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“Lame?” he asked.

“Very,” she confirmed, still smiling. “Like the blurb of a bad horror film.”

He feigned offence and she just laughed again, pleased when the movement didn’t hurt at all.

“Are you going to tell us what happened and why you arrived here covered in blood, or do we have to guess?” Bear asked, changing the subject back again.

Alex spent the next half hour bringing them up-to-date. She kept it brief, mostly because she lacked the energy for an in-depth discussion. Still, she told them everything she could, only leaving out D.C.’s royal status and claiming instead that the other girl played the role of a disposable hostage. Alex trusted Jordan and Bear with her life, but she’d also promised her roommate that she wouldn’t reveal her secret.

“Have either of you seen D.C. since then?” she asked when she finished.

“Only in classes,” Bear said. “And when… um…”

“When she was brought into the Med Ward with you,” Jordan finished for him. “She was really protective of you, pretty much yelling at everyone to stay out of Fletcher’s way so he could see to you. She was downright scary, really, and drenched from head to toe in your blood.”

Alex shuddered at the image of what her friends must have seen—her collapsed on a stretcher and her bloodied roommate screaming at everyone. It must have been quite the scene.

“We were under the impression that you two didn’t exactly get along?” Bear said hesitantly.

“Desperate times,” Alex said, smiling when she recalled D.C. using the same excuse days earlier. “She’s really not that bad.”

Both Jordan and Bear looked a little incredulous at her words.

“Are we talking about the same person here?” Jordan asked.

“She saved my life, remember?” she said, and that shut them up.

In her mind it was true. Aven had ordered Alex to kill D.C., and if she hadn’t been so opposed to the idea of murder, she never would have broken through his control over her—gift or no gift. Essentially, D.C. had saved her life, not to mention everyone else’s by default.

“You’re right,” Jordan said quietly, still clearly shocked by her entire story but trying not to show it. “And in that case, any friend of yours is a friend of ours.”

Alex looked at Bear and saw the same unquestioning acceptance on his face. She realised they both meant it, despite the fact that they had disliked her roommate for much longer than they’d even known Alex.

“Aww, you guys…”

“You’re not going to start crying are you?” Jordan asked, leaning away from her. “Because I’ll have to find an excuse to leave and it may not be believable on such short notice.”

She laughed again. “No, I promise. No tears. Not even happy ones.”

“Happy ones are okay,” Bear told her. “It’s the others that all men fear.”

“I’ll try to remember that,” Alex said.

“Just so you’re aware, our kindness towards her isn’t purely out of our generous hearts, as large as they are,” Jordan said, sharing a mischievous grin with Bear. “It helps that she’s totally hot.”

“Jordan!” Alex laughed. “I can’t believe you just said that!”

He shrugged unashamedly. “It’s true.”

“You know, sometimes I wonder what you two say about me when I’m not around.”

“Only good things,” Bear said, patting her hand comfortingly.

“Verygood things,” Jordan corrected, looking her up and down and winking at her.

“Perv,” she muttered, but she couldn’t help laughing with them.

He opened his mouth to respond—probably to say something completely inappropriate—just as Fletcher walked in the room.