It was his birthday today—his and Moses’—but had they celebrated it the night before? It didn’t really seem like they celebrated anything. They just performed for the cameras and then went to sleep.
She pulled up a message to Theodore, but then found herself stuck, realising that if she sent a private message to Theodore, she would have to send a private message to Moses. She switched to the group chat.
What should she say?
Kilian’s chin brushed her head as he looked down at what she was doing, and she completely lost her nerve. There were a dozen things she wanted to say to Theodore, but not too many sentiments for his brother.
She dropped her phone with a small huff, glancing over to Elijah, who was jotting things down on his tablet with an electronic pen, flicking his attention back to the movie every now and then. He was sitting closest to her on the perpendicular couch, his elbow notched on the armrest, close enough for her to reach out and tap hesitantly.
“Would you mind if I borrowed that when you’re finished?” she asked, leaning toward him as much as she could without testing whether too much movement would hurt her stomach or not.
“This?” He held up the tablet, a blond brow quirking in surprise.
She promised, “Just for a little bit.”
His attention switched between his screen and her face a few times, and then he tapped on it and handed it over.
“Thanks, Elijah.”
His other brow jumped up at the sound of his first name. “So casual, all of a sudden.”
“Do you mind?” She set the tablet on the arm of the couch, gently trying to shift her position to lean over it slightly, accepting the pen he handed over.
“I might.” He didn’t sound like he did. “But what will I call you? We’re running out of petting zoo animals.”
Gabriel scoffed, his eyes still fixed to the screen.
Oscar flicked dark eyes to Elijah, but it was impossible to tell if he was frowning because of what Elijah had said, or if that was just his relaxed face.
“Petting zoo animals?” Theodore asked distractedly, paying more attention to the movie than to their conversation.
“Rabbit and puppy,” Kilian supplied.
Elijah was watching her too carefully for him to be teasing her. It was like she had taken away his main source of entertainment, so he had turned his intellect on her instead. He was poking at her like she was a trick puzzle he had only three minutes to solve, and he was happy to break her apart if he could still get to her secret centre.
For a moment, she was buffeted by the weirdness of her own thoughts, but then she realised his agitation was itching at her chest, his fingers twitching for his phone like he needed something else to do now that she had taken his tablet.
“I’m just going to draw something,” she said, cocking her head at him, her hair falling over his screen.
His brow smoothed out, moving on from their brief exchange as though they had just had one of those silent conversations he and Gabriel had all the time.
Oh my god. Maybe they had.
He reached over, gathering her hair in his hand. She thought he was just moving it off the screen of his tablet, but he held onto it loosely as he leaned closer, pushing up his reading glasses with his other hand before tapping on his tablet, bringing up a sketching app for her.
He released her without a word when Oscar turned in the opposite direction, his head by Gabriel’s thigh as he kicked his feet up into Elijah’s lap, his eyes switching between Elijah and her. Elijah shoved his legs off with a disgusted murmur; Oscar immediately pulled them back up again, and then they were smiling and kicking each other with a little too much force, until Gabriel joined in, shoving Oscar off the couch.
Isobel bit back her smirk because she wasn’t confident she wouldn’t face retaliation if Oscar caught sight of it. She turned her attention to her task and began sketching a rough outline.
Drawing had never been one of her strengths, but there wasn’t a single artistic pursuit that her father hadn’t provided tutoring for, so she at least had the basics down. She detailed a bouquet of flowers, slowly losing herself in the task. Theodore was bold and charming, wily and roguish, only sometimes allowing her to glimpse the wide-eyed boy from her first year at Ironside.
She drew savage desert flowers and dark thorns, stems tangling in twine, fraying in places where the thorns cut like talons. But she added softness, too: sprays of delicate buds, wild like weeds, and puffs of pale, frothy colour.
It wasn’t a typically beautiful bouquet, but it was compelling. Hard to look away from. Just like Theodore.
“Beautiful,” Kilian whispered, his arm stretching out onto the table as he leaned down beside her.
She smiled to herself, saving the image, and starting on the second one. She thought it would be difficult, but it wasn’t. Moses wasn’t all that bad. He was tough and prickly, but he was also playful and flippant, fiercely loyal to his brother and his friends. She paused to pull up her phone, googling which flowers were associated with loyalty.
Iris.
She outlined a bunch of irises, using them as the base of her arrangement and colouring them a deep, midnight blue. She added wildflowers of every colour, bright and dramatic, untamed and threatening to burst from the confines of the twine she drew around them. Dark thorns popped up in between vivid flashes of colour, completing the image.
“Who are these for?” Kilian whispered, reminding her that he was still curled around, her, still leaning with her, like he didn’t want her out of the cocoon of his embrace.
“What are you two whispering about?” Theodore grumbled.
Kilian’s body jolted, Theodore jostling him from the other side.
“Nothing,” she said, sending both images to her phone before turning off the tablet and sliding it across the table, back to Elijah. “For their birthdays,” she added lowly to Kilian, as she gently pulled herself back up, careful not to move the hot water bottle too much.
Kilian pulled up with her, and she realised the credits on the movie were rolling. Cian, Moses, and Niko jumped up, slipping back into a bickering match over all the “special privileges” Cian was managing to wrangle out of the officials. Oscar rolled off the couch, stretching out his whole body before leaning over Isobel and snatching the Twizzler she had been idly sucking on while she had sketched right out of her mouth.
“Night, rabbit.” He bopped her on the nose with it before sticking the still-damp end between his teeth and stalking out of the room.
She immediately swiped at her nose, wrinkling it like … like a … like a rabbit.
Theodore, who had been watching her, choked on a sudden laugh, and tried to cover it up by taking a massive swig from his water bottle. He stood, obviously thinking heavily about something as he looked down at her.
“How you feeling, pretty girl?”
Like ass. “Awesome.”
His brows grew heavier, his eyes narrowing.
“Kalen and Mikki are going to want to have a quick word with you before you go to bed,” Elijah warned, standing to help Gabriel, who had started collecting all the stray cushions with a frown on his face.
“Oh … okay.” She set the hot water bottle aside and opened the blanket, testing out how easy it was to stand.
Gabriel stopped what he was doing, the rest of them watching her as she shot out a hand, Kilian easily catching her as he stood behind her. Her head swam dizzily for a moment, but there was no debilitating clench of pain. It had dulled to a faint throb at some point, probably because of the medication Gabriel had given her.