There was a gleam in the boy’s eye, a coy curl to the corner of his lips that suggested a very particular kind of entertainment.

“No!” Jude blurted, flinching back. “I mean. That’s quite all right, thank you. I’m fine.”

The boy shrugged one shoulder, his bare skin golden in the low light. “Suit yourself.”

The gesture reminded Jude so viscerally of Anton, it stole the breath from his lungs.

“So this is where you’ve been going off to?” a familiar voice said incredulously.

Jude leapt to his feet as Hector shouldered his way through the front doorway.

“This really isn’t what I was expecting.” Hector’s gaze swept the room with suspicion. A girl draped over the windowsill flicked her eyes back at Hector with interest.

Jude’s jaw clenched. “What are you doing here? Did you follow me?”

“I was worried,” Hector replied, striding toward him. “And I have to say, if this is what you’ve been up to, I think I’m right to be.”

Jude flushed. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

A few of the others, who weren’t otherwise engaged, snuck not so subtle glances, clearly amused by whatever drama they assumed was unfolding.

Hector seemed to realize the notice they’d garnered and lowered his voice as he stopped in front of Jude. “Look, I’m not judging you. I get it. Sort of. Grief can make you do things you usually wouldn’t—”

“It’s really not what you think,” Jude replied, desperate not to let Hector finish that thought. “Just—I’ll explain later, all right?”

“So will it be the two of you, or…?”

A girl appeared from behind the curtain, leaning against the doorway with one hip cocked, eyeing Hector and Jude. She was dressed in far plainer clothes than the others, simple gray trousers and a pale blue tunic. Jude watched an uncharacteristic blush spread across Hector’s cheeks.

Jude wished dearly to bury himself in the earth. Suddenly the prospect of Hector learning the true reason he’d come here didn’t seem so bad.

“For Keric’s sake,” Jude muttered, rubbing his temple as he made up his mind. “Come on, then.”

“What?” Hector balked, his voice going high and strained. “Jude, I don’t—”

“Just—come with me. You want to know what I’ve been up to? I’ll show you.”

Hector still looked extremely wary, but Jude blustered past him, nodding at the girl who turned and led him through the satin curtains. A moment later, Jude heard a low curse followed by Hector’s hurried steps behind him.