His bright green eyes narrowed, luminous and dangerous, and I tried to tug my hand free, feeling a ball of panic lodge in my throat. Now was not the time for them all to start fighting over dweller-slave-claiming-rights or whatever. They could do that after I was dead. Aros tightened his grip, and I swallowed, my stomach lurching.
“She ranked us,” Yael replied nonchalantly. He seemed to be the least concerned about the ranking, compared to the other two.
“She what?” That had been Rome. He looked confused.
“RIGHT HERE!” I shouted, my temper flaring and bursting before I even had the chance to realise that it had been building. I was panting again, but this time it wasn’t from the exercise. It was because the five idiots were messing with my internal organs. Or my brain. Or something. They wouldn’t stop making me dizzy. Aros wouldn’t stop holding my hand!
Siret burst into sudden laughter just as I managed to finally tear my hand free from Aros. Everyone was staring at me as though I had just temporarily lost my mind, except for Siret.
“Well?” Coen crossed his arms, giving me a look. “If you’re right there, go ahead and explain yourself.”
“Nothing to explain.” I shrugged.
“This is why we don’t talk to her.” He tossed his hands up, turning on Yael. “What ranking?”
“She ranked us,” he repeated. “Four—” he jabbed a finger at his chest, and then turned it on Siret, “and five. Don’t know what she gave you guys.”
Rome’s mouth dropped open, but Coen was all stony-faced, until I caught the edge of his eyebrow inching up. “Is this out of ten?”
“Maybe.” I considered telling him that it was just their dorm numbers, but that wouldn’t have been half as fun. It was nice to see him squirm. I considered it pay-back for the crossbow incident.
“What’s my number?” he demanded.
“One.”
He frowned, and I knew that he was considering the possibility that this might have been a one-out-of-ten situation.
“And him?” Coen jerked a finger in Aros’s direction.
“Three.”
“And him?” This time, the finger was jabbed in Rome’s direction.
“Two,” I said, cocking my head at Rome.
Rome was smiling, like he had figured it out. He didn’t tell the others, though. He seemed content to allow them all to stand around, baffled. I would say that it made him a little bit evil, but what difference did it make? They were all evil anyway.
“Can we figure this out later, maybe?” Once again, Yael seemed unconcerned with the ranking.
The others nodded, Coen casting me one last look before they started moving again—this time, through the forest. Because the trees were so dense, we had to slow to a walk, and Yael dropped back to walk behind me. The others didn’t seem to notice when he twisted a hand in my shirt and pulled me off my feet. This was just way too much yanking around for my poor cap, and it finally gave up trying to cling to my head. I tried to see through the spill of white-blond curls, feeling like the sudden colour was almost blinding after not having it swinging into my line of vision for most of the morning.
“What—”
A hand slapped over my mouth, cutting off the question before I could voice it. My back hit one of the trees and I quickly pushed the hair out of my eyes. Yael was only an inch away, leaning into me.
“Raise my ranking,” he ordered softly. I felt the heavy roll of his power rushing over me, carrying on the tenor of his voice.
Holy shit, were these five competitive or what?
I made a sound behind his hand. His eyes narrowed, and he lifted his hand almost suspiciously.
“Not a ranking!” I finally managed to get out. “It’s just your dorm number.”
He frowned. “Make me One, then.”
“You have to be in the first room to be One.”
He released me suddenly, stalking away.
“Hey, Pain!” he shouted, making his way through the trees again. “Switch rooms with me!”
“What?” I heard Coen shout back.
I was still leaning against the tree, my heart threatening to jump out of my chest and bury itself deep, deep underground, where it would be safe. Because I swear to the gods, those boys were going to give me a heart-attack. How was that for karma? A sexy sol was going to kill me by frightening me to death.
And I didn’t just say sexy.
None of them were sexy. And their sexiness definitely wasn’t the reason for my heart-pains. Not that they had sexiness. Because they didn’t.
“Rocks?” Siret strode back into sight, a scowl twisting his lips. “You fall again?”
“Not sexy …” It kind of slipped out. I wasn’t sure how. I wanted to take it back immediately, but he had clearly already heard me.
He blinked. “Well … I wouldn’t put it that way. You go down like a pro. It’s a little bit sexy.”
My mouth dropped open, my eyebrows inching up. Somehow, that had sounded filthy. He seemed to realise it, too, or maybe he was just reading it on my face. Oh, gods in hell. I need to never speak again.
He started smiling, the flash in his eyes driving the heat further into my face. I pushed past him, ready to face my death. Maybe I could ask them to hurry up, and save myself from any more of … whatever it was they were doing to me. Or maybe I could just trip on something and fall onto a nice, suicidal rock.
Yeah.