Marcus had just sent his message to Isi and was waiting in the common room for his shift to start when Sasha walked in. She didn’t look at him. Her eyes went straight to the window. A moment later, she plucked a listening device from the drapes.

  There was no fancy deactivating. Sasha just melted it. He stilled. It wasn’t completely a surprise, but it told him how little she cared about Siera’s wrath.

  He looked back down at the datapad in his hand, waiting for her to speak. Instead, he felt the brush of fingers across his cheek. He jerked his head up to find her still there. “Sasha,” he said, a warning in his voice.

  She sighed but pulled her hand back. “I’m not allowed to regret my choices?” she asked, shifting away from him.

  “Not when I’ve moved on,” he hissed. “And certainly not without permission.”

  Sasha gave him an apologetic look. What was with her?

  “I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

  Marcus froze for a second and then looked back at her curiously. It wasn’t like her to touch him like that, not anymore, and it certainly wasn’t like her to apologize. She never apologized. It was enough of a surprise that he added in a softer tone, “Besides, it never would have worked between us.”

  “Never?” Sasha asked.

  Marcus rolled his eyes. “We fundamentally disagree on so many things it's almost comical.”

  “And that’s all relationships are? Agreement?”

  “No, but agreement on some things certainly helps,” Marcus said, leaning back into the couch. “Where is this coming from, anyway? You were the one who broke things off. You can’t blame me for moving on.”

  “I thought it was more of a mutual decision,” Sasha said.

  “And?” Marcus said sharply. “My point still stands.”

  She wrapped her arms around herself and sank into the couch across from him. He hadn’t seen her this raw and genuine in a long, long time. “You're right,” she said softly.

  He waited. He was good at that. Eventually, she sighed and said, “He called me a monster, and he was looking at me like he believed it.”

  That…that was not where he had expected this to go. Bursts. He couldn’t even remember the name of the man she’d been seeing. She wasn’t one to go on about her romantic partners, at least around him.

  “I’m not really sure what to say,” Marcus said quietly.

  Sasha just closed her eyes and shrugged. “You don’t have to say anything. I’m well aware that I get on your nerves. I’m not easy to be around. But you’re the only person I’ve been close to that’s never looked at me that way, like I’m a monster.”

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Marcus let out a long breath. He didn’t love her. He wasn’t sure he ever had. But it still stung to see her this raw.

  Sasha just continued, “Even now, when I touched you, you didn’t flinch away from me. You were glaring at me like I had just attacked you, but you weren’t frightened, even knowing exactly what I can do.”

  “That was a test earlier,” Marcus said quietly. A test he’d unknowingly passed, apparently.

  “Yes,” Sasha said.

  But what if he’d just been a little jumpy today? What in the cascades kind of test was that?

  Marcus forced his hand to relax against the top of the couch. This was dangerous. But if that was truly how she felt, saying the wrong thing right now could be just as dangerous. He’d never seen her on the edge of breaking before. “I may not agree with you or even always like you for that matter, but I do trust you not to hurt me.”

  Sasha chuckled. “Brutally honest, just as I’d expect from you. See, it’s partially your fault that you're one of the only people I can truly trust. You should stop being so damn reliable.”

  Marcus had to stop himself from flinching. It was a delicate line to walk. He was as honest as he could be, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t hiding a web of lies, secrets upon secrets that he couldn’t trust anyone with.

  For a moment, he considered telling her the truth, but that was insanity. He trusted her not to hurt him physically, but she’d done plenty of emotional damage from time to time. Of course, he’d done the same to her.

  Sasha leaned back and kicked her feet up onto the armrest. “Kathrine was right on the money the other day, you know, as per usual. I was jealous that you have someone when I have no one. So, when you made that dig about my definition of fun… I had to wonder for a second if you finally, truly hated me.”

  Marcus watched warily, but she didn’t rebuke him for it. He sighed. “You know I’m protective of my family. You’ve certainly used it to get under my skin before.”

  “Oh, I know,” Sasha said as she stood from the couch. “I’m well aware your little brother is your soft spot. Why do you think I didn’t touch him on that rooftop?”

  “Sasha,” he said quietly, voice dripping with warning.

  She tilted her head. “Or the other one. He still come sniffing after you? I’ve never been able to decide if that was sweet… or just plain pathetic.”

  She let it hang in the air.

  Marcus went cold, pressure coiling in his palms as a face flashed in his mind: tawny curls dark with rain and plastered to his forehead.

  “Don’t.” The word was quiet, almost flat. He managed to keep his voice from breaking, and the next words slid out like a blade. “If you do, you won’t live to finish the sentence.”

  Sasha’s grin flickered, just for a moment, before she clicked her tongue. “Touchy. The point is, I knew you’d probably said it because I had provoked you, but I had to be sure. I wouldn’t have had to test you if I already knew you hated me.”

  Marcus grunted, and Sasha stood, making her way towards the door.

  “Sasha?” Marcus called.

  “Yes?” she asked, looking back at him.

  “If you ever so much as lay a burning finger on Teorin, I’ll kill you. And if you even think about touching the other one… we’ll see who’s really pathetic.”

  “Reliable as always,” Sasha said with a grin, but then her face softened, and she said, “Believe me, I know.”

  With that she turned on her heel and sauntered out of the room.

  The whole thing left Marcus unsettled. Sasha was becoming too unpredictable: violent and sincere in turns. And he was walking such a careful, careful line. If things went wrong…

  She wasn’t even supposed to remember that night. Wasn’t supposed to remember the figure dripping in the doorframe, rainwater pooling at his feet, voice cutting through the downpour—sharp, furious, and far too loud for the hour. He was always too loud. Still didn’t know when to shut up, even now. Marcus hadn’t let him in. Couldn’t. She’d barely seen him, and that was the point.

  Just the thought of those two in the same room now made pressure flicker across his palms.

  Because if it came to it, he wasn’t the only one willing to kill. And Sasha was much, much better at it than he was.

  And the worst part? Part of him still trusted her. And that terrified him.

  [Lev] I’m being told I owe double rent this week for “inappropriate annotation of the archive.” Personally, I thought the sticky notes were hilarious. Alas… the Archivist disagreed. (Worth it.) So here we are: another mysterious adventure you might enjoy.