“What?” Shock radiates through my body like tidal waves.
“Tail,” Absinthe whispers towards me, and I tuck my tail closely to my body. Fucking asshole of an appendage, giving away my every emotion.
Reina stands and pushes off of the table, tears lining her eyes.
“Fangs, it wouldn’t be real, and it would only be temporary,” Draven tries to assure her. “Tempest is a lesbian. You’d have nothing to worry about.”
A lesbian.I won’t look too hard at why my heart quickens.
“You say this now, but can you promise it?” Reina’s voice is shrill. She doesn’t seem comforted by the use of her teenage nickname. If anything, it sets her further on edge.
“We cannot promise anything,” Luc answers, and Draven shoots him a look.
“Would you marry Gemma off to someone else?” Reina asks, tears lining her widened eyes.
We all watch as Draven looks up at her with pleading eyes. “Gemma is my wife?—”
“No, you wouldn’t. Luc, would you marry Lilian off?”
I can feel my heart hammering in my chest. Reina said the quiet part out loud, and I fear the repercussions if she doesn’t take it back.
“Lilian is already married,” Luc says through gritted teeth, his eyes piercing as he stares back at her.
“And see how it destroys you? Every day you regret your decision not to tell her,” Reina says, and it’s unnecessarily cruel, even for her. “If you can’t understand why I object to this, I’m not sure I can be a part of this fucked up team any longer.”
And with that, she storms out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
This would change the entire trajectory of Khalid’s life. He would become not only a political pawn, but an important member of felion society, a role he did not ask to be forced into. And his relationship with Reina would end, at least for now.
“Reina,” Gemma calls out, but Draven places a hand on her thigh.
Draven’s expression is pained, like he’s trying to sort through every possible scenario and can’t seem to come up with one where the turf war ends and his relationship with his sister doesn’t. I feel for him, I do.
I need to speak with Khalid, and preferably before Reina does.I have an idea.
Movement No. 3
Yasmeena
When we return to Hel’s Carnival, Khalid and Reina are nowhere to be found. I check their tent, expecting to see clothes strewn about and empty spaces where bags and suitcases once were, but their room is just as it was when we left this morning.
I check in with Robyn, who reaffirms they couldn’t have gone far, but it does nothing to squash the anxiety festering in my chest.
“I’m almost certain they’re just talking by the lake. Give them time,” Draven tells Gemma and me as we get back to our tents.
The midday sun hangs high in the sky. Camp is empty this time of day, the other carnies busy working the stands and rides at the carnival. I know I should get back to work, but the rage bubbling in my stomach says otherwise.
“Fine,” I say, even though I feel anything but fine.
The lie tastes bitter on my tongue, but I don’t have the energy to explain to my equally traumatized friends that I’m a little over everything lately. I lost my parents, I can’t afford to lose my brother too. I’ve just never had the time to relax. Not in years, at least.
When I was born, I was the only child to two loving parentswho doted on me and gave me everything they could. They eventually had my brother, and we spent many years happy and normal. Governor Cavan took that from me—from us. He assigned my parents to work as divers, mining for minerals, and it was there they died. I was thirteen. Fifteen years have gone by, and yet it still feels like yesterday.
I can still smell my mother’s perfume.
Khalid and I worked as divers for a few years too, but we were lucky enough to become street performers, and eventually escape to Hel’s Carnival, where demons and half-demons, felion, humans, and hybrids can live in harmony.
I’ve gotten close to certain people—Lilian is my best friend, Reina and Gemma and Absinthe are my friends and confidantes, and even Draven has grown on me. I’d consider him a friend as well.
