That wasn’t stopping me from rushing through the house and down the stairs toward her room. I had emotions I needed to talk through, even if I wasn’t sure how I was going to explain them to her while withholding pertinent information.

Mei-Ling and Tai had been given their own rooms downstairs. Tegan insisted their safety required them to remain in Eden, and therefore they needed rooms without windows. None of us were complaining. We were just happy they were here. Tai was upstairs in the living room with his aunt. I’d spotted them looking at something on Tai’s phone and laughing. It was probably pictures from the years she’d missed with them.

At the base of the stairs sat the infirmary rooms, so I made a sharp turn to head down the hallway that led to the guest rooms. Aside from Mei-Ling and Tai, there were only a few people whose rooms were down here. Basically, anyone who lived with The Coven that wasn’t Marked. So Warner and Lennox, and I suspected now Malik, Saber, and Aunt Shi-Shi. Everest had taken my room with me. Landreia lived with her soulmate, Kenneth, in their library penthouse. Katherine had unofficially moved into Tim’s room upstairs. Daniel had always been up with Constance. Mona was in Kessler’s room. The dragons slept outside, and Myrtle remained in the infirmary. Once Esther woke, I’d ensure she got a room here too. We were going to need her close by.

Esther. My heart sank thinking about my friend who’d sacrificed herself for Tegan. I was so damn proud of her, but I felt horrible for her parents. They hadn’t left her side since. I was so busy thinking about Esther that I didn’t stop to knock on Mei-Ling’s door, I just quietly turned the doorknob and pushed it open. It wasn’t until the dim golden light from her candles swept over my feet in the dark hallway that I realized there was music playing.

A soft moan sliced through the music.

I stopped short, my gaze snapping directly toward the source of the sound. The hallway lights had been off, and everyone was upstairs so it was quiet, which meant neither light nor sound signaled that someone had entered the room. I knew I needed to leave, to look away, yet like a victim of Medusa’s stare I was frozen like a statue.

Mei-Ling was on her back, her pale arms and legs a sharp contrast to the pretty dark brown skin of Malik’s as her body wrapped around his. Her fingernails dug into his bare back as he rolled his hips into her, his thrusts matching her every moan. She threw her head back with her eyes squeezed shut and screamed his name.