Kael closed his eyes and pressed both palms against his face.
"She thought we were in a committed domestic arrangement. The fucking part was implied."
Nicholas's shoulders were shaking. His face was doing something between a smile and the wreckage of one.
He looked at Kael the way a man looks at another man he has just decided to stop fighting, and the decision wasn't surrender. It was strategy. The most important kind. The kind where two people realize the game they're playing has a common enemy and the common enemy is the distance between them and the woman they both want to protect.
"She's going to remember," Kael said. "Eventually. The memories are going to come back."
"Agreed."
"Which means we stop being idiots."
"You first."
Kael snorted. "Fair."
"This doesn't mean I like you," Nicholas said.
"Christ, no. I can barely look at you without wanting to throw a chair. You're all doom and gloom and responsibility with a side of martyrdom. No thank you. Pass."
