Kalilah POV

My heart was beating in my chest when I returned to my room.

He made his interest in me officially known, trying to make a move on me, but I was still caught up on his earlier words—about how I needed to pull my own weight. The way he’d said it, sharp and cold, followed by that sudden closeness, the touch, the whisper…

Was he trying to say I had to sleep with him in exchange for staying here?

My stomach turned.

No. That wasn’t something I was willing to do. Not for shelter. Not for safety. Not for him.

I would scrub every floor in this place....