World After (Penryn & the End of Days, #2)

by Susan Ee

“I’m sure a respectable modern man would turn his back so he wouldn’t see if there was a slip-up.” I nod, keeping a tight bite on my blanket. “But we’d lose our heat shelter.” He raises a wing a few inches to demonstrate. Cool air immediately touches my legs. He lowers his wing back into place again. He shrugs. “I guess you’ll just have to not slip up.” I continue to squirm, getting myself free of the left sleeve. “Don’t laugh or anything,” he says, “because that could be disastrous.” I squint at him, giving him a glare that tells him not to try to make me laugh. “Have you heard that joke about—” I rip through the flimsy dress under my blanket. It was ruined anyway. I tear it off and toss it out from beneath the blanket. It lands on top of his pants on the rug. Raffe bursts out laughing. It’s a beautiful thing—rich and carefree. It calls to me to laugh along with him. “You are so great at creative solutions,” he says still chuckling. “They usually involve ripping, tearing, kicking, or stabbing, but they’re creative.” I let go of the blanket with my teeth now that I can hold it securely around me with my hands. “I just got tired of the wetness sticking to me, that’s all. I think I was pretty safe from the threat of your joke being funny.” “I’m wounded by your comment,” he says with a smile. The word “wounded” echoes in my head, and I see it does in his, too, because his smile fades. “What happened back there at the old aerie? I saw you get stung by the scorpion. I watched y...