I folded my arms. “I’m not a snoop.”
“You’re not?”
“Just because I happened to be there—”
“Behind a curtain.”
I ignored that. “Just because I happened to be behind a curtain—”
“Hiding behind a curtain,” he amended.
“Just because I was partially obscured by a curtain doesn’t mean I was snooping around.”
Zayne was only about a foot from me now, and I caught the scent of winter mint again. “Do you often find yourself partially obscured by curtains?”
I snapped my mouth shut and then took a deep, long breath. “Why are we talking about this?”
He lifted a shoulder and dropped it. “Because you’re claiming you’re not a snoop. I mean, maybe you spend your free time standing behind curtains all the time. What do I know?”
My eyes narrowed. “Oh, yeah, I actually do like hanging out behind curtains. I like how dusty they are.”
“Since I detect sarcasm, you’re basically admitting you were snooping.”
“I admitted no such thing.”
He dipped his chin. “Why not just admit it?”
I started to tell him there was nothing to admit, but I had been snooping. Obviously. I sighed. “We don’t get a lot of...visitors, so when I saw you guys arrive I was curious. I had no idea you would be talking about anything important.”
“Now, was that so hard to admit?”
“Yes,” I replied dryly. “It hurt me. Deep inside. I may never recover.”
“How did you end up living here?” he asked, directing the subject back to his original question.
“It’s a long story I have no intention of telling you.”
A moment passed, and even without seeing his eyes, I could feel his heavy gaze on me. “You’re...frustrating.”
My brows shot up. Wow. “Well, you’re judgmental. Guess which is worse?”
Zayne laughed, and it wasn’t like that deep chuckle from before. It was dry as sand. “I’m probably the least judgmental person you’ll ever meet.”
“You know, I’m going to have to say that’s probably not the case.”
“You don’t know me.”
“You don’t know me, and you just said I was frustrating,” I pointed out.
“I’m making that educated observation after speaking to you for a few minutes.”
My hands curled into fists as the urge to punch him filled me, which would be wrong, but also satisfying, but still wrong. I needed to get out of here. “You know, I’m not going to even lie and say it was nice chatting with you. I’m just going to leave now.” I started to turn.
“What’s your name?”
I stopped and faced him again. “Seriously?”
“What is your name?” he repeated—no, he demanded.
My hackles raised. “It’s Mindya Business.”
“That’s exceedingly...lame,” he retorted.
I snorted. Like a little piglet. “I thought it was pretty clever.”
“We obviously have two very different ideas of what makes something clever,” he said, and my eyes narrowed. “You do realize I’m going to find out sooner or later?”
He would, but I’d be damned if I told him what it was. “Well, I guess you’re just going to have to wait for later. Peace out.”
I flipped him the middle finger, sure he could see it with his Warden eyes, and then I spun around, prepared to flounce from his sight—
“Trinity Lynn Marrow!” Misha called out. “I swear to Jesus, girl, when I get my hands on you...”
Drawing up short, I closed my eyes.
“I’ll admit I didn’t expect to find out that soon.” Wry humor dripped from Zayne tone.
“I don’t know you,” I said, turning back around. “But I do not like you.”
“That’s not very nice,” Zayne demurred.
Before I could inform him that I didn’t even remotely care, Misha stormed into the small clearing. In a heartbeat, he was in front of me, standing between Zayne and me as if he thought Zayne was some wild animal about to attack.
“Back off,” growled Misha, lifting a hand of warning in Zayne’s direction as I peered around him.
Zayne didn’t back off.
He came forward, stopping a mere inch from Misha’s hand as he leaned to the side, looking to where I was standing. “You guys really aren’t friendly here, are you?”
My lips twitched into a reluctant grin. “Like I said, we don’t get a lot of visitors.”
“I can tell,” Zayne replied dryly.
Misha shifted so that Zayne was once again blocked, causing me to roll my eyes. “Who the Hell are you and what are you doing here?”
“His name is Zayne,” I answered for him. “And he’s from the DC clan. They were invited here.”
“No one is randomly invited here,” Misha clipped out.
“Well, I guess there’s a first for everything.” The coolness of Zayne’s tone could’ve frozen the leaves on the trees around us.
I used to think that Misha was one of the tallest and scariest Wardens I’d ever seen in human form, but right now, I was thinking Zayne was going to take that number one spot.
“I don’t care if you’re invited or not,” Misha responded as heat rolled off him, and with that, he jumped ahead of Zayne in the unofficial scary Warden contest. “You shouldn’t be out here lurking around and talking to her.”
“First off, I wasn’t lurking around,” Zayne said. “And second, why can’t I talk to her? Is it because she’s human, or because she swings first, then speaks?”
Oh my God! I sidestepped Mischa and glared at the blond Warden. “I swung on you because—”
“I walked up behind you? I’m sorry. I’ll try not to do that again,” he replied, and even though I couldn’t see his face, I heard the smile in his voice.
“What are you doing out here?” Misha demanded, and for once, it wasn’t directed toward me.
Zayne paused before saying, “Just needed fresh air. It was a long drive.”
I arched a brow, surprised he hadn’t tossed me under the bus and backed up over me.
“Well, now that you got your fresh air, I suggest you head back to the Great Hall.”
Part of me expected Zayne to refuse. He seemed like the combative sort.
But he surprised me by stepping back. “Yeah, I do think it’s time I head back.”
“Perfect,” Misha snarled.
Zayne inclined his head in my direction. “Nice to meet you...Trinity Lynn Marrow.”
I started to go off like a firework, the kind that screeches, but Misha took hold of my arm, and I ended up swallowing a mouth full of curses as I yelled, “I’m going to take the high road and ignore that.”
“But going low sounds a lot more fun,” Zayne echoed back.
I spun back toward where Zayne had been, but Misha didn’t let go and all but dragged me away before I could come up with a worthy retort.
“Dammit, Trin.”
“What?” I had to take extra big steps to keep up with his freakishly long legs. “I didn’t do anything.”
“You never do anything.”
I frowned. “What’s that supposed to me?”
“Oh, I don’t know. How about when you got mad and hid in the Great Hall for an entire day, causing everyone to believe you were missing? And then when you were found, you were, like, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong.’”
“What?” I threw one arm up dismissively. “I was, like, eight years old at the time, and you were being really mean to me.”
“How about when you whined until I took you to the movies outside the community and then you ditched me to meet up with some kids you met online?”
“I was working.”
“No, you were playing Ghost Whisperer,” he corrected.
“That’s not playing! There was a spirit who needed an extremely important message relayed.”
“And what about the time you fell off the roof and then I got blamed for it? That was, like, a month ago.”
I pursed my lips.
“And how about the night you went beyond the walls and started fighting Ravers, Trin?”
Heat flushed my cheeks as we stepped out from the trees and Thierry’s home came into view. “You know why I needed to do that, and you also went outside the walls.”
“We’re not talking about me.”
“Oh, of course not.”
Misha ignored that. “You’re going to be the death of me.”
“I think that’s a wee bit dramatic,” I said, even though I could be the death of him.
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
He cursed under his breath. “So, were you eavesdropping on Thierry while was he was talking to them?”
“Will you get mad if I say yes?”
“Trinity.”
I sighed. “Yes, I was eavesdropping. Zayne saw me and followed me outside. That’s why we were talking.”
“What did you hear?”
“They’re here for reinforcements. Something is going on in DC.”
“What?”
“They said something was killing demons and Wardens, and they don’t think it’s another demon,” I explained. “They wanted to leave immediately with reinforcements, I guess, but Thierry is making them stay for the Accolade.”