I dabbed the last smear of frosting from the corner of my mouth and pretended my cheeks weren't burning under the silver mask. Jesmine's 'some girl' still hung in my head like a bell you couldn't unring.
I quietly slipped away from the sweets table and let the crowd swallow me.
People had begun to cluster near Jesmine and the red-lipped Mira, heads tilted like birds scenting drama.
The last thing I wanted was to be recognized and offered up to their conversation like a garnish.
Where are you? I cast the thought out. Rion, where—
I sighed and shook my head, forgetting that whatever magic let him thread his voice into my mind was a one-way road. He could speak in my mind, but I couldn't shout back into his. It felt unfair and, if I was honest, a little intimate in a way I hadn't asked for.
So how was I supposed to tell him where I was?
"I think he's letting you know he's arrived," Leika yawned, amused.
"So he doesn't want me to find him?"
