He turned to scrutinise the pair a bit more, a grimace on his face. Romy sighed in relief, glad she wasn’t the only one weirded out by how they were acting.

Thrym held out a drink to her. She took it with a smile.

“Ro, you look. . . .”

“Ridiculous?” she supplied, sipping from her cup.

“Stunning,” he breathed.

Her cheeks grew warm at his reverent tone. And she felt Deimos’s eyes on them. Romy cleared her throat, wiping the back of her palm against her lips. “Thanks.” No way was she going to look at Thrym right now.

“Rosemary, my flower, would you care for a stroll amongst the lanterns?” Deimos bowed before her and she giggled as he dragged her away.

He waited approximately five seconds. “What the hell is going on?”

It was like a dam burst inside of her. The burning in her chest was almost painful as she realised how much she’d missed Deimos. “You know those pesky things called hormones?” she started.

Deimos spun her to face him. Romy’s eyes flicked down. A white bandage stuck up over the neckline of his woven shirt. His intelligent green eyes sparkled. “Yes,” he said in a low voice. “They’re . . . hormonal for each other?”

Romy tucked away her smile. “Well, I don’t know really. They alternate between being angry and confused. I’m not sure if it’s attraction, or just a change in their relationship.”

Deimos’s face screwed up, reflecting exactly how Romy felt about the matter. “Sick!” he yelled.

Romy covered his mouth with her hand, laughter hovering on the edge of her lips. “Shh.”

Deimos was shaking his head in denial. “Uh-uh, there’s no way.”

A lump formed in her throat. “Dei?” she said. The handsome man she deemed a brother peered down at her. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

He pulled her in for another tight hug. “No doubt. Especially with the way Thrym is looking at you.”

Romy winced. “That bad?”

“Kind of like you’re chocolate cake.”

Romy gripped his arm. “What do I do about it?”

The pair looked at each other in bafflement.

“I’m pulling up blank,” Deimos admitted, “but I’ll put my mind to it. Don’t know why he’s so fixated on you, with all the pretty girls around. I mean you’re hot, Ro—no doubt. But you’re hot in a ‘touch my sister and I end your life’ kind of way.”

Romy’s eyes lit with mirth. “Thanks. I think.”

“Who is that?” he breathed. Romy followed his line of sight to Tina.

“That’s Tina. She doesn’t like me.”

Deimos immediately turned his eyes to an exotic dark-skinned girl in an orange dress.