Imagining only hurt.
“The journal is this way.”
Shaw continued down the hall and rounded the corner without glancing back to see if she followed. Lux did, though slowly, and looked everywhere but his naked back. She’dcriedin front of him.What an idiot, you are.She passed into his main room, where a small wood stove sat and an ancient kettle trilled a high whistle to greet her.
Since Shaw had already escaped to his bedroom, she swiped up the cloth on the counter and moved the kettle from the heat. Tea.She’d half-expected him to rise to a pint of ale. Lux studied the teacup set out for his use, delicately painted with woodland animals so real she saw them wriggle their noses back at her.
“Did you get lost?”
She startled, clattering the cup to the worn counter. She hadn’t meant to pick it up. “No. Your water was hot.” When he didn’t speak, she glanced over her shoulder in time to catch his sardonic expression. She scowled, turning entirely. “And I was admiring your teacup.”
His expression faded to smooth indifference as he strode toward her. His eyes refused to leave hers as he reached around her body, his newly donned sleeve brushing against hers, before returning to his side with the cup in hand. Her forearm tingled. She ignored it.
He pressed the book to her chest, and her hands reached to clasp it. “The journal. As promised.” He backed away, pouring a cup of tea, the steam wafting upward in twining tendrils. “Would you like one?”
She’d planned to say no. “Yes.”
With a tight-lipped smile, he gestured above her, and she followed it to the three remaining cups hanging from rusted hooks. They were really much too beautiful for such things. She chose one painted with various birds in flight, soaring beneath rays of yellows and oranges. Running a thumb over their fluttering wings, she turned toward him.
“Have a seat.”
She sat, holding a beautiful, empty teacup across from Shaw, and for the life of her, unable to think of a thing to say. Stacks of small boxes rested between them, and he sifted through the lot.
“You have a lot of teas.”
His eyes lifted. “Yes.” Raising the lid of one, he held it out to her. “Black vesper?”
“Yes, please.” He spooned aromatic leaves into an infuser, pouring the kettle immediately following. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Silence ensued, the weighted awkwardness of their forced politeness stretching without end in sight. Lux could hardly stand it. She watched him shrug suspenders over his shoulders, his lashes lowering as he drank from his cup. Her foot began to tap a disjointed rhythm, and she thought,This boy? This boy paints dreams?
She said the first thought that came to mind after that. “What must you do to bring them to life?” She tapped the teacup’s edge, and Shaw followed the gesture.
“I drip my blood into the pigments while mixing. They remain this way only while I live.”
Lux’s mouth gaped, horrified. “You usebloodfor your brilliance?” The muscles in Shaw’s jaw twitched at her expression, and only too late did she realize he’d lied. “I despise you.”
“No blood. I only whisper sweet words to them, and they respond.”
Knowing he probably lied again—what sweet words could he even know?—Lux seethed, her spine straightening in her chair. “Anyone die by your knife last night?”
Over a long sip of strong tea, she watched his eyes shadow, though not in the anger she expected from her goading. “No. Not last night.”
She carefully replaced her cup on the table.
His eyes flicked down her face, finger tracing the rim of his own cup. “That child. The grief. How you allowed the father to work off his debt. I couldn’t put it out of my head.”
“You were eavesdropping?”
He scoffed. “It would have been impossible not to.”
“Not if you’d left when you were supposed to.”
His brows slashed downward. “I wished she weren’t the exception. That all the poor of Ghadra could choose to utilize your services if they wanted. It was gut-wrenching to overhear.”
Lux slowly placed her palms flat upon the table, fingertips blanched white. “Shaw, do you have the slightest idea what ingredients are required for the enchantment?” He opened his mouth, only to shake his head. No, of course he didn’t. “I just discovered my only source of howler caninesdied. They’re the most expensive, as they’re the hardest to get. And if you’re not brought to me before your eighth hour, they’reessential.If I’m to be free to revive all of Ghadra, how do you suggest I procure the funds? Hunt and harvest them myself?”
