Page 44 of The Never List
It should be the other way around. I should be ensnaring them, but I’m vastly out of my depth. I just need to stay alive. After that, I can figure everything else out.
“To nothing, then,” I say, clinking my glass against his empty one despite the lack of invitation.
Axl cringes. “That’s bad luck, kitten,” he says.
“You believe in such superstitions?” I laugh. “ALegend?”
“Axl believes in all sorts of things,” Pierce explains. “Something about the earth and water in his blood makes him more wary of the universe than the rest of us.”
“Make fun all you want, Pierce,” Axl says. “But who was proven wrong the last time? All of your calculations and strategies did fuck all against the rising tide.”
“But it was mystrategiesthat saved your ass when that group of rebels tried to pirate goods from your ships.”
I watch them volley back and forth, hearing nothing malicious in their playful barbs. Kal pays them no attention,scanning the room as he watches his people come and go. The Occuli never sit, only adding to their eeriness as they linger in a nearby corner, no doubt catching our every word.
I spot Mirren at the base of the steps we climbed earlier.
“Mirren!” I wave for her to come up, and she dips her head, her lips in a thin line as she hurries over to us.
“Do you need something, Rylee Gray?” she asks in a formal tone.
“Do you want to sit with us?” I ask, noting how bored she looks.
“Join you?” Her eyes are wide.
“Yes,” I say. “There’s plenty of room.”
“You should,” Kal says, smiling at her politely.
“Yeah, Mir,” Axl says. “How long has it been since you shared a meal with us?”
“Several years, at least,” Pierce answers.
“I can’t,” she says, but her tone is warm as she responds to them. “You know I can’t.” She glances behind her, toward the Occuli. “If your fathers knew—”
“Mine would do nothing,” Kal says proudly.
“Nor mine,” Pierce says. Axl remains silent, a muscle in his jaw ticking.
“Mine would punish you,” Jax says without hesitation or regret, just matter-of-fact. I wince at the statement, knowing he’s right, and fold my arms around myself against the memory of Baydel’s hands on me.
Jax tracks the move, something like apology flashing over his face for the briefest of seconds. “Are you cold?” he asks.
Everything fades away when he looks at me like that.
“A little.”
Jax moves closer, sliding his arm along the back of theseat behind me. The warmth from his body washes over me, lingering, making me forget everything else. His eyes flick down to my lips and back up again, and I swear he’s going to put me out of my misery and kiss me—
“Your highnesses.” A masculine voice shatters the moment, and Jax immediately draws away from me. An enforcer has raced up to our table, breathless as he looks at them with panicked eyes.
“Riggs?” Kal asks, his muscles tense. “What is it?”
I immediately go rigid at the sight of the enforcer, my body tensing as if preparing for a blow.
Riggs glances to me, hesitant. “It’s happened again.”
The entire mood shifts around me. Gone is the light banter and the playful barbing. In its place is a sharpness I can feel in my bones. Mirren shuffles to the right of the table, out of the way, eyes on me.
