~TORIN~
I’d wanted to make it to my room before Marlowe saw me. That was the plan.
Change the shirt. Wash my hands. Scrub the dirt out from under my nails. Get the smell off me before she ever had the chance to catch it.
Yeah. That lasted about three seconds.
The noise dipped when I’d stepped into the common room. A laugh cut short. A head turned and turned back too fast. Someone muttered something that didn’t quite land.
Marlowe noticed. Her eyes went straight to the blood first. Then my hands. Then my face. She cataloged it all in under a breath. I watched her do it. Watched the concern flash, then sharpen into anger.
I knew I’d made it worse when I’d said it wasn’t mine. I’d seen the way her stomach tightened at that. The way her jaw set harder. Didn’t matter. Knowing wasn’t the s
