Page 31 of The Black Table
I suck another sip of my drink—better with every sip—and roll my eyes. I can defend myself too, but whatever.
Callahan—Cal—nods. “Polyglot?”
“High marks in French and Latin,” Kai confirms, accepting his cocktail from the bartender. “Thank you, my good man.” He gulps half of it. “Not that I peeked at the results, or anything.”
Weird, but okay. I take another sip of my drink, and I’m suddenly, acutely aware that people are looking at us.
Not just people passing by and trying to get to the bar.
People in a general two-foot radius.
No, not at us. At them.
“You all right?” Lanz asks. Asksme.I all but jump.
“Yes,” I say. “No. I mean…do you guys owe everyone money, or something?”
Kai guffaws. Callahan’s jaw works. Lanz’s cheeks tinge pink.
“No, no, it’s just, ah?—”
“We don’t go out much,” Callahan rumbles. He rubs his hands together, fiddling with two rings on his right hand, thumb and forefinger.
Kai nods. “Seems like our appearance at a cap is something of…a novelty.” He sips his second. “Since we sorarelyleave the confines of Camlann House.”
The sensation of being watched,observed, is getting to me. Prickling up my neck with animal anxiety, the instinct to flee. I dart a glance around the room, taking in everyone takingthemin. Callahan follows with a deep stare, more like he’s sizing everyone up as a threat than seeing who’s out there.
“So you guys are…roommates?” I ask, in spite of myself.
“Teammates,” Callahan corrects.
“Fencing,” Lanz says.
Oh, right. “Swords.”
Lanz laughs a little. It’s not a bad laugh, lighting up those blue eyes of his. He’s had his hands in his pockets this whole time, I realize. Like he’s keeping himself on lock.
And I’m not the only one who notices. Because now I can see two eyes in particular burning a hole in my skin. Elena and Claire, both decked out in glittery party gear and both staring absolute daggers at me.
I don’t like where this is going. Not at all. The familiar prickle of anxiety at the back of my neck is swiftly turning into a full-body burn of panic.
And just as I feel a pang of gratitude for the wall ofmalethat’s keeping me from sight?—
“We should be going,” Callahan says.
“Right.” Lanz nods. “We’re sorry to have bothered you. Aren’t we, Kai?”
Kai cuts a look at Lanz that says he’s anything but. But he nods and takes a step back.
Something lurches in my chest.
Don’t go.
I don’t know where that comes from. A foolish little yelp of impulse, my mental framework going haywire. Like the panic of being seen can be blotted out, shielded, by three broad-shouldered boys.
And yet?—
“Wait,” I rasp. “Wait, you…”
