Dinner passed in a blur of conversation. Archer and Brandt finished several helpings of food before they relaxed into a guarded examination of the people sitting with us at the table. I watched them, wondering what they were seeing and hearing that I couldn't.
Jared gently refused Aeris's offer of a nightcap in Aeris's private library, saying our crew needed to rest.
I rose from the table and followed the men out of the room, but I could feel the stares grazing the back of my neck as we crossed into the hallway and walked back to the wing that housed our bedrooms.
“Goodnight–" I began, trying to turn into my bedroom, but Jared reached out and grabbed my arm.
He opened the door to his room and ushered all of us inside.
“So," Jared said, crossing the room to the bar cart along the
