Dylan finally placed a hand over his chest. "Charlotte."
"Yes, Dylan?~"
"I have seen beauty before deployment, and now death no longer frightens me."
Maxwell blinked, then seemed to remember himself and looked away. "That is the stupidest thing you have said this morning."
"It is early."
Charlotte's eyes flicked to Maxwell with delighted cruelty. "Careful, Max. You were silent for a moment too."
"I was not."
"You absolutely were."
"I was thinking."
"About?"
Maxwell's mouth opened.
Nothing useful came out.
Charlotte's smile sharpened. "How adorable."
Asher muttered, "This is already unbearable."
Charlotte turned her gaze toward him. "And yet you looked too."
"I looked because someone arrived."
"Of course."
"I did not look like them."
"Them?" she asked, glancing at the boys who still pretended not to stare. "No, you tried harder to hide it. Very dignified."
Asher's jaw tightened. "Keep talking and I will ask the Warden to take me first."
