Chapter 69

“Is that why the phosphorescent color?” I said, with a stutter.

“Yeah.” Ivan looked at me, his brow furrowed more than before. “Johanna, are you cold?”

“Um… no?” I lied, trying with all my might to put on a guilty smile.

He growled low in his throat, and I gritted my teeth.

Nika walked up to us and interrupted her leader with a clearing of her throat, preventing him from speaking:

“It’s better if we shut up; we’re already very close to the house. I see the lights of the fire department.”

I couldn’t help but think that she had interrupted us on purpose, but why bother? Something very true was that if I started talking, I wasted my breath and got tired faster when walking, so I preferred to listen. However, I realized that Ivan was annoyed by the interruption and was still watching me from the side, uneasy, as we discreetly approached the area where my house used to be. Yes, maybe I was freezing, but what was he going to do about it?

I didn’t