Page 83 of Kit
Surprise showed on Connor’s face. “Really?”
“Really.”
Kit brought him a small bowl of oats. “Would you like some also?” Kit asked Connor, addressing him directly for the first time.
Connor looked between the two of them, frowning at Nick when he promptly spooned a bite into his mouth. “No. I’m getting Adonis.” He stood up. “I can feel Nick wherever he is, and he better stay in this building while I’m gone.”
Kit didn’t answer the threat but met Connor’s eyes without backing down. Nick dropped his spoon to give Connor a shove as he walked away. Connor didn’t acknowledge him whatsoever.
Nick apologised to Kit once Connor was gone, but Kit only shook his head. “The threat is warranted. I stole you from him.” His fingers brushed against Nick’s shoulder, a small point of reassuring contact. “I have painkillers boiling with tea for you, but fill your stomach first.”
Nick did as asked. He finished eating, then drank Kit’s tea with painkillers, head lolling back by the time Connor returned with Adonis. Adonis promptly reached for Nick’s arm, unwrapping the sling and then the bandages with surprising care for such a brute. He placed his hand above the knife wound.
Nick waited. Kit and Connor watched. Adonis made a disagreeable noise in his throat. Warmth trickled through his tattoos, like the heat that had activated whenever Adonis was nearby, but on a far lesser scale.
“What’s wrong?” Connor asked.
“The spells are blocking him,” Nick said. He could even feel the cut symbol that shielded him from Desre heating, as if just being bandaged back together was enough to return it to working order. He gnawed on his inner cheek, searching within himself for the emotional hangup that was activating the spells and blocking out Adonis. “Maybe I’m a little wary of magicbeing used on me…” Desre, and what her influence did to him, remained stuck in his head like glue.
He cast a sideways look at Kit. “Maybe you could forgive Ios and let him stitch me up?”
Kit’s expression became one of immense displeasure. “I would rather Anna do the work. Mini has gone to tell her the news…but she is far from here. I will get Ios.” A low growl rumbled from his throat as he stalked from the room.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“Morning,” Nick mumbled as he adjusted his grip on Kit’s waist. Daylight streamed through the curtains in narrow slits. He tried to remember getting into bed with Kit. Couldn’t. The last thing he recalled was Kit explaining to Connor that he’d given Nick strong painkillers so the stitches wouldn’t hurt. As he woke up more, he remembered the threatening way Adonis had been sneering at Kit. Kit had stood there, tail lashing, feet planted, and expression stern. He’d glared right back, ready to fight.
Nick groaned. “They didn’t give you too hard a time, did they?”
“Nothing I cannot handle,” Kit replied. He rolled to face Nick, his eyes glinting with determination. Nick was certain there was very little that Kit couldn’t handle.
“I didn’t want you to come after me like that,” Nick said. “I didn’t want you anywhere near Desre.” Not that he was surprised Kit had. After all, Nick had already seen the way he chose to protect those he cared about—by putting himself in harm’s way in their place.
“I promise you,” Kit said slowly, “that I wanted you near her even less.” His eyes slipped to Nick’s arm, and he ran barefingers lightly against the edge of the bandage. Worry flitted across Kit’s expression, darkening the blue of his eyes.
“She’d only just cut me seconds before you arrived.”
Kit swallowed.
Nick turned up his hand on the sheets between them, asking. Kit caught him by the wrist, guided Nick’s fingers open and pressed his cheek against his palm. Nick purposefully kept his eyes open, drinking in the sight of Kit safe and stretched out next to him. Allowing, inviting, physical touch.
“I can’t even put into words how glad I am that you’re free of her,” Nick said, slightly hoarse. “That Mini’s such a little psycho, and he’s got your back.”
Kit’s mouth twitched up, amusement growing in his eyes. “You are the one who taught him the spells.”
“And you taught him how to fight. He’s okay? After we left the ship, they were all…”
“Desre did not leave her cabin for the rest of the trip,” Kit confirmed. “Evie relayed all instructions.”
A bird landed on the windowsill and tapped on the glass. The cadence was just like Nick’s alarm clock back home. It reminded him that though he wanted to just rest and put things off, time was running on regardless.
“Once my family gets here… We’ve been gone for weeks. Laurence has school exams, and so do I.” His exams seemed like such an inconsequential thing. Their importance paled in comparison to the man stretched out before him, listening closely to Nick’s every word. But Laurence was doing his Leaving Cert, and that could decide whether he got enough points for college. Not that he’d want to go, but Nick wanted him to have the option of it at the very least. “Dad has work that he’s missing. I don’t know if they went back long enough for him to arrange for his assistant manager to take things over. I very much doubtit, given the circumstances.” He bet Trevor hadn’t considered returning for even one second without Nick.
Kit’s grip on Nick’s hand tightened, cheek digging tighter into his palm. “You have obligations you must return to.” He sounded upset.
“Yes.”
“I must find my crew and tend to them,” Kit said, that upset note growing. “That will involve securing a source of food. Restoring order to the city now that the council is gone. All the children on my crew are orphans; they do not have any parents to support them. I cannot leave.”
