Larkwood didn’t give a damn about what would happen in the event of a fire. We could all burn, and they’d just rebuild and start over with a fresh batch.
All of that meant the main areas of the building were lit artificially. The slight flicker of the overheadfluorescents was a constant in my life, and it drove me to this floor for the sun.
I wasn’t the only one, either.
On the other side of the large open floor sat a few other shades. They didn’t approach me, and when I’d arrived, they had actually moved away from my side of the floor. It seemed I was about as welcome as I’d been when I’d first gotten here.
Getting thrown in solitary had lessened the comments from others, but it sure hadn’t endeared me to anyone. Worse, those I ended up associating with weren’t well liked at all either.
Deacon was a guard, Kit was a teacher and seen as a turncoat, Wade was annoyingly friendly but others were terrified of him, Brax had no issue breaking bones when unhappy and he was unhappy alot,and Knox was only popular because people wanted to sleep with him.
I’d formed some sort of group for myself, but it consisted of outcasts as well.
Which meant the shades who sunbathed as well wantednothingto do with me. I was pretty sure I saw a dryad over there, a look of pure happiness on her face. Then again, if I recalled my shade-types correctly, dryads required sunlight just like plants. No doubt she had some sort of UV light in her room, but it wasn’t the same thing.
Beside her was a cat shifter, lounging on the carpet in a sunny spot just like I imagined a house cat would do. It was almost sweet.
“You know, skin cancer is a real thing.”
Wade’s voice drew a smile from me as it always did. Something about the carefree way he spoke felt as if it made the rest of the world shrink, as if he pushed away the stress just by saying something stupid.
And the things he said were nearly always stupid.
“Windows have UV protection in them to filter out the more harmful rays.”
“So no Bahama-mama golden skin for you?”
I shook my head before opening my eyes to find Wade standing beside where I’d stretched out over a few of the seats.“I just can’t get warm sometimes and need to feel the sun.”
He dropped his gaze to his own hands, to the gloves that covered him up past his shirt. I’d seen him without those gloves, but it was rare.
Then again, I’d also both gotten to witness it and had a first-person taste of what he could do if his skin touched another shade. While it hadn’t been frightening to me, watching him pull the power from an ifrit who had threatened me never went away.Wade could take down the most powerful shade with nothing more than a brush of his skin.
“Well, with porcelain skin like this, I need to keep it covered.” The words were his normal humorous ones, but I caught the waver inside them. He took a seat on the row of chairs just above where my head rested.
I shifted, wincing when my body didn’t seem to care for resting on the hard surfaces. Instead of sitting up, however, I scooted toward Wade and set my head on his lap.
“Better.”
He let out a nervous laugh. “Aren’t you cuddly? You sure this is the sort of thing for public viewing?”
I waved him off and closed my eyes again. A shadow made me snap them open, finding his hand just above me.
He moved slowly, as if giving me the chance to stop him, before he stroked his fingers through my hair. The touch was gentle, sweet.
It was strange, because in some ways it felt the most real of all my relationships. The least complicated. Wade lacked some of the defense mechanisms of the other men in my life.
Still, he spoke as if I wasn’t in his lap, as if he weren’t stroking my head. “I heard a rumor.”
I closed my eyes, and that seemed to give him the courage to keep going, as if me not looking at him or pulling away reassured him that I welcomed his touch.
“Your name is on the list for Medical in a few days.”
And there went that relaxation I’d felt.
I had finally healed from my last run-in with Medical, when they’d taken a number of punch biopsies and had drugged me to the point where Deacon had had to carry me back to my room.
I couldn’t stop the shiver that ran through me at the idea of returning there, of feeling that helpless again. Larkwood could make any shade feel as if they had no use, as if they were simple property, but nothing had dehumanized me as much as my short stay in Medical, and the drugs had stolen most of those memories from me.