Page 45 of Ice Queen

I blink. Oh.

Oh! Well, that explains it.

Their eyes might not be the same color. Hers are brown, but otherwise they have the same bone structure, same confidence, same presence that fills the room and instantly makes you feel at home.

“I’m Kaitlyn,” I finally manage to say.

“Oh, I know. I got the rundown on the way over here.” She grabs a potato from my plate and pops it in her mouth.

“Cecilia,” Markus warns. The sternness in his voice has my shoulders rolling forward before I can stop it. It wasn’t directed at me, but it lands all the same.

“Lo Siento,⁠* Princesa,” he whispers as he walks past me to take my plate and replace it with his untouched one.

I look up in time to see Cecilia’s mouth fall open, her eyes darting between her brother and me. Well, that wasn’t subtle at all. Heat crawls up my neck, not from embarrassment, but something else. Something warmer, more territorial.

He didn’t want her eating off my plate, interesting. Is she sick? Maybe she double dips. The thought makes my nose wrinkle.

“You made this sauce?” I ask, unwilling to sit here looking as flustered as I feel.

“¿Sí, te gusta?”

“Umm.” My eyes fall to the plate. I really should pick up a Spanish book if I’m going to be around him for the foreseeable future.

Her soft laugh fills the space between us. “It means do you like it?”

I meet her eyes when I answer. “Oh, I haven’t tried them with the potatoes yet, but by itself it’s phenomenal.” She breaks out into a smile, but Markus quickly redirects the conversation before she can.

“As you can see, we’re fine. So why are you still here?” His eyes pause on me for a second, and he rolls his own shoulders back, nodding as I do the same myself.

It’s odd, having someone who I don’t know very well catch all the little ways my body instinctively tries to make itself disappear. Not only does he notice them, but he calls them out, giving me a little more confidence to take up space I was told I couldn’t have.

A barstool pulls out from the other side of me at the same time that a head lands on my back, arms wrapping around my waist. “You didn’t text the group chat. We would have come to save you,” Hannah says, her red hair dangling at my side.

My eyes freeze for a second, unable to blink until they start to burn. “Sorry, it was in my purse. And he was already there.”

“That’s okay, Dex called as soon as he left. We figured you were here,” Abby says, making my head turn to the side. I expected her eyes to be on me, but they aren’t. They’re on Markus. “I don’t know why you didn’t say anything, though.” Her voice teeters somewhere between threatening and annoyed.

He pops a potato into his mouth, chewing slowly, his eyes never leave Abby’s. I gulp when I watch his throat bob as he swallows. It’s thick, corded, and definitely bitable material. Again, Kait? He is a person, not a piece of meat.

God, I need to get laid.

“Didn’t know I had to run everything by you, Knight.”

Her eyes narrow on him, and what seems like an entire conversation happens in the silence. “You can stay with me if you don’t feel comfortable here alone while he travels.” Abby offers once they break their stare off.

There it is, the implication that I need saving. Something in my chest tightens. I am so tired of being seen as fragile.

“I’m okay.” It’s simple, but it sets a boundary.

He still grumbles his “No.” like a bear marking its territory. It’s almost enough to make me roll my eyes.

Abby folds her hands together and settles them under her chin. A slight tick of her lips makes me internally cringe. Wyatt always had that little smirk right before he said something awful.

“No?” Her head tilts, taking in his every movement.

He shakes his head, not giving her an ounce of attention as he stabs a potato with his fork. “No, she’s going to watch Maggie while we’re gone.”

“Mhm,” she hums.