Page 26 of Enchantment of Silver and Sea
Was he that bold? He wasn’t even going to hide the fact that he was checking me out?
Then it hit me.
I spun on my heel and brushed past Nya to my closet. I found a cotton jacket and yanked it down so hard that the hanger flipped around and fell off the rod. Then I tossed aside my wet hair, pulled my arms into the sleeves, and zipped it as high as it would go, concealing where the thin fabric of my nightgown, soaked from my hair, clung to my skin.
More specifically, clung to my breasts. As Kieran had already observed.
He was shutting the door behind him when I reemerged. His mouth was tilted upward in that same smirk, but it transformed into a self-satisfied grin at the sight of my jacket.
“Don’t cover up for my sake.” He kicked off his shoes and laid back on my unmade bed.
“Cover up for mine,” Nya muttered. “Or let me step outside for five minutes so you two can bang one out and get it out of your system.”
Kieran sputtered out a laugh. “Five minutes?”
Nya batted her eyelashes. “Sorry, you’re right. Two minutes.”
“Wow,” Kieran laughed, propping my pillows behind his head. “Nya, you’re a terrible wingman.”
Nya jabbed a finger in his direction. “See, that was your first mistake. Thinking I’m your wingman.”
My head swiveled back and forth as I listened to their banter. The words were on the tip of my tongue, and pride be damned, I was going to voice them.
“I’m so glad you’re both alive.”
They had to have known that I felt that way, considering the bear hug I had sprung on the both of them. But the emotion in my voice had them gaping slightly.
Nya broke the silence first. “You never had to worry about me. This one, on the other hand…” She gestured to Kieran, then shook her head.
“I said it once, and I’ll say it again: if someone hadn’t distracted the cave devils when Cecil tripped over that rock, we would all be dead.” Kieran stretched and yawned. He closed his eyes. “You all can joke all you want about my little game of tag, but they never caught me, and you all survived. Really, I’m kind of a hero.”
Nya rolled her eyes. “You’re delusional, is what you are.”
I thought about settling into the same spot as last time, on the floor. Instead, with a decisive flick of my still-damp hair, I sat down on the edge of the bed.
Kieran opened one eye, assessing, then closed it again.
I tucked a foot underneath me. “How long have you all been friends?”
“What makes you think we’re friends?” Kieran sounded like he was already half asleep.
“We’ve known each other since our group found Kieran, which was…when? When you were seven, right? Which would have made me six.” Nya leaned against the back of the chair, looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully. “When we first met, Kieran yanked on my braids. And I punched him in the face.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” I said. Then I added, “Not that I know you two that well. But I could see that.”
“And before you ask,” Kieran muttered. “No, we’ve never been anything more than friends.”
“Ugh. Kieran, for fuck’s sake.” Nya wrinkled her nose and feigned a shudder. “I hope she wasn’t going to ask that. It should go without saying that I’m not one of your harem.”
Kieran’s eyes flew open. Two wide, silver discs that looked vaguely…alarmed? Embarrassed? I thought he was about to fire back with something sarcastic, but instead he said simply, “I don’t have a harem.”
He and Nya exchanged one of their long looks. This time it wasn’t over something I said, at least.
“Right,” Nya said at length. She turned to address me, but her eyes were still on Kieran. “That was a joke.”
Something had shifted in the mood, but I couldn’t quite place what it was.
“You know, I don’t have leftovers from a big meal like I did last time,” I offered, eager for something to say. “But I do have some basic stuff. I can throw something together for you two.”
