Page 129 of Kingdom of Chaos
“You tried, but it was always a long shot,” he says, his voice rough with sleep.
I peek over my shoulder at him and immediately forget what I was going to say.
His dark hair is tousled, a little messy from sleep, and there’s a faint crease on his cheek from the pillow. His eyes are still heavy-lidded, the stormy blue-gray softer in the morning light. Even half-awake, shirtless and stretching, he looks effortlessly lethal and unfairly good.
Wait, shirtless?
I quickly scan the bed and the floor.
Didn’t I make him put on a shirt before getting in bed? Where did it go?
“We still have a solid plan in place,” Talon says, and I give up on my search. Let’s be honest. I can’t be mad about a shirtless Talon.
“We’ll get her back tonight and end this. Then we’ll all go home.” He says it with so much conviction, I almost believe it’strue. He glances at me, then adds, “We should get going. Lots to do today.”
“Understatement,” I say, but nod in agreement.
He starts toward the adjoining door, but just before slipping through it, he turns back and gives me a slow once-over that has heat creeping up my neck.
“You look beautiful, by the way,” he says.
The words hit me harder than I expect. I barely stop myself from smoothing my hair or pulling the blankets tighter. He says it so casually, like it’s fact, not a compliment or a flirtation. Just something he needed me to know.
With that, he enters his room and shuts the door. Just before it closes, I catch a glimpse of Titus stepping out of the bathroom, a towel slung low around his hips. There’s hardly a bruise left on his face, and the wound on his side is closed, already healed more than Talon’s, even after nearly a week.
The reminder of Talon’s slowed healing sobers me.
“You’re good for him,” Imogen says, breaking me out of my thoughts.
I turn to her, blinking in confusion.
Did Imogen really just say that? She’s never hidden her disdain for me. Especially when it comes to her cousin.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she says, pushing out of the chair. “If you hurt him, I’m still going to break your face.”
Ah. There she is.
She strolls toward the bathroom, announcing that I’m not allowed in until after her shower. But just before she shuts the door behind her, she pauses. “For real, though. Don’t hurt him.”
No sarcasm, no smirk, just honesty.
The door clicks shut, and the rush of running water fills the space.
I just sit there, staring at the bathroom door, unsure what to make of the last five minutes, or the strange ache settling in mychest. Because even if I don’t mean to, sometimes I hurt the ones I care about.
I never meant to hurt Becks. And look how that turned out.
The last thing I want is to hurt Talon too. But what if I’m powerless to stop it?
“You’reready for the next phase,” Talon says.
We’ve trained all morning, and boy, has he taken off the kid gloves. The moment we stepped into the warehouse, he shifted from attentive and supportive to strict and demanding. Even though it’s exactly what I need—he’s coaxed out three more hidden powers in just two hours—I think I might hate him just a little bit.
Then I remember how irresistibly kissable he looked right after waking up, and the look on his face when he told me I was beautiful this morning, and the negative emotions wither to dust.
“I’m scared to ask. What’s the next phase?”
“There’s still more magic in you we haven’t touched yet,” he says, crossing the space to stand in front of me. “But we’ve pulled out all the ones I think will be useful against Kerrim. Now we have to work on enhancing them.”
