Page 52 of Shifting Tides

I wasn’t getting any more homework done anyway, so I pushed from my desk and gave into the obsessive, nagging urge to find her, telling myself I was just following orders. That was all it was. I walked with more determination and purpose than I had in a long time.

Dinner wasn’t for another hour, but I checked the dining hall, hoping to catch Arya before everyone else began trickling in. Sure enough, she sat at one of the tables alone, with her laptop open and some notes sprawled.

At the sight of her, the gnawing ache in my gut finally ceased. The tether that had seemed to constantly pull me toward her since last night stopped tugging, and heat washed through me, a heat that was as soothing as it was destructive.

“Did they forget to put a desk in your room?” I asked as I approached.

She looked up at me, and pink bloomed on her cheeks.“Ashlyn was helping me sort through this Shifter Biology syllabus, but she had to run off to meet her dad.”

I nodded. Mrs. Sharp’s syllabus was famously complicated.

“I’m glad to hear I’m not your only friend,” I said, sitting down across from her. I meant it earnestly, but her responding chuckle and eye roll told me she took it as a joke.

I realized that was probably a good thing.

Silence fell as I contemplated the best way to needle her for any clues that she might be the siren. Subtlety wasn’t one of my strengths, and so little was known about the gifts of sirens that I didn’t really know where to start.

She broke the silence first.

“Caesar was pretty rough on you today,” she said, a note of sympathy hiking her voice at the end.

I bristled at the sore topic.

“Is he always like that?” she continued. Or maybe it was fear I heard.

“He won’t call you up like that,” I assured her, leaning forward and resting my elbows on the table with my fingers laced together. “He reserves his show-off moments for…” I trailed off, seeing her small smile.

“For show-offs likeyou?” she teased.

“Who says I’m a show-off?”

Did she see my quick spar in class? Sure, I’d barely given that hound a chance, but I assumed she was too preoccupied with her ownspar.

“I’m not the one who thinks wrapping my arms around a girl is the best way to teach her defense.” I didn’t mean to say that out loud, and I shut her still-open laptop to distract from the heat rising up my neck.

She raised an eyebrow up into the black and blue hair that swept across her face. She didn’t look mad at the way I’d invaded her space but rather challenged.

“Kendall was showing me how to escape if someone grabbed me from behind. Really, it was basic self-defense.” She shrugged. “Like,humanstuff.”

“Yeah, well, as someone who just learned she’s a shifter, you should probably be focusing on learning yourshiftermeans of defense,” I chided, my temperature continuing to escalate.

Her eyes narrowed, and she shrugged again as she slid her closed laptop closer to herself. “Honestly, it was kind of nice doing something I might’ve done in my old life.”

“Well, learning how to get out of a hold like that won’t save you from a vampire,” I said flatly.

“You think I don’t know that?” The volume of her voice rose, and suddenly, those bright blue eyes were blazing. “That’s how my mom died!”

“And vampires aren’t the only things out there,” I continued, unable to stop. I realized that I was horrible for even bringing it up, but she had to know the seriousness of the danger. “There are rogue shifters out there, too. Weres that are running around because we haven’t been able to track them down yet. Nagas who disagreed with the shifter military’s policies and defected for their own self-righteous beliefs. My family has…” I hesitated.

Arya didn’t know about my family history or even the fact that they were still considered royalty. She was the one girl who didn’t treat me like a prince to be won, and I didn’t want to spoil that just yet.

“There are dragon enemies out there also,” I finished vaguely.

She nodded, narrowing her eyes even further, like she was scrutinizing me. Like she was determining whether or not I was telling the truth.

The temperature in my blood rose, and I clenched my fists to prevent any accidental fires from sparking. A woman’s scrutiny had never made me feel this way. So vulnerable. So exposed. And so overwhelmingly turned on.

“Not to mention the hunters!” I blurted, trying to distract her—and myself—from the way she was making me feel. Her ignorance to the dangers was infuriating. “Sure, they’re human, but you catch one mercury bullet andpoof!” I made an explosion gesture with my hands.

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