be one step behind when it comes to that.”
Seventeen
Noc
The next morning, we boarded the ferry heading for Queens Isle. Coated in thick layers of sweat from the sudden onset of humidity, we baked in the sun on the deck of Arrow’s Wind. The slow-moving ferry churned water through its red wheel and cut through the ocean. Even the sea breeze died with the disappearance of the storm, and we fanned ourselves with our hands as we waited.
Sitting in a slatted white chair underneath a green awning, Kost stared over the open waters. Felicks sat in his lap, orb clouding and unclouding every few minutes. Like his master, he studied his surroundings. Ozias clung to the metal railing of the boat next to the woman he’d met at the bar, who pointed to dolphins