“Settle down, lackey,” the same voice says, and without warning, there’s a ripple of magic over JJ’s bed. A split second later, Cassius Chin himself appears lounging across JJ’s mattress, his hands tucked behind his head. “It’s just me.”
“Chin?”JJ sputters incredulously. “What are you—whyare you—?” He jabs his escrima accusingly in Cass’s direction. “You can’t justlet yourself into my roomwhenever you want!”
Cass looks infuriatingly unperturbed. “Apparently, I can,” he says, and in one fluid motion, he swings his legs around and pushes himself to his feet. “We have a problem.”
The words catch JJ off guard. Cautiously, he drops his escrima stick back into its holding space. “A problem? What kind of?—?”
All at once, his blood runs cold. There’s only one reason why Cass would ever choose to associate with JJ, only one reason why he would voluntarily seek JJ out?—
Only one reason why he would wait for JJ in the very heart of the Sanctum.“Desi,”JJ manages, panic racing through him. “What happened? Is she okay? Is she?—?”
Before JJ can blink, Cass crosses the room to stand in front of him, bracing a hand on JJ’s shoulder. “Hey,breathe—she’s physically fine, she just—ah!”
Cass jerks away with a gasp of pain, clutching his hand to his chest. Much too late, JJ realizes that Cass’s palm was resting on JJ’s upper arm.
His sleeveless,bareupper arm. Horror floods through him.“No,”he stammers, stumbling backward. “Are—are you okay? Are you?—?”
“I’mfine,”Cass snaps, curling his fingers over and hiding his hand next to his hip. “I’ve had worse. I?—”
“Cass,”JJ hisses.
Cass twitches, looking taken aback. JJ doesn’t know why. Maybe because it’s the first time Cass has seen JJ this rattled? Maybe because JJ so rarely calls him “Cass” when Desi isn’t within earshot?
Or maybe because JJ sounds worried. Maybe because heisworried, which is something he definitely shouldn’t be at the sight of an injured demon.
But he’ll unpack that later. For now, he just jerks his chin at Cass’s hand, trying not to let his dread show on his face. “How bad?”
For a long moment, Cass glares at him.
And then, reluctantly, he pulls his hand out from behind his back, tilting it towards JJ. His palm and fingers are a dark, angry red, the skin already starting to peel and blister.
Corrosion burns. JJ feels like he’s going to throw up.“Shit.”
“It’s fine,” Cass repeats, but his eyebrows furrow at JJ’s reaction. “Jackson?—”
“I’m sorry,” JJ blurts out. Nausea licks up his throat, hot and acidic, and he swallows it down hard. “I can’t—I can’t turn it off. I would if I could, but?—”
“I know you would,” Cass cuts in quietly. He lets his arm fall back by his side and turns his hand away, hiding the burns from view. “You—you’ve always been really careful with Desi. This was mostly my fault for forgetting.”
Belatedly, the words pull JJ back to why Cass is in his bedroom. “Desi,” he repeats shakily. “You said she’s fine, but?—”
“She’s physically fine,” Cass says, and he winces. “But she had a nightmare about her summoner. A bad one. She’s scared, and she won’t stop crying, and she—she needs you.”
JJ’s heart cracks a little. “Why does she need me? You’re the one who can actually take care of her.”
Cass hesitates. Looks away. “Because she loves you. And because you have, in the most literal sense, fought away her nightmares in the past. She feels safest with you.”
There’s a note of sadness to Cass’s voice. Like he desperately wishes he were that person for Desi, the one who truly makes her feel safe, but knows that he isn’t.
So he did the next best thing and came to find JJ, instead. Did the next best thing and walked straight into the Sanctum itself to find a man that he barely evenlikes,just because he knew that Desi needed JJ.
Just because Desi asked him to.
JJ’s chest hurts. “Well, she loves you, too,” he says softly. “And she?—”
In a flash, the hint of vulnerability on Cass’s face vanishes. “I’m aware,” he says brusquely, and he gestures sharply at JJ. “Can we get a move on, please? We have a crying child at home, and you need to change into clothes that won’t give her third-degree burns.”
JJ’s sympathy instantly evaporates. “Thenturn around,”he bites out, stalking over to his closet for jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. “I’m not undressing with you staring at me.”
