Chapter Twenty-One Fires and Shadows #2
They were firmly back inside and Nox locked the latch behind him. Adan was kind enough to allow Czandra to go first, so that Nox was at her back. She could feel the heat of him, as he kept close.
"You two will take the rooms normally kept for the families that stay here. They have been moved in preparation of our plans. It was no longer safe for them here if the worst is to happen, and I will stay with you."
Adan turned and slammed right into Nox's hard chest. The assault on her senses caused her to rear back. "You'll do no such thing."
"I won't have you burning the whole house down in your sleep." He loomed over her in the darkness of the hallway. There would be no arguing with his unyielding tone. His voice at least three octaves deeper than usual. It wrecked havoc on her senses. Adan rolled her eyes at his arrogance.
Czandra's eyes drifted between the two of them and stilled on Lennox for longer than a beat.
Whatever she found there kept her quiet, a silent conversation drifted between the two of them had her holding back any retort.
Adan stared at her friend, amazed by her silence, only to throw Nox a withering glare.
Only for him to glower right back, that battle of wills between them palpable.
"Fine!" She barked, "but you're not sleeping in my bed." She lifted her chin in victory.
Which was firmly squashed when, "Oh, Princess." He leaned in for only her to hear. "The only way that's happening is if you beg." He brushed past her, no easy feat when he was wider in the shoulders than there was space in the hallway.
"Over my dead ashes." She mumbled.
Czandra stood there silently watching them.
Those critical eyes narrowing at her while her mouth turned upwards.
"Don't. Even. Say it." Adan clipped. Storming past to follow Nox to their new quarters.
She scowled at his back as his muscles rippled with every step.
Gods he had a way of sucking up all the air in the room while taking up all the space.
"We leave in two days time." Nox threw over his shoulder as he opened the door and headed down another hallway, Adan had never been down.
It was the wing that was normally kept for fleeing families.
Now it was empty, decorated in the same white fashion as the rest of the house.
Adan assumed that it was easier that way to keep things clean and hygienic for the next arrivals.
"In that time, I hope that you won't go wondering outside again." He turned to face the two women.
They stood waiting in the private sitting room. A few books filled the shelves, but nothing compared to what Adan had in her room at the castle. There was a corner with toys and books for younger children. Two long grey couches with matching pillows and some throw blankets. It was sparse, but clean.
Nox pointed toward two doors, "bedrooms." He turned, "Kitchen, and each bedroom has its own bathing room." Indoor plumbing was rare, especially in the slums. But the spell on the house obviously did not stop at its size and cloaking.
Czandra moved towards one room, opening the door to peer inside. She huffed a disgruntled sound. Adan only smirked at her friend, she knew the vamp was used to the finer things.
"Take the other one if you like." Adan supplied, twisting to watch Czandra open the other door.
"They're identical." Nox offered as he flopped onto the couch, his elbows hanging off the end as he kicked up his boots onto the coffee table.
Adan was tempted to make a remark about him making himself at home, but it was his home.
In one capacity or another, along with the multiple other dwellings he owned across the city.
"Were you born in a barn?" Czandra waved a hand at his boots. To Adan's surprise, he removed them, crossing a leg so that his ankle rested on his knee.
"Sorry, Caz." Adan could not hide her surprise now. Nox grinned at her shock. "Caz has been friends with my mother for a long time. Going on two-hundred years now." He laughed, and Czandra brushed past Adan to sit on the opposite couch.
Adan stood there slightly dumbfounded.
Nox shrugged, "in Caz's defence, she did tell me to trust you."
"But you're a stubborn bastard." Czandra laughed, and Adan felt like she had stepped into some kind of alternate reality.
"Um, excuse me." She glanced between the two of them. "But what the hell is going on here..."
"Lenny has a hard rule about treating his house members the same in public. In private, it is a different story, especially for the ones he loves." She gave Nox a dazzling smile, and he ignored the pet name--but Adan did not miss Nox's cringe at the mention of it.
"It was just the three of us up there, and it's only the three of us now."
"Anyone could be watching, love. You should know better than that. It is why I explicitly forbade you from going outside." His tone was calm and slow, but Adan could not miss the flame flickering in his bright-green eyes. He was not used to being disobeyed.
Get used to it, Demon Boy.
She let him see every damn word. Mostly because he was right, and it irritated her beyond belief. And who was he to tell her what to do? She was not a member of his house, he was not her master. No one was.
"Come sit, Little Mouse." Czandra waved a manicured hand.
At that moment, Adan honestly would have rather gone back for twenty more questions from Thammas, Aster and Ren than sit between Nox and Czandra.
All she wanted was a hot bath.
"You two catch up. I'm sure there is plenty to discuss." She turned towards the closest door and closed it behind her before either of them could protest.