Page 52 of Until the End of Ever
Cassiopea’s eyes narrowed into slits. With a huff, she turned on her heels, stomping away.
I wouldn’t have thought someone like herstomped. She did so gracefully anyway.
“I’m not crashing yet,” Lucian told me, helping me out of the diamond constellation. It was so comfortable and light, moving like fabric rather than metal, that I’d honestly forgotten I was wearing it. “I’ll find a room nearby when I do.”
“When do you even sleep?” I asked, unable to stop another yawn.
I pressed the back of my hands to my lips.
“Before you barged into my life? Around six to ten, midday at a push. Now, earlier—as you insist on waking me up with your sorcery.”
“Baking,” I corrected with a grin.
“Same difference. Ask anyone tonight, little witch.”
It was the perfect time to head to the bathroom and prepare for the night, or possibly just crawl into bed.
“So, who’s Thea?”
None of your business, that’s who.But the words were out, and there was no swallowing them back up.
The room was mostly dark, the trees outside faded to a dull gray, and the light emanating out of the marble out of doors, faint, like a night light. There was no such illumination inside the bedroom itself, but Lucian and Cassiopea had left the door open.
In the darkness, I saw his eyes flash like a creature of the night. The idiot was smirking.
“My cousin Kore’s best friend. You might have met—she’s about your age, and has attended all the festivals in the Hall of Truce, like the rest of us.”
I shrugged. “I don’t think any unders ever bothered to introduce themselves to me.”
Still, I knew Kore Saltzin’s name. She’d stood out.
And she’d also been his dance partner for as long as I could remember. Of course I’d noticed her.
“Have you bothered to introduce yourself to any of us?” he countered.
Good point, well made. I winced. “I mean, we just stuck to our own side of the hall—all of us. That wasn’t an answer, by the way. Why did her mention make the great Cassiopea practically run away?”
“Curious little witch, aren’t you?”
He wasn’t answering, damn him.
I could have dropped it.Shouldhave dropped it. I blamed the countless glasses of wine and the late hour of the night for what followed. “I spend most of my time here, with you. If there’s any dynamic I should be aware of, you should tell me. I don’t want to trample on another woman’s territory.”
“Trample, huh?” Lucian whispered, taking the tight red braids I’d just made.
I hadn’t noticed my hand moving.
“You’re not only curious. You’re jealous.”
What I was was angry. At myself, at him, and at the pit of heat that churned low in my belly whenever I looked at his smug, self-satisfied, unfairly gorgeous face.
“You don’t want to tell me? Fine,” I snapped, snatching my hair back and starting towards the bathroom.
Lucian grasped my wrist as I walked away, chuckling. “Easy, kitten. I want to tell you. I just don’t want you to misunderstand the situation.”
I turned back to him, glaring. “It’s none of my business, anyway.”
“Clearly, it seems to be. And you’re the one dating the likes of Castor Pendros-Valmont, so why you’re so concerned is anyone’s guess.”
