On the left side, it stretches out across his stomach and disappears under his shirt, which he holds at the bottom of his ribs. White, translucent, pale … it’s the very skin we have been taught to fear for our entire lives.
‘Good Gods!’ Kay recoils, covering her mouth. ‘It’s … It’s …’
‘Growing,’ Benny finishes her sentence.
My eyes snap to his, then back to William.
‘Is he right?’ I ask, unsure why I’m even asking the question. If Benny says the pattern is growing, I have no reason not to believe him – other than I simply don’t want to. I really, really don’t want to.
‘The expansion slows down when I don’t use the magic. Or at least most of the time I think it does.’ William’s voice is so quiet I wish I had Loch’s power to hear him. ‘Sometimes it flares up and grows for no reason, but it hasn’t done that for a while.’
‘Did you know about this?’ I say, spinning around and snapping at Jonas. ‘Did you know?’
‘What? No, of course not!’
‘No one knew,’ William insisted. ‘I kept it hidden when it started. No one’s ever seen it. Not Artur, not healers. Nobody. Ever.’
‘Good,’ I say, trying to take a steadying breath. My mind is in turmoil, churning with panicked, half-formed thoughts.
With the control he has over his power, and the way he’s slipped by unnoticed for so many years, I thought William was safe here. But if those patterns become visible … if they reach his neck or his hands … if he takes an injury that requires a healer’s help … there’ll be no saving him then.
‘So, what now?’ Jonas’s voice cuts through the silence.
If getting to the Issen to get my powers under control wasn’t a priority before, it sure as hell is now.
‘This just confirms what I already knew,’ I say, looking between the group members. ‘I need to leave.’
‘Leave? No!’ Kay shakes her head. ‘No, you can’t. Rose, you’ve only just got back.We’veonly just got our lives back.’
I nearly scoff. The truth is that there’s been nowesince I won the Retterheld. No sisterly shoulder to cry on when my heart was broken. No asking how I was doing after my best friend’s death. Kay’s not even asked about my magic.
But this isn’t just Kay and me anymore. It’s about William, too.
‘If I stay, sooner or later I’m going to fuck up,’ I say simply. ‘I can’t control my magic, and I’m going to use it in the wrong place, and you’re all going to die for it.’
‘If this doesn’t get me killed before then,’ William adds with a gesture down to his stomach. ‘It seems to have been spreading faster the last couple of moons.’
My heart clenches. The last couple of moons when he was living with his sister? Could family proximity be what’s causing it to worsen? Or has he just reached the age where his Issen magic is maturing? Either way, it means we need to act. Now.
‘My baby …’ Kay whispers as if that’s the only matter that actually makes her take stock of how serious the situation is.
Benny, Caz, and Ruben exchange glances but don’t say anything, and for that I’m grateful.
All colour has drained from Kay’s face as she fumbles for her husband’s hand.
‘I won’t let anything happen to you,’ Jonas promises fiercely. ‘Either of you.’
She takes some deep breaths, looking sick. ‘So what’s next?’ Kay asks into the brittle silence. ‘What do you plan on doing, Rose?’
Fear continues to claw at my insides, but now more than ever I need to push that aside. I need to quash it. Focus on finding an answer and staying alive.
For all our sakes.
I scan the table, taking in every single person sitting there. I clear my throat. ‘I’m taking the Hirathean Path. I need to find the Issen.’
In the blink of an eye, chaos erupts.
‘You can’t be serious?’ Jonas is first with his thoughts on the matter. ‘Rose, that’s insanity. Suicide.’
