Page 23

Bryn looked back toward her room as if she could see through the doors before turning back to Jace.

“It seems so.”

Placing his hands on his hips, he cocked an eyebrow.

“It seems so, she says.” His lips twitched as he turned away from her, repeating the words again before the end of his tangent was cut off by a snort.

“Are you laughing right now?” she asked, moving around to face him as he pressed his lips together and shook his head. As if she’d believe for a second he wasn’t.

Throwing his hands up, he let the loud laugh free to bounce off the paneled wooden walls of the small room.

“It’s so insane that it’s incredible! We all have desert madness from one little sandstorm!”

Bryn folded her arms, rolling her eyes as she let her cousin laugh until he fell back onto his small bed.

Turning away, she really had nothing to focus on in his room. Nothing to take her mind elsewhere for just a moment of time. A simple mental reprieve.

His entire apartment had minimal décor.

Where Bryn had pillows and furs to the point she had her own nest, candles everywhere, her small space decorated as much as she could manage with modest means, Jace’s was utilitarian. There for basic functionality and nothing more.

Sitting on the floor, her back to his tiny mattress, she hit his jeans-covered knee with the back of her hand. He grunted before letting loose a borderline hysterical chuckle.

They both jumped when a knock sounded on the door, bringing them back to reality. Jace stood up far too quickly, his gait as he walked to the door showing he wasn’t immune to a bout of dizziness after all.

Pushing his hair back, he gathered himself as she retreated into herself. Folding her arms like a shield across her chest, she kept her eyes to the floor, lest it be Aunt Mallory on the other side.

There was no way in hell the woman would lose an opportunity to torture Bryn, so if that was her, Bryn needed to be ready for it.

Bryn’s only hope was that Mallory would continue her trend of not lashing out in front of others.

When Justin stepped in, Bryn let out a huge internal sigh of relief, but it was short-lived as she realized Justin may have heard the battle in her apartment.

How would she answer any questions related to that nightmare scenario without everyone thinking her crazy? What if only Jace could see the shadow man? Maybe not a logical thought, but these were not logical times.

“I need you both to come to the office. We have some questions,” Justin informed them, his tone completely official, but she caught the hitch in his words. The worry in his stormy blue eyes and the clench of his jaw told her this was far more serious than she’d be prepared for.

Watching people, learning their tells, was what had kept Bryn alive all these years. To not know was to make one vulnerable, especially when allies were not there to stand at one’s side.

So, she read Justin like a book and knew with certainty her gut reaction was right. Her life was about to get so much more complicated.

“Yeah, we will head over there in a few. No need for the escort.” Jace motioned to where Bryn was in her sleep shift and barefoot, sitting against the bed. “She needs to get dressed first.”

Bryn worried that Jace speaking of her getting dressed might cause Justin to inquire about why she was in Jace’s room in sleepwear, but he only nodded and left, shutting the door with a soft click at his departure. No questions asked, which she was mightily thankful for. Had it been any other man’s room but her cousin’s, she doubted Justin would have been so quick to dismiss it all.

Jace walked her to her room, the quiet stillness behind her own door either a boon or a warning.

Opening the door, they were met with an indignant squawk from the tiny, feathered beast once again sitting on her headboard as if Bryn’s battle-torn room, candles knocked over and clothes everywhere, were not at all her fault.

“We’ve had a long day, and it seems it’ll be all that much longer.” Jace ran a hand over his face, and Bryn caught the bags under his eyes as his hand moved to his mouth.

“Get dressed and I’ll meet you in the hall... and maybe get the crow out of your room before it poops everywhere.” Bryn appreciated her cousin’s attempt at levity after both of them dealt with the extreme highs and lows of their dizzying emotions, but she wasn’t in a state to give him any more than a small smile as she closed the door behind him.

Sighing, Bryn sat back on the bed and rubbed her temples, staving off another headache as her adrenaline waned.

All this commotion in one day could not be healthy.

The thought of a nice bath was out, having used up her water ration for the week already. If she wanted to get clean again, she would have to take a cold bath in one inch of rusty pipe water.