“Well, I can do pretty without all the cologne and hair product.”
“Hey, don’t knock the hair.” He ran a hand through it. “Took me hours to get it this perfect.”
“Liar.” I laughed.
“Yeah, you got me. Actually, it’s not hair product. It’s just wet.” His open palm showed the moisture.
“I knew that, Jase. I was teasing.” I saluted with the glass, then peered in at the contents.
“It’s lemonade.” He sipped through a smile.
“You know me well.”
“I do.” He nodded. “Besides, you’re not twenty-one yet. Can’t have you breaking the law.”
“No. I mean, what would the king say?”
“Say? Nothing.” He tapped his glass on mine. “It’s what he’d do that I worry about.”
“He wouldn’t care, you know.”
“Then you don’t know him very well.” He laughed, prompting me to follow him up the stairs.
The racket of footfalls on steel sounded odd because, while I could see my own feet and Jason’s ahead of mine, there was only one set of echoes. He was so ridiculously light-footed he made me feel like an elephant. “Did Emily say if she was coming?” I asked, hoping to drown out the evidence of my lead-foot.
“Yes, and Nate, and a few others, too. But it’ll be a pretty small gathering tonight,” he said. “I’ve set out a picnic on the balcony. Now we’ve got that railing fixed right ‘round the ledge, it’s a bit safer up there.”
“Sounds great. I hope you have cake.”
“Sweet tooth, huh?” He looked down at me from the step above.
I bit my lip. “Yeah. Kinda.”
“Thought you might say that, so—” He stopped and I nearly bumped into him. “I took the liberty of venturing into town today—bought you some chocolate.”
My tongue moved out of my mouth and across my lips involuntarily. “I haven’t had chocolate since I first moved here!”
“I know. I—”
“Hey guys,” Emily called, stuffing her phone in her back pocket as she came through the door. “Am I late?”
“Just in time,” Jason said. “Come on up.”
“Hey,” Blade said casually, coming in behind Em. “Did I miss any fun?”
“Nah, Emily only just got here.” I winked at Blade.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Em asked, her nose crinkling.
“You’re the fun one—of course,” I said.
“Yeah, right.” She started up the stairs. “I’m sure that’s what you meant.”
I huffed as she shoved past me, Blade hot on her trail, then turned to Jason. “She thought I was being mean, didn’t she?”
“It’s okay.” He squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. “She just doesn’t know Blade likes her yet.”
I looked up the stairs to the top. “No kidding.”
Conversations died down and the food dwindled to scraps, and by the time Nate left, the only other people still hanging around were Blade and Em, Arthur, Jason, and I. And I liked it this way. It was peaceful and intimate—even if Em was still holding a grudge for the nastiness she assumed I’d expressed earlier. I was beginning to see what Mike meant about her being so moody lately.
“How’s that sleeping potion coming along?” I asked Arthur.
He stood beside me, both of us leaning on the railing, our drinks in hand above the nothingness. “Why do you ask, my dear?”
“Mike needs to extract more venom this week for the sword-tipping, and I don’t want him to do it awake.”
“I’ll have it ready tomorrow,” he said with a nod. “I’ve made it a little stronger than last time. It seems Mike has developed an immunity to it.”
“Really?”
“It’s an acclimation thing,” Jase said, appearing on my left. “Medicines and certain treatments very rarely work more than thrice on a vampire—of any kind.”
“Wow. I didn’t know that.”
“There is much to learn,” Arthur said. “But you have centuries to do so.”
I nodded and leaned a little more on my arm, blowing the warm air from my mouth over my cold hands. “It’s breezy up here, isn’t it?”
“Are you ready to go back?” Jason asked. “I could walk you.”
“That’s okay. I’ll wait for Blade.” I jerked my head in his direction. “Falcon’s orders.”
Jason nodded, leaning down on the railing, too, and angled his shoulders in so his head came closer to mine. “Did you see that?”
All three of us turned our heads to the pair sitting with their legs dangling over the balcony ledge, shoulder-to-shoulder, whispering and giggling with each other.
“He just put his jacket on Em,” Jason finished.
“Does he know she doesn’t get cold?” I asked.
“Yes, I do,” Blade said, turning around. “But it’s how I was raised.”
We all laughed, and Emily just shrunk into herself a little more.
“You warm enough?” Jason asked, reaching across to tighten the leather jacket around my chest again.
I angled my chin so my nose went into the collar a bit. It smelled like him, and from the moment he put it around me earlier, I’d felt like I wanted to cry. Somehow, his scent conjured up some feeling—some emotion that should’ve had an identifying thought to accompany it. But as my brain searched for that spark, that instant of recall, I was left blank; carrying only the feeling that my heart was incredibly broken and that Jase’s was too. But it was silly. So I brushed it off and nodded. “Yeah, I’m lovely and warm, thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, but his brows moved together in the middle, forming that line.
I wanted to ask him to just spit it out—say what he was thinking. I knew he’d read my mind just now. I knew he knew I knew something was amiss between us, and if Arthur wasn’t here, I was sure Jase would tell me.
“You’re very quiet tonight, Amara,” Arthur noted, pinching my sleeve affectionately. “Is everything okay?”
I nodded, brushing my head against his shoulder for a second. “It’s okay. I just found out about my real mom today, is all.”
Jason stood from his lean, and Arthur hung his head a little lower.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Ara?” Jason asked. “I didn’t even see that in your thoughts.”