Page 116 of The Girl Who Only Died Once

“Why?” he asks, suspicion coating his voice as he takes in the obvious magical education happening on his own table, as the kid disengages and plops back down into her chair.

“She’s showing me how to break traps!” she says, way more enthusiastic than she had been the entire time.

“It’s a good skill to have,” Chloe adds innocently, and he narrows his eyes further.

“Why aren’t you at school?” he says finally, leaning over and tapping the silence rune, breaking it and flooding the apartment with all the little sounds that had been faded away.

“It’s Sunday,” Seanna says, like it’s immediately obvious, like both Chloe and Killian keep track of things like the day of the week. “Did this body change hurt that bad? You slept for so long!”

Killian’s eyes flicker to Chloe, and for a split second she can swear that his gaze softens. “It was rushed, but I’m fine,” he says.

Rushed is an odd way to put it, at the sudden vicious separation, at the dead body that lay limp against Chloe’s legs.

At the sudden fear of the entity in front of her, without a physical form, disoriented and stunned.

And now the face in front of his is still smoothly handsome, even with the curls sticking up haphazardly.

He leans over Seanna to peer closer at the notebook, and even with the new face, the quirk of an eyebrow is unmistakably him.

“Recognize this one?” he asks her, tapping close—but not on—one of the basic traps, the sort that they teach people as soon as they can write wards.

The same type that Maison got trapped in, back in the little cabin Chloe called home for over a year.

The girl nods, wrinkling her nose. Chloe had drawn out the comment weak points, the places where they get tied into other wards, how to take down those instead.

“Good,” Killian says, voice deep. “Remember that one.”

Before he glances back up at Chloe, then slates his eyes over to the other room.

“I’m going over to Michaela’s house today,” the kid announces, then squints at Killian to see if he’s going to stop her. “Her birthday is on Tuesday, but that’s Tuesday, so we’re gonna go watch movies today.”

“Want a ride?” Killian asks, and Seanna beams at him, standing and offering her hand.

Which he takes, and they immediately disappear, leaving Chloe sitting at the table for a few stunned seconds.

Despite all he said about killing her father, despite how self-serving he made it sound, the obvious affection over the child reads like he’s stepping up. Taking over for the abusive figure.

Providing a childhood, as much as he doesn’t know how.

Chloe barely has time to contemplate that before he appears next to her again, brushing off his hands, then jerking his head to the other room.

Chloe can get a message.

Giving the girl a rather awkward smile, Chloe nods at Killian, striding back into the bedroom.

His bedroom, now that she knows that.

“Before you get upset, she was curious,” Chloe starts in, spinning and facing him abruptly. “I wasn’t going to not teach her how to spring you from a trap.”

He stares down at her, face impassive, before he sighs again. “You’re still hurt.”

Of course she is, a single night sleep isn’t going to solve such a deep bruise on her ribs nor the tiny cuts on her fingertips.

Her phone beeps, and he just looks away.

MAISON (12:35 PM): Heard sources that Chloe Tombbreaker is back as an active player in the world.

Without even looking over her shoulder, Killian raises an eyebrow at her.

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