Luca cleared his throat and turned to Jai. “I’ve put feelers out with my contacts within the Guilds, but they’re a paranoid bunch. I hope to have word back within a day or two, but they keep cross-checking with one another to make sure I am who I say I am and they are who they say they are and so forth and so on. In fact, a day or two is an optimistic timescale.”
Jai nodded in understanding. “I appreciate your efforts, anyway. I’ll show Ms. Johnson and Charlie to their rooms. They need to rest after everything that’s happened in the last twenty-four hours. The Red King wishes them to learn some basic defense. Do I have permission to utilize the training room tomorrow?”
As Luca granted that permission, Ari gaped at Jai like he was an alien from outer space. She threw Charlie an incredulous look and he shrugged as if to say, ‘I’ve always thought the guy was weird’. Mutely, annoyance burning in her gut, Ari followed Jai as he led Charlie and her upstairs. When they reached the third floor, he turned left and headed toward the farthest end of the hallway. He stopped at a door and threw it open, revealing a good-sized double room. “Charlie, this is your room. All the rooms have a private bathroom.”
Stepping inside, Charlie glanced at Ari and she squirmed a little at the expression in his eyes. He hadn’t lied when he said he was going to ‘stick around’. He smoldered. “You going to be okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” she replied hoarsely, untangling her eyes from his as quickly as possible. She heard him sigh as he closed the door. Ari looked up at Jai, who observed her for a second or two. Then he nodded at the door across the hall.
“Mine?”
“Yeah.”
She walked over to it but then whirled around, unable to keep her annoyance at bay. “Ms. Johnson?”
Ignoring her, Jai retreated. “I’ll take you to the training room with Charlie tomorrow morning, so get some sleep.”
“Ms. Johnson?” she asked again, her jaw clenched as she tried to work out whether she was angry or hurt.
“It’s how a ginnaye guardian refers to his or her client. No first names.”
“You’ve been calling me Ari since we met,” she argued.
He shrugged uncomfortably. “I’m just following protocol.”
Ari wished she didn’t understand, but she did. Like Charlie, with his whole revenge quest, Jai was on a destructive path to find the impossible — how to please his father. She sighed heavily, thinking about her own dad and all the things she kept to herself to make him love her more. Bitter tears burned her eyes and she shook her head. “He doesn’t deserve your protocol.” Leaving him a little stunned, Ari slid inside the guest bedroom and waited for the hum of Ms. Maggie’s energy to follow her before she closed the door. She leaned against it, trying to stem the flood of tears and grief that had been fighting through the numbness all day.
She heard the floor outside her room creak.
“Goodnight, Ari,” Jai said quietly through the door.
The tears spilled free, and she pressed her cheek against the wood. “Goodnight, Jai.”
As she flopped into bed, she felt guilty for the one thing she shouldn’t have been worrying about today of all days.
Would she be forced to meet the woman Jai was in love with?
Ari stared at the leftover breakfast buffet, wondering if her stomach was stable enough to digest food. It felt like she hadn’t eaten in days, but she still felt shaky and sick inside with grief, even if she looked together on the outside.
“Here.” Jai shoved a plate at her. “Eat.”
Under his eagle eyes, Ari put pancakes and some bacon onto her plate, drizzling maple syrup over the top. She grabbed a glass of orange juice and sat down at the large empty dining table. Jai sat beside her, his plate piled high with food.
“Luca leaves for the office early and when I’m around, Nicki does a disappearing act. As for my brothers, my father tells me they’re all on assignment at the moment, so hopefully we won’t see much of them over the next few days.”
“You don’t get along with them either?” Ari asked before chewing on a piece of bacon.
Jai smirked at the thought. “They live to torment me. My friend Trey is more like a brother than those idiots.”
Ari chewed on her breakfast, thinking that over. Trey seemed really important to Jai. The one person who had Jai’s respect and loyalty intrigued her. “Will I get to meet Trey?”
“Probably.”
“Morning,” Charlie greeted as he wandered languorously into the room, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He wore his rumpled Smashing Pumpkins T-shirt over a long shirt, and except for the short, close-shaven hair, he looked more like himself again.
Ari felt a pang of something she didn’t want to feel and looked back at her plate. “Morning,” she replied.