Page 69 of Forge the Blade

Rei pressed his palm to his chest, rubbing at it. His heart was beating too fast. So many years and he hadn’t seen his chosen brothers. To be this close . . .

“How close would I be to them?”

“You’d be part of the crew. I’m running costumes. You could help me or help someone else as well.”

Rei closed his eyes, feeling his pulse beat. “I haven’t . . . been with outsiders . . . since I was sold.”

“You’ve traveled and assisted Sev in public.”

Rei nodded. “But he knows what I am. I’m still his slave, even then.”

“And you’re still his slave now.”

“I don’t know if I can,” Rei whispered, starting to lean back. “I’m not . . .”

Ellisandre reached out, steadying and catching him all in one motion. “Rei.”

Rei met Ellisandre’s eyes. They were wide, larger than he’d realized and softer than he’d seen before.

“This is their first music video without Bak. This is their journey to freedom. This is all of yours’ journey away from the man who’s controlled your lives for the last decade and a half or more. You should be there, with them, even if they don’t know it’s you.”

Tears sprang up in Rei’s eyes.

Ellisandre reached into their pocket. “I got Jun to give me a copy of the lyrics. He wrote them.”

“Jun writes most of the lyrics,” Rei whispered.

“And you used to write a third of them. They used your songs in their debut, you know.”

He did know. It had made him cry when he’d finally heard the album. He rubbed at his eyes and took the paper. The title “Raw” was scrawled in Jun’s handwriting across the top. The rest was typed up and printed.

I was a sarcophagus of un-screamed screams

So many fears, so many years

When I cry, my tears will taste like wine

Aged beneath the yoke

of all the world’s stage against my throat.

* * *

Chorus 1:

It’s raw, the way you let me bleed

It’s wrong! The way you cut me, see!

Before you I was a seed.

Germinated on all their greed

Now I bleed and you let me be

A perfect wound, a fallen free

Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!