Tobias #4
In an instant, she was beside me.
“Let me.”
It wasn’t a question. Dolion raised an eyebrow but relinquished the syringe to her outstretched hand.
“Just breathe,” Quinn murmured. Her hand brushed against my arm as she raised my sleeve.
Was it my magic that caused that shock as it built beneath my skin?
It’s not like I had touched anyone else enough to test it.
Her fingers glowed with the blue of her magic as she prepped a small area on my inner arm.
My inhale was audible, my exhale far too fast.
Quinn stepped closer, her bare legs brushing against my knees. “Look at me, okay?”
I obeyed. A line formed between her brows as she focused on her task. I couldn’t help but drink in the details of her face, the long, sleek line of her neck. She bent forward to wrap a tourniquet around my arm, and my eyes dropped unbidden to the ample curve of her cleavage.
“Quick pinch,” Quinn murmured, tapping a vein by my elbow. “Your eyes look especially golden today.”
Was it my imagination or was she intentionally pressing her breasts together?
“What?”
Was she flirting with me?
The needle pierced my skin before I realized what happened. My heart raced, pounding in my ears.
“Must be the sunlight,” Quinn mused as the tube started to fill. “I’m looking forward to summer in Soleara. We’re overdue for some time to enjoy ourselves. Maybe when Eva’s better, we can come back here for a vacation. I wouldn’t mind a swim together. Do fae wear bathing suits?”
“I-I don’t know.”
It was a distraction. It was working.
“Eva mentioned skinny dipping on her journey to Imyr,” Quinn said, her voice teasing. “Which I’m not opposed to.”
My mouth went dry. “I imagine we’ll have a few things to take care of once this is all over.”
Quinn sighed exaggeratedly, switching out the vial for another. I barely noticed as she leaned closer. Our foreheads nearly touched. Her gaze was downcast, focused on her work.
A small mercy. If she were to lift her chin, I might get lost in those amber eyes forever.
“Live a little, Maris,” she said a little sadly as she pulled away. “After all, this is your second chance at it.”
I swallowed against the sudden knot in the back of my throat. My rebirth from that dungeon had come at too great a cost for me to be squandering it. I might not be who I was before, but I owed it to everyone who sacrificed for me to do better. To at least try.
“You’re right,” I admitted.
Quinn released the tourniquet, neatly wrapping a bandage around my arm. “Of course I am.” Her smile was dazzling. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
My mouth dropped open as I realized she had finished the blood draw without me noticing…and without needing to sedate me for it. She passed the samples to Dolion. My stomach lurched at the sight of the needle, and I looked back at her.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
She shook her head. “You don’t need to thank me for that.”
There was an edge to her voice as she stared down at my arm—not at the bandage she tied there, but at the scars around my wrist. I had never stopped struggling against those shackles, never gotten used to the way their icy grip bit into my skin.
The metal’s natural anti-magical properties had ensured those scars would never fade.
I hadn’t been afraid of needles once. Hadn’t been this broken version of myself.
And I couldn’t stand the pity in her gaze.
“I’ll get us some food,” I blurted out, swiftly rising to my feet. Dolion had pointed out the cafeteria on our way in, if the beautiful, sunny food hall could be called that. “I assume you don’t want to break for a full lunch.”
Quinn lips formed a tight line. “Do you want me to come with you?”
No, I needed a second to compose myself. To wrangle the emotions that she drew out of me so easily. To chain them back into the cells I had never really escaped from.
She was maddeningly adept at destroying my carefully crafted control.
“I think I can manage,” I drawled, trying for nonchalance but falling short.
Quinn only sighed, crossing her arms across her chest. I would have been able to hide my true feelings from anyone else, but she had always been able to see straight through me.
My tone was curt as I ordered, “Don’t leave this room.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I happen to be able to take care of myself, as you well know.”
“That’s not—” I let out an exasperated breath. “We don’t know who you can trust.”
Quinn crossed her arms. “Maybe you shouldn’t be wandering the halls alone then. I’m the one safe behind a biometrically locked door.”
“I’ll be fine,” I growled, feeling my light rising to her challenge. The familiar heat of it warmed my blood even as I shied away from that particular part of my power.
“So will I,” Quinn said staunchly.
If anything happened to her, it wasn’t just my sister’s fate she would irrevocably alter. I knew without a doubt it would shatter me completely.
Somehow the space between us had vanished, as though we had been drawn together. She glowered up at me, lips parted, her chest rising and falling. The defiance in her amber gaze sparked something deep inside me straining to break free.
“Besides,” Dolion cut in. “She won’t be alone.”
I gritted my teeth so hard my jaw popped. I had almost forgotten he was there.
Quinn crossed her arms. “See? We’ll be fine without you. As I said, I can—”
“I know you can take care of yourself,” I hissed under my breath. “But will you just let me take care of you too?”
Heat rose to my cheeks. Quinn stepped back, shock coloring her face.
“I’ll be right back,” I exclaimed loudly, my eyes briefly meeting Dolion’s across the lab. The threat in them, however, was clear.
If anything happened to her while I was gone, I would make him pay.
I didn’t dare look back at Quinn before I all but ran from the room.