My heart did a strange flip in my chest, and I fought the urge to stampede down there. I imagined myself sitting with her. Holding her. Easing the exhaustion I could see in the droop of her shoulders…
I wanted to be with her so badly, I ached with the power of it.
But I had no right to pull her into the mess my life had become. So instead, I forced myself away from the window, pulled the sword off, tossed it on the bed, and then followed it down.
Sid leaned back on his cushions and placed his reading glasses back on his nose. “Do you always sleep fully clothed with a sword beside you?”
“Yep,” I muttered, letting my eyes slide closed. Might as well set the precedent now, if I didn’t want Sid seeing the Dragon tatts.
“If you snore, I will pummel you with pillows,” he warned.
Seemed fair.
I opened my mouth to say so, or thought I did.
Or maybe it was just to snore.
9
Bree
The first rays of dawn found me collapsed on the bench near the beach.
The trampled meadow was clear of refugees—they’d all been transferred to the Coliseum. Students had switched from feeding and caring for them, to cleaning up the debris of their passage.
I had not one iota of strength left in me. If Cara hadn’t paused a few times to lend me her energy, I wouldn’t have made it this far.
Adilyn, complete with the garbage sack she carried, plunked down beside me. “Wish I was half as effing scary as Sid,” she snarked. “Lucky guy. Could have used his muscles for all this.” She dropped the bag and shook some errant ash out of her cloud of purple hair. “Being able to shift to human size has its drawbacks.”
A splash from the lake drew my attention to our other two teammates, who had escaped by shifting to beast and going for a swim. They’d left their bags of gathered debris on the beach.
All I could see was a roiling ball of fur and scales, and I quickly averted my eyes.
“Fun fact: Their boy and girl parts are compatible in their beast forms. You’re welcome.” Adilyn mused.
I winced. “I didn’t really want to know.”
Knowledge is always useful,Caliel weighed in.
You want to know if their beast bits can merge?
Some knowledge is more useful than others,he hedged, but I sensed his curiosity.
You just really want to know how his equipment compares to a Gryphon’s. All guys measure dicks,I pointed out.
I just have an inquiring mind,he responded, sounding a bit miffed.And it is not like it matters, anymore.
My heart twisted.
It is not your fault, Breezy,he said quietly.You need toliedown before youfalldown.
My mind was more fogged than inquiring, and my entire body hurt. “I want to go to bed,” I told Adilyn. “But there are all those stairs…”
She regarded me with what appeared to be surprise. “I keep forgetting you’re new. Come with me,” she said, heaving herself to her feet.
We carted our bags to the pile and dropped them off. The moment she’d done that, she shimmered, and suddenly a two-inch Faerie was fluttering around my head.
I surveyed her wings with envy. “Can you glamor me some wings?”
