She looks at him curiously.‘Are you a Brightling, Jules?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Blood is the great mess maker, isn’t it?Of all that we share in this world, these bodies of star-matter forged with consciousness, it’s blood that carries somuchof who we are.There’s love in all of it.’
‘Was there love in you when you betrayed Lachlan?’
‘Only he would see it that way.My sister and I had been waiting for one like him.We thought we’d never find the solution, and then one day… he bubbles to the surface.’She smiles with distant fondness to herself.‘Nothing makes a mess like blood.’She lightly touches fingertips to his face, free hand grasping his wrist for a brief squeeze.‘It was so good to see you again, darling boy.Thank you.’
She steps away.His hand suddenly feels light.
Shit.Kade looks down at his veryemptyhand and when he looks back up, she’s unsurprisingly gone.
‘Oh, fucking hell.’
?
‘Explain it to me again.’
‘I was just stalling for time!’
‘Explain to me—’
‘Stoptalking to me like I’m stupid!’
‘—why you didn’t go after her once she took it.’
Kade snarls through clenched teeth.
They’re talking in Riley’sroom for once, the highest point of the Tower barring the roof, but Kade’s never been up there.Kade hates being in here, knows a prison when he sees one, no matter how gilded or comfortable.
Or up until recently, he thought he did.
‘You didn’t see her.’Kade paces while Riley sits on the end of his bed.‘She was like a more terrifying version of Lee who is already pretty fucking scary!’
‘Did you look inside the book?’
‘No, but she told me about the thing.’
‘Thething.’
Kade decides not to hold back.
‘Your curse.The… theDeath Knot.’ He watches closely for a reaction, gets nothing more than Riley cutting his gaze away sharply so pushes on.‘She told me that you and I are bound.If I get hurt, you’re hurt too, right?’
Riley sighs through his nose.His knuckles are still red.
Kade is replaying all other times he’s been injured.
Was Rileyfeeling and healingthose too?
‘What else did she—?’
‘Is it true?’
Riley nods.
‘Say it then.’
