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So I went on. “Almost exactly when the tenth reaping began.” Lifting my bound hands to my temple as another realization occurred to me, I laughed. “Jesus, that’s right. You and your aunt—” My gaze sought Melaina. “And a handful of others went missing then. No one knew if your bodies were hidden where no one could ever find them or if you just went so deep into hiding that no one ever saw you again. But you went to Earth then, didn’t you, to escape the reaping? Along with…”
I wracked my brain, trying to remember the names of the other Graykeys who’d gone missing then. The ones who’d never turned up again. I had it all written down, in the very book my true love had just confiscated, but I’d gone over the facts and studied them so many times I should remember this.
“Taiki,” I blurted, snapping my fingers in self-congratulations. “She was another aunt of yours. And there was also…” I glanced toward Melaina. “Two of your children. Questa and Quailen, right? But they’re still…”
Missing.
I glanced around, growing suddenly uneasy. If these two were back here, in the Outer Realms, and the other three were not with them, that either meant they were still on Earth, or they hadn’t survived the trip. I’d heard of cases where people who were transported between the two worlds hadn’t survived.
The sudden solemn air coming from Quilla made me think the worst.
“How the fuck did you know all that?” Melaina seethed, slowly rising to her feet. Anger radiated from her expression as she grabbed one of my special daggers on the way up. She pressed a lever with her thumb, and it released the blade, shooting out from the hilt with an ominous snick of sound. “I asked you a question, boy?”
She stalked toward me, the knife gripped with menacing intent.
I looked over at Quilla who gaped between us, her lips parted and eyes blinking rapidly.
“My mark disappeared then,” I explained, reaching up to touch my temple where I felt it almost alive and working, reading my true love’s surprise and interest.
“I thought you had died,” I told her. “I mourned for you. But then, over four moon cycles later, I woke up one morning, and there was the tattoo again, back on me as if it had never left. It must’ve thought you died too when you departed the Outer Realms, and then it returned again when it sensed you back on this planet.” Blowing out a soft whistle, I murmured, “Incredible.”
Quilla seemed dazed by what I’d just said, but Melaina sneered heatedly. “That’s all nice and interesting,” she growled, not really appearing to care about what I’d just explained at all. “But it doesn’t answer the question I asked. Now, how the fuck did you know who went missing during the tenth reaping?”
I lifted my eyebrows at her tone. She seemed truly and honestly pissed. In fact, this just might be the first time I’d ever actually seen her mad at all. The woman really did not like me knowing so much about her children, I guess.
When I refused to answer, she let out a growl. “How do you know about Earth?”
I said nothing.
“Dammit, answer me!” She pressed the dagger to my neck.
Since I was so zealous about sharpening my weapons, the blade cut into my jugular with ease, splitting open flesh until I immediately felt blood drip down my throat. I hissed at the pain and clenched my teeth but otherwise remained perfectly still, letting her have her moment. She was being a worried mother; that was all, I told myself. It was a fear I could understand.
Not because I’d ever been a mother, of course, but I’d cared for and worried about plenty of people before.
But they were Graykeys. I wasn’t telling them anything they didn’t need to know about the information the High Clifters had about their entire family tree.
Since the end of the Great Lowden War, King Ignatius had been systematically hunting down every last Graykey and ordering them to be eliminated. With the curse hanging over their heads, and the destruction they caused throughout the entire Outer Realms, it wasn’t safe to let any of them run free.
I glanced toward Quilla with just my eyes, realizing that meant her, too.
“You have an unhealthy obsession with my neck, you know that?” I asked, returning my gaze to Melaina.
“I swear to God, you High Cliff piece of shit…” Grabbing my hair, she tugged my head back so that the blade dug in deeper. “If you don’t start talking, I will keep pushing this in until your head rolls across the ground.”
Damn. Maybe I should stop her. This was beginning to hurt.
And bleed.
A lot.
But from the other side of camp, Quilla exhaled an impatient sound. “Melaina,” she muttered. “Cut it out.”
“Cut out what? His windpipe?” Melaina's eyes glittered wildly with rage as she watched me. “Gladly.”
Well.
I guess we weren’t friends anymore.
