Trial By Fire (Going Down in Flames #3)(8)

Garret laughed.

“What’s funny?” Jaxon asked.

“The way you make it sound like you’re letting me leave and kicking me out at the same time. It’s amusing.” Garret dropped his hand from Rhianna’s shoulder. “Some of the walking wounded are meeting for coffee this Wednesday night in the dining hall, if you want to join us. It’s kind of a support group.”

“I’d like that.”

Unable to help herself, Bryn spoke in a singsong voice, “Garret just made a date with your girlfriend.”

Garret laughed again. “That’s even funnier.” Then he headed out the front door.

Rhianna blushed. She walked over to Jaxon and took his hand. “Are you jealous of Garret?”

“No,” Jaxon said, and then he kissed her.

“Gross.” Bryn covered her eyes and headed for her own room. She changed out of her school clothes into black yoga pants and a purple T-shirt. Then she sorted through her homework and laid out her clothes for the morning and waited for some sort of all clear sign so she wouldn’t accidentally see more of Jaxon and Rhianna making out.

Tap. Tap.

“Come in.”

Rhianna peeked inside. “Jaxon is gone.”

“I can’t believe he was jealous of Garret.”

A sly smile blossomed on Rhianna’s face. “Do you have any idea how often I’ve had to watch girls flirt with him?”

The concept of being attracted to Jaxon was beyond Bryn. “Serves him right.”

“He’s going to call when he has news of the investigation.” Her smile dimmed. “I guess I should go see what I can salvage from my closet.”

“Don’t bother. You can borrow a pair of my pajamas and sleep in here.”

“Thanks.”

“Did you call my grandmother yet?”

Rhianna nodded. “Jaxon spoke to your grandfather, too.”

“What did he have to say?”

“The words I heard coming through the phone aren’t words I’d repeat.” Rhianna frowned. “He was more worried about the anti-Directorate sentiment than the fact that I was targeted.”

“Sounds like my grandfather.”

…

The next morning, Bryn and Rhianna flew down to breakfast together. By unspoken agreement, they parted company at the buffet line, Bryn went to eat with her friends, and Rhianna went to eat with Jaxon.

Over French toast and coffee, Bryn filled in Clint and Ivy on what she’d found the night before.

“That’s weird,” Ivy said. “A Blue wouldn’t normally do something so…normal.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’d expect Blues to pull high class pranks. Like delivering expensive gifts with paint bombs inside of them or something,” Clint said. “Regular graffiti seems so middle class.”

True. “I don’t think anyone but a Blue could walk into the dorm unnoticed.” But a hybrid who could manipulate Quintessence to control their coloring probably could. She couldn’t mention that to her friends without explaining she’d seen other hybrids in Dragon’s Bluff the night it had been attacked, but sharing that information might endanger them. So she kept the idea to herself.

…

When she returned to her room after the last class of the day, Bryn found her grandmother sitting at the table in the living room pointing and giving orders. Rhianna sat next to her flipping through wallpaper swatches.

Two men had dismantled Rhianna’s bed and were in the process of leaning it against the far wall by one of the roll top desks. “What’s going on?” Bryn asked.

“There you are.” Her grandmother pointed at the empty spot on the couch beside her. “Come pick out your new wallpaper.”

“Not that I plan on arguing, but why am I picking out new paper when you’re redoing Rhianna’s room?”

“If I’m redecorating Rhianna’s room, I might as well redo yours so the decor is cohesive.”

Sure. That made sense. “Sounds like fun.”

“I like this one.” Rhianna pointed to a swatch of pale gray wallpaper that looked like silk.

“It’s pretty,” Bryn said. “But it looks more like a comforter than wallpaper.”

“This is the bedding I’d recommend.” Her grandmother flipped through another sample book. Swatches of material flashed by, until her grandmother stopped on a robin’s egg blue silk with a silver gray floral pattern.

Rhianna sucked in a breath. “I love that.”

Crap. Bryn was going to be stuck in a girly-girl room.

“I thought you might like this one.” Her grandmother turned the page and pointed at a sky blue silk with a silver gray stripe.

“I do like that.” Bryn had caught sight of another pattern a few pages back. She reached over and flipped pages until she came to the one she wanted. It was charcoal gray with silver and sky blue stripes. “I like this one, too.”

“It’s a bit masculine.” Her grandmother flipped through a few more swatches and stopped on a silver gray comforter with the faintest navy pinstripe. “How about this?”

“I like that.”

Men exited Rhianna’s room carrying buckets of red rags. “Were they able to clean the walls?”