Page 20

“Upstairs,” Luka said, heading for the pantry.

“Anything else I need to know about the meeting?”

“I think they covered it.”

Axel waited until he returned before he said, “Theon has a plan, though, right? He’s not going to… You and Tessa won’t be?—”

“Of course not,” Luka cut in, pulling a hair band from his pocket and gathering his hair into a small ponytail.

“You going flying?” Axel asked.

“Yeah,” he answered, already working the buttons on his shirt. Now that his lineage had been discovered, Luka had a little more freedom, but he was still cautious when it came to being seen flying. He usually waited until dark to stretch his wings. “But I need my room tonight,” Luka added.

“For what?”

“Tessa came looking for me last night.”

Axel’s brows rose. “For you?”

“The bands are becoming an issue.”

“And she came looking for you?”

Luka shrugged his shirt off, tossing it over the back of a chair with his tie. “I guess.”

“Shouldn’t you be encouraging her to go to Theon for this kind of stuff?” Axel ventured.

“I think we need her to talk to one of us, and if we try to force her back to Theon right now, she’ll shut us all out more than she already does,” Luka answered. “Too much depends on her. It always has.”

“Right,” Axel said, his eyes narrowing.

Luka had been different with Tessa from the very beginning. He’d avoided Theon’s rooms as much as possible, trying to give them space and encouraging Tessa to bond with Theon. But there were other things Axel had noticed and brushed off. There were the perplexed looks when Luka thought no one was looking, like he was trying to work something out, but they were all trying to work out Tessa and the Source bond. There was the way his eyes lingered when Tessa wore tight dresses, but thatwas because… Well, he was a male attracted to females, and Tessa was a female.

“Quit looking at me like that,” Luka said, bending down to grab the shoes he’d slipped off.

“All I’m saying is?—”

“What are you going to do about Katya?” Luka interrupted.

Axel blinked. “What do you mean?”

“She’s been staying in your room. You’ve been staying in mine. Are you going to keep her in there with you tonight?”

“I’ll just…sleep in the lounge.”

“The fuck you will. Not with Ford lurking around and reporting everything back to your father. If he finds out you slept in the lounge so a Fae could have your bed, you’ll be snapping her neck next.”

Something inside Axel recoiled at the thought. At the memory of doing that to Pen. At the idea of doing that toher.

“I’ll figure it out. You can have your room back. Although I’m sure I messed up your nest of blankets and pillows,” Axel said, pouring himself another shot.

“Ford does that every fucking day when he goes in there andcleans,” Luka grumbled. “Pen knew to leave it alone.”

“Where do you even go to nest here? Did you find a secret cave in the nonexistent mountains surrounding the Acropolis?”

“Fuck off,” Luka growled.

“Or do you just perch on the roof? Do you have a nest up there?”