Page 102 of Cold-Blooded Creatures

I swallowed roughly. I’d told them her name and nothing more, but had they figured it out? Even if the answer was yes, Gedeon’s messed-up actions were nothing compared to me stabbing Alora’s back.

“You do not have to speak now. But you will.” Gedeon’s thumb grazed below my ear. “For now, look after him. I have to go and sort out the chaos in the training rings.” He kissed my forehead, and I traced the spot as he walked away, rolling his shoulders.

34

KALI

“Try it.” Gedeon placed a blue-and-white-striped cup on the table in front of me. The porcelain glinted in the morning light pouring out the kitchen windows.

I carefully sniffed the steaming liquid and scrunched up my nose. “What is it?”

“Coffee.” He smiled, carefree, the tension of last night erased by the identical cup of coffee before him.

For years, I’d secretly wished to try the drink. The scent of it had lingered in the kitchen on the eleventh floor of the Spire for the single day I’d worked under the Head of Welfare. Five golden bags had sparkled on the shelf above the glossy red kettle, and the deep aroma had taunted me throughout the morning and lunch as the green-banded had filled their cups, the luxury of coffee available to all but the bearers of black wristbands.

A black market for coffee existed in Ilasall, but its price was sky high, even for a spoonful. And I’d barely scraped by to afford a flaky cream puff pastry, so coffee had been out of the question.

Who thought that, one abduction later, I’d be holding a cup of the too-expensive drink made by my kidnapper? Certainly not me.

The first sip soaked my taste buds in bitterness, and I stuck my tongue out, waving a hand before it, hoping the air would take away the unpleasant flavor. “How can you drinkthis?” I shuddered at the dark liquid swirling in the hand-painted cup. At least it didn’t burn the faint scar on my palm.

Gedeon laughed, his clean-shaven jaw softening around the edges, and headed for the fridge. “I like it,” he said as he swung the door open and selected a glass bottle.

“It’s disgusting.” I pushed the cup away from me. You couldn’t pay me to finish it. “Youactuallyenjoy this?”

“Yes.” He seated himself across from me and drained half of my coffee, licking his thick and fluffy lips—so thick and fluffy I wanted to drinkthem. I swallowed the lingering aftertaste on the back of my tongue. “My mother loved it, and my father would always arrange for a new bag to reach her every month, for as long as I can remember. Curious, I would steal a spoon sometimes.”

“So that’s how your thieving tendencies began? And moved on from coffee to people?”

He laughed again, and the rumbling sound rolled over me in a rain of tingles.

“You could say that.” He untwisted the bottle’s cap, the clear glass matte from the condensation. “No surprise, she caught me in the act. But instead of reprimanding me, she shared how to soften its taste.” Gedeon filled the space in my cup with milk, added a teaspoon of sugar, and mixed the liquids with a teaspoon. “Here.” He handed me the upgraded coffee. “Trust me.”

I sniffed it. Sweetness overpowered the bitterness—less an assault on my senses and more of a caress.

His lips quirked as he observed me. Could he do anything besides smirk and raise his eyebrows? It seemed that was all hewas capable of. And brooding. So much brooding. Also, dirty and disapproving looks. He had an arsenal of them.

But when the corners of his mouth curved in a genuine smile, I wanted to capture it and stuff it into the box under my bed for safekeeping.

I took a hesitant sip. “It’s good.”

It was amazing. Creamy and rich, and sigh-worthy.

I downed half the cup in one gulp. If my body didn’t require water to survive, I’d drink this all day long.

“Won’t you leave some for me?” Zion asked as he strolled into the kitchen. He slumped beside me, an arm draped on the backrest of my chair.

“Did Eislyn clear you to leave?” His stitches could tear if he didn’t rest.

“I am sure she did not.” Gedeon grabbed a clean cup from the cupboard above the sink and began making the same coffee concoction he’d done for me.

Zion wrapped his hand around mine holding my cup and raised it to his mouth. The patch of my skin his lips touched went numb. “Delicious,” he proudly announced, then released me to take the cup Gedeon had put on the table in front of him.

“Doesn’t it hurt?” I frowned at his bandaged-up stomach, currently hidden under the bright green t-shirt.

He licked the coffee glinting on his lips. “Eislyn gave me some pain meds. I can’t teach my classes if I can’t raise my arms above my head.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Gedeon heaved a sigh. “You are. You truly are. Like thecountlesstimes before, you arenotreturning to the training fields untilEislyn clears you.”