Page 13 of Elven Prince

But they both knew that wasn’t what the katari meant, and Rebecca didn’t feel the need to provide that explanation.

Fortunately, neither did Maxwell.

“So.” Rebecca tried on another smile to keep things easy. “What are you gonna do now?”

Nyx shrugged. “Looks like I still have a lot to catch up on. All the things I missed. Plus, I’ve noticed a few new faces I haven’t seen here before.”

“New recruits,” Maxwell grumbled.

The katari barked out a laugh. “That wasfast.”

“Everest was a valuable asset that night,” he replied. “That operation would have turned out very differently at the warehouse without her.”

“Or not at all,” Rebecca added. “Have you met Maddie yet? Or her sister?”

“Lacey? Yeah. She doesn’t reallylooklike the kinda person who’d make it through The Striving and sign up for what we do.” Nyx’s high-pitched, tinkling laugh filled the office as she spread her arms. “Then again, neither do I.”

Maxwell nodded and readjusted his folded arms, as if keeping them there had grown uncomfortable. “We all have our own skills and experiences to bring to the table.”

“And our own reasons for being here,” Rebecca added.

She’d meant it as an addition to his statement, in agreement with him, to show their united front.

But the second she said it, an instant tension filled the room.

She and Maxwell had just been talking, maybe for the first time, about either of their pasts without skirting around the issue. About their own reasons for being here. Once again, that conversation had been interrupted, and now she’d just made it sound like she was shoving it in the shifter’s face.

Of all the Shade members who could have walked in on the previously tense and private discussion in this room, Nyx was likely the most sensitive. She certainly didn’t seem oblivious to that same tension that had now returned, either.

Especially when Maxwell released a heavy sigh and turned a scowl onto Rebecca in response.

“Okay, well…” Nyx’s smile twisted as she scrambled for a way to cut through the discomfort. “That’s all I wanted to say, really. To thank you both in person, you know? To your faces. And just that I feel really lucky that I had both of you here to help me. And…you know what? I think maybe I picked the wrong time to come say this, so I’m just gonna go…”

Rebecca opened her mouth to deny the katari’s claim, then realized that was more likely to insult Nyx than if she just let her leave.

By the time she’d decided not to argue, though, Nyx had already snuck back through the office door and closed it behind her. Then it was just Rebecca and Maxwell again.

As soon as Nyx was gone, as if it had been hiding from any outside company, that tingling, tugging pressure returned to flood every part of Rebecca’s body, pushing her back toward the shifter. Like being closer to him was her only purpose…

That was ridiculous.

She fought the pull with every ounce of willpower but couldn’t stop herself from turning to look at him anyway.

He stared at the closed door, then let out a long, slow sigh through his nose in aggravation. When he finished, he turned and stepped toward her again.

Rebecca didn’t dare hop down off the edge of her desk. She didn’t trust herself not to walk right up to him afterward and do something she was sure she would regret.

“I believe we were in the middle of an incredibly important conversation,” he growled, looming over her.

Yes, they had been. But Rebecca’s momentary lapse of judgment, her reckless decision to open up and give him the truth, had now been blocked by Nyx’s interruption. The moment was over.

Especially when the memory of that rune on his chest flashed through her mind again, reminding her of the incredibly narrow tightrope she walked here.

And of the long, potentially deadly fall awaiting her if she took one misstep or made a single miscalculation.

“Conversation for a different time,” she said.

She knew it wouldn’t be that easy to make him drop it, which of course he didn’t do.

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