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“Oh, you’re impossible,” I say, rolling my eyes and pulling myself back up onto my spot on the log, hip-checking Shay a bit as punishment.

“Or maybe you’re just going to have to learn how to deal with the fact that I actuallyamnice,“ Cole counters, shrugging. “And that Ilikehanging out with enthusiastic people.”

“See?” Shay says, beaming at me. “I’mbasicallya royal already.”

“Precisely,” Cole says, looking over me to grin at her. “Though I haven’t talked to him since we’ve been here – and with the way Jude moves, there’s always the possibility that he’s no longer single.”

Shay shrugs, even as her mouth twists to the side. “If so, then I will move on to greener pastures. Now, if yourdadwould consider –”

Grace bursts out laughing and nearly falls off the log while Cole chokes on his laughter at this one, indicating that Shay has finally gone too far.

“What, he’shot!“ Shay says, looking around at all of us with a big grin, laughing too.

I just shake my head – even though she’s right. Our King had a reputation in his youth for being something of a heartthrob and is certainly a silver fox now.

“All right, all right!” I shout, holding out my hands, wanting to be serious again, even if I also can’t help but smile. “Can we please get back to the important stuff here?”

I wait a moment for all of our laughter to fade, silently grateful for Shay, even if she did shove me to the ground. Because despite everyone beingveryirritating, I have to admit that I’m in a much better mood than I was when my shift ended.

“Okay, yes, Nadi’s right,” Grace says with a sigh, untying her knot of brown hair and massaging her scalp for a bit. “Cole, is that why our patients were so difficult tonight? Because they were the enemy?”

He shrugs, a noncommittal gesture. “I mean, it’s hard to call anyone an enemy, Grace,” he says. “They’reallour citizens.”

“Did they shoot guns at our military?” I ask, dry.

He flashes his eyes to me, grim.

“Then they’re the enemy.”

“You know it’s more complicated than that.”

“Not on the battlefield, it’s not.”

Cole narrows his eyes at me for a second because we’rebothvery aware that I’m talking out of my ass on that one – he’s the one with the military training and knowledge, not me. But he lets me have it.

“Well, to the point,” he says, turning back to Grace. “Yes, my best guess is that they were difficult because their support is with Slaken, and they buy into what we understand to be his very anti-human politics. Obviously, we want to treat their wounds, but we’ll have a lot of questions for this batch once they’re through with treatment.”

“So, they’re like, prisoners?” I ask, turning toward the tent with interest now.

“For lack of a better term, yes.”

My eyebrows go up with interest and surprise as I turn over these facts in my mind, wondering if any of the patients said anything tonight that might be a hint, might be useful. But honestly, they were all very terse with me.

“What’s wrong, Shay?”

I snap back to reality at the sound of Cole’s question, spinning my head first to him and then to my friend. I inhale sharply when I see that he’s right – that Shay has an uncharacteristically worried frown on her lips, looking down at the ground.

She shakes her head, clearly working through her thoughts. “Were any of them like…gross with you guys?”

I sit straighter, immediately pissed as hell.

Behind me, Cole growls, clearly feeling the same.

Grace strokes a hand over Shayne’s back. “Not with me. What happened, Shay?”

She lifts her eyes, looking around at us, taking in Cole’s rigid posture in particular. “Don’t freak out,” she says, shaking her head. “It wasn’t anythingtoobad – nothing tons of girls haven’t experienced before. Just – almostallof them had some sort of lewd comment about human girls. And they talked about my red hair.“ She gestures up towards the pretty red strands of it, tied neatly back.

“What thefuck,“ I whisper, moving closer to my friend. “Did you call over Jeanie?”