Show yourself to the wrong person, and you’ll be hacked into pieces. Sold on the black market.
That’s the reason Baze was hiding. The reason I haven’t seen more of my people around.
They’re either scared to show themselves …
Or they’re dead.
My gaze drops to a nick in my thigh, almost the exact spot as the wound Kai healed with his tongue—directly above the heart-shaped birthmark that’s strangely absent without my mask.
I watch the opaline substance dribble from the hurt, captivated by the liquid shimmering with light of its own, leaving a soft rainbow smear that paints over the red.
That pretty shade of pink I loved so much when I dripped my blood into the water I gifted Rhordyn … it seems eventhatwas a lie.
Enry crouches before me.
I blink, and his gaze chases a rogue tear rolling down my cheek.
“May I?” With my nod, his hand drifts up, catching the bead. The pad of his thumb comes away glistening, and he stirs it through the water blushed from my wounds. After using the cotton cloth to dab at the cut on my leg, he drops that in the bowl of water and stands. “Be right back.”
A chill hits when he swings the door open, and I wait, listening to the shrill metallic taps of Gun fixing my necklace.
When Enry returns, he’s carrying some waxy material, some string, and a small terra-cotta pot the size of a mug, filled to the brim with soil. He kneels, scooping his hand into the blushed water, dribbling some atop the soil before wrapping it into a well-contained package he offers me.
Frowning, I take it, seeing a soft smile touch his lips. “You are light, my love. Light and life and all that is good.” He sets his hands around mine, his touch warm and grounding, palms smooth. “Thatis what you cling to.”
I nod, even though the words feel like another skin that doesn’t fit right.
Gun casts me in his big shadow, necklace in hand. “May I?”
“Let me just …” I clear my throat and reach for my knapsack, easing the package into it, “put this away.”
I look down at my hands as Gun pushes my hair to the side and threads the chain around my neck, clipping it in place.
My mask suctions to my polished skin, painting me in the lie.
I watch the pearlescent shine drain from my hair, the heavy locks tinting gold. Watch the blood oozing from the hurt in my leg begin to bleed red, blotting the evidence with my cloak.
I look up to see them watching on, Gun rubbing at his stubble while Enry shakes his head, one hand on his hip, the other cupping his mouth.
A distant knock splits the silence, and I look to the door, white-knuckling my towel—feeling just as bare as I did the moment I climbed from that brook, despite the wet layers of clothing and my reconstructed mask.
Gun frowns, speaking to Enry in hushed tones. “Relieve Della of the parcel and send her on her way.”
“That’s going to go down like a bag of horse manure.” Enry snorts. “Do you even know your sister?” He shakes a hand, muttering as he clicks the door shut behind himself.
Gun rubs at the stubble on his jaw again and lets out a deep sigh. “Gonna grab some ointment for your knuckles,” he says, moving toward a cupboard at the back of the room. “I’m sure Enry stashed something in there one time.”
The door shoves open so fast it cracks against the back wall, and Zane spills in like a ray of sunshine and mischief, making my heart lurch into my throat.
“How did you get here so fast?”
“Back window,” Zane boasts, dashing toward me as I tuck my hair behind my ear and try to smooth it down so I don’t look as frightening as I feel.
Shaking his head, Gun pulls the cupboard open, disappearing inside it with a lantern. Zane stands before me, pushing the flop of hair from his worried eyes. His gaze bounces across my split knuckles, down to the bowl of bloody water now stained with a hint of shimmer.
I open my mouth to speak. To ask him how he is; tell him I missed him; that I’ve got something special at the palace I can’t wait to gift him—
“What’s happened?” he blurts before I have the chance, wearing a look that makes him appear so much older than he is. A look that reminds me of my brother—of the way he tucked me against the wall beneath the table after holding me close and saying he’d look after me.
