Ren stared at Syris' waist.
Specifically, she stared at the knot of the sheer black silk sash that held his modesty—and the Jade Key—in place.
The key was right there. A smooth, green stone disk carved with a coiling serpent, dangling tantalizingly against his pale hip bone. It clinked softly every time he shifted on the furs.
'It's so close,' Ren thought, clenching her hands in her lap. 'I could just grab it. Snatch and run.'
But Syris was awake. He was sitting cross-legged on the bed, watching her with the intensity of a hawk eyeing a particularly nervous field mouse.
"You are staring at my midsection," Syris noted. "Is the grief located in your eyes?"
Ren blinked, snapping her gaze up to his face. "Yes. I mean, no. I was just... thinking about how... sturdy you look. Unlike... sniff... unlike poor, sinkable Kael."
Syris puffed out his chest slightly. "I am very sturdy. I am pure muscle. And I float."
