Page 40 of Shadow Weaver
I rolled my eyes. “Really?” I summoned my sweetest voice and fluttered my eyelashes. “Oh Kash, you wouldn’t want to disappoint me, would you?”I stared levelly at him. “Ring any bells?” There was bite to my tone now.
The memory of what they’d almost done to me brought a rush of anger.
He had the grace to look uncomfortable. “I apologize for that.”
“Yeah, well, apology not accepted. You can’t go around bullying people and then just sayhey, sorry, and have it be okay. Actions speak louder than words.”
His lips curved in a slow-burn smile. “You want me toshowyou I’m sorry. Is that what you’re saying?”
I smiled sweetly. “No. I want you to piss off.”
His gaze slid past me to the door, and his expression hardened. “Have it your way, Justice.” He stood and strode off.
I looked over my shoulder to see Fiona in the doorway, her gaze like daggers pointed my way. Kash strolled up to her, and she grabbed his arm. Like, actually grabbed it, hard.
What the fuck?
The woman gave possessive a new name.
“Here you go,” Joti said, holding out a cup to me.
“Thanks.” I took it and sipped. “Nice.”
“I make good tea.” She settled into the seat Kash had just vacated. “What did Kash want?”
“To be a dick, as usual.”
Joti settled into the seat beside me and gnawed on her bottom lip. “I’m surprised he sat with you. He doesn’t sit with anyone except Fiona.”
“Yeah, lap dogs tend to stay close to their master.”
She frowned. “He wasn’t always like that. He used to hang out with me.”
I was momentarily thrown. “With you?”
“Oh, Kash is my brother. There’s like fourteen months between us. He’s older and was always super protective of me growing up. I blame myself for Fiona being in his life. She used to be my friend. She’d come over all the time, but I realize now she was probably just trying to get her hooks into Kash. As you can see, she succeeded. They’ve been together for over a year now.” She fiddled with her teacup, and a dark shadow crossed her face.
“What is it?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Sometimes I get this feeling. Like … Like he’s not really that into her. But then he’ll do something crazy for her like the foyer the other day.” She winced. “Sorry about that, by the way. It was totally uncalled for.”
“Don’t be, you tried to stop him.”
“Yeah, and I failed. If Payne hadn’t come along …”
I preferred not to think about that scenario.
Joti was just getting warmed up, though. “Everyone does what Fiona wants, and honestly, I have no idea why. She’s nothing special.”
“And you? Why do you hang with her? I mean, you were with her that day in the foyer.”
She made a sound of disgust. “Logistics. I traveled back with Kash, which meant traveling back with her.” She sniffed. “I have better things to do with my time.” She pulled a small notebook from her back pocket. “They’re going to be teaching us rune channeling soon. My mother is an expert, and I’m fascinated by them.”
“Runes?”
“Yes.” She flipped the book open to reveal neatly drawn symbols. “Each one does something if you channel the weave correctly. You can use herbs to heighten the connection. In the old days, weavers would ink them into their skin, but that practice was forbidden by the council. It can lead to magic addiction and abuse of the weave. But we still use them for minor things now and then. Particularly healing.” She pointed at one. “This is my favorite. The magnify rune. You can use it to make a slice of cake bigger or see farther. Or just magnify an existing skill or ability.” She grinned. “Super versatile rune.”
I tried to ignore the curious glances I was getting from the other weavers. “Is there amake people stop staring at merune?”
