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“Is that so wrong?” Hunched near the sink, he seemed so much smaller than she had ever seen him before. “I’m not asking for marriage, Lila. I just want to be with you. I want it so much that it hurts. I don’t understand what’s wrong. You highborns have relationships all the time. Why not with me?”
“I don’t have relationships with people I don’t trust. You want to know why I thought you might have been involved with Peter? How about the fact that you try and steal from me every chance you get? How about the fact that you tried to break into my palm—”
“Not this again. I told you, I never asked Reaper to break into it.”
“Then why did you have it?”
Tristan opened his mouth, then shut it again. “Forget it.” He reached out to turn the lock on the door.
“Don’t contact me—”
Tristan whipped around. “Screw you, Lila. You want to know why I took your stupid palm? I wanted something of yours. That’s all it ever was. It was an id
iotic, pathetic snap decision that I wish I could take back, but I never even turned the damn thing on. If I could do it all over again, I’d take your scarf. It was just a palm. You’re rich. I figured you’d just buy a new one. How could I have known you’d be so attached to the damn thing?”
“You expect me to believe that? When you can’t stop taking my jammer every time—”
“I’m a better thief than that, chief. If I wanted your jammer, I could have had it.”
“Then why do you do it?”
He shrugged. “It’s funny.”
Lila stood up and slipped on her red jacket. “Funny? I’m so glad that I entertain you.” She whipped her blackcoat around her shoulders. “I find you funny too, you know. Funny that you’d use my unconscious body as bait for Bullstow, and just a few hours later, you want to use it for something else entirely. Who does that? Who looks down at someone they claim to care about and does something like that?”
She hadn’t meant to say it out loud, hadn’t wanted to admit to it.
Her Colt and short sword lay on the counter in the back of the room, but before she could get to them, two arms circled her, pinning hers to her sides. “It wasn’t like that,” Tristan said, laying his head on her shoulder. “Don’t go. Talk to me.”
Lila shook him off and slipped her Colt and short sword into her holsters. “We’re not talking. We’re fighting. We’re always fighting, and I’m exhausted by it.”
Lila marched out into the hallway and let the door swing closed.
Chapter 22
It was the knock that finally woke her, dimly echoing in her bedroom like a splitting maul against a stump, hacking away at log after log after log. The room was warm, too warm for blankets and sheets. They had twisted around her legs in a sweaty mess as she slept, evidence of her second conversation with the ancient battle queen. The woman had stolen into Lila’s dreams again, demanding she cast her worldly concerns aside and visit the New Bristol oracle.
Chef would enjoy that. She’d had labored her whole life to bring Lila and her siblings to the gods. If Lila but mentioned her dream, Chef would switch off her music and oven, then drag her to the temple, likely taking along a thousand cookies along as an offering.
Lila’s stomach rolled at the thought of food, and the pounding came again. She turned her head, squeezing a pillow atop it, hoping the incessant beating would go away. Soon.
Finally the blows stopped.
Her stomach lurched. She curled her body, worried that she’d be sick in her own bed.
“Lila, wake up. It’s almost six in the morning,” Alex whispered. A dull thunk sounded against her bedside table. Her friend pressed something soft and cold against her hand.
“You wanted me to wake you at five, but you barely opened your eyes when I shook you. This is my third try.” She lifted the pillow off Lila’s face, grabbed the cold thing, and put it on her forehead. Then she disappeared from view. “Drink the water.”
Lila closed her eyes. She pressed her face against the cold pack as though it might heal her or, at least cool her down.
Then she hid under the pillow once more as Alex switched on the light in the bathroom.
Water flowed, striking the sides of the tub like a waterfall.
Too loud. It was all too loud.
The bed dipped suddenly as Alex sat next to her. Lila grabbed her stomach at the movement and gagged under the pillow. Luckily, nothing came out. “How do you feel?”
