My throat tightened.
"...Yeah."
"Okay. I'm hanging up. Rest. Call me next Sunday or I'm telling my nurse you have a boyfriend."
"I don't have a—"
The screen went black.
I stared at it for three seconds. Then slowly turned my head.
Vane's position hadn't changed. Arms folded, face down. But his eyes were open. Gold, catching the light. Soft. Not the teasing soft or the careful soft. Something unguarded, like I'd caught him in a room he didn't know had windows.
"Egomaniac?"
My face ignited.
"How long have you been awake."
"Long enough to hear you tell your sister I'm awful."
"That was weeks ago. Context has changed."
He straightened. Slow. That unhurried ease that made every movement look deliberate. He leaned closer.
"How has it changed?"
I turned red from my collarbones to th
