Page 73 of Star Bringer
She takes a deep pull from the bottle—I’m guessing she’s going to have a hell of a headache when she wakes up. Then she waves the bottle at me, gerjgin sloshing over her fingers. “You know, the first time I saw you, I thought…” She trails off.
Seriously? That’s when she decides to remember her inhibitions?
I tell myself whatever she was going to say doesn’t matter, but I last about fifteen seconds before I prompt, “What did you think?”
“Desperate, much?” Max teases me.
“Fuck off,” I shoot back before turning my attention to Kali again.
She grins. “That you have a really nice ass.”
For better or worse, our conversation is drowned out by singing—the unrobed High Priestess of the Sisterhood of the Light is in the middle of learning a truly (and I meantruly) raunchy song from Gage, so no one else hears Kali’s statement. Or so I thought.
“I mean, she’s not wrong,” Max comments. “I’ve heard a lot of people say that to you throughout the years.”
I’m too busy trying not to laugh to answer him. Kali is so going to regret this in the morning. If she remembers. “Are you objectifying me, Princess?”
“I guess I am. Sorry.”
She doesn’t sound sorry, but hey, neither am I. I like this side of her. Then again, I’m beginning to like every side of her. And that’s a problem.
“So?” she says before taking another drink.
“So what?” I ask, mystified.
“She wants to know what you think of her. Obviously,” Max tells me.
“I want to know what you think of me. Obviously,” Kali says at the exact same time.
I don’t have to look at Max to know he’s grinning at me.
I try to remember. “I think the cloak made the biggest impression.”
Her eyes widen. “You liked it?”
“Hell, no. It made you look like a clown.”
She sighs heavily. “Apparently, I am a clown.” She stares at the bottle a moment, then places it gently on the floor. “And right now, I think perhaps this clown had better go to bed before she becomes a whole circus all by herself.”
“Very sensible decision,” I tell her, ignoring the disappointment I feel at the thought of this conversation ending.
“Sensible is my middle name.” She sounds depressed at the thought.
I have a flashback to how she looked at me after that kiss. Like she wanted more. “Oh, I don’t know. I suspect under all that etiquette training, there’s an impulsive woman trying to break out.”
She sighs again. “You might be right. In which case, it’s definitively time to go to bed.” She gets to her feet and sways, balances herself with a hand on the wall, and peers down at me. “You killed those men like it was nothing. Would you kill me as easily?”
“If you stand in my way.” But I know it’s a lie.
“Do you want her to hate you?” Max sounds exasperated.
“Yes.”
He snorts. “Liar.”
She nods. “I’ll do my best not to.” She turns and walks toward the door.
“Kali, I—” I break off, unsure of what I want to say to her. I just know I hate seeing her look so sad.
