[This post is from Kailey Astoris’s point of view.]
“Gods and monster, I hate you sometimes,” Kailey muttered, glaring in a decidedly different direction from where Peril sat beside her.
“But only sometimes,” he said. His hand dropped onto her knee and for a few seconds, she stared at it like it was some kind of slug that had suddenly taken up residence on her jeans. This time, when he pressed, his voice was gentler. “Look, Kay. I get it. Shit’s happening fast. It’s completely normal to be totally out of sorts because of all of it. It’s cool. We’ll get through it.”
“You have no idea what’s going on,” she muttered, glaring at his hand, now, instead of staring off in an opposite direction. “How could you possibly know what I’m going through right now?”
“There’re are a lot of lies I can spin about that,” Peril said, taking a sip of his tea. “But that would be wasting a hell of a lot more of our time than I really feel like wasting. I eavesdropped when our visitors were talking to Uncle Matt and the council, then I spied on the council a few hours ago while you were probably brooding or yelling at Lin for something that may or may not be his fault. I know why they’re here and I can infer a lot more from that.”
“Really,” she said dryly. “Can you?”
He shrugged. “I think so. Especially based on Tory’s behavior today, too.”
“Tory,” she echoed. “What does Tory—”
“Don’t like to me, Kay. Remember, I heard a lot of what they talked about. I know what they’re looking for and if you ask me, no one fits that bill like Tory does.”
Kailey snarled, pushing to her feet and starting to pace. “Is it so awful that I don’t want to do what they’re asking us? That maybe I don’t want to go?”
“Yeah,” Peril said, leaning back. “Yeah, it really is. That’s nuts, Kay. Really, really nuts.”
