Like myself, and like most people our age, she bears all of the common markings: the star of birth, the three dots for language, a line above either eyebrow to indicate grief, and the splashes of color on either side of the star that mark her first true moment of fear. I try not to think about whether any of her runes came from the night she experienced in that memory.
Noticing our awestricken faces, Rhet calls over his shoulder. “You are not a Reaper here. The camp is protected.”
Once again, Sinisa is looking at her hands. It takes me a second to realize she’s likely feeling for the power she’s grown so accustomed to having.
Shamefully, relief floods me. I want to trust Sinisa, I do, but at least here I know without a doubt that she won’t betray me after all. While we are here, Gem is safe. Well, as safe as she can be after being kidnapped and dragged into a bandit camp.
We make our way up to the gate, and the effects of the poultice start fading rapidly. I expect it to come on as slowly as it dissipated, but I am not so fortunate. The pain in my shoulder thickens, searing through my chest and shoulder like I’m being torn into by a predatory maw all over again.
I gasp and start blinking in and out of pain-induced consciousness.
Rhet slings me back over his shoulder as the gate opens. The conversation he shares with the person on guard is muffled, but I think I recognize him too, the one with the birthmark covering half of his face.
Once inside, we pass by a dozen or so eager onlookers, memorable mostly because so many of them seem to be missing limbs or have scarred eyes; the life of a bandit must be more dangerous than I ever imagined. But when I see children, daughters and sons who look as if they are happy, and I notice the disfigurements on them too, I begin to question the stronghold we’ve stumbled into.
“He needs to see a healer,” Sinisa says through gritted teeth.
“Where do you think it is I’m taking him?” Rhet replies, quickening his steps.
“I thought you were taking me to my sister?” I try to say through bites of pain. But just as I manage to groan out the first few words, Rhet stops at a person draped in fox hide, and when they blow a crimson powder into my face, the sparsely populated camp disappears into nothing.
18
The Princess and the Reaper
Sinisa
“Hey! What are you doing—” I yell at the bandit woman blowing daminila pollen at Acari.
“The healer needs him sedated,” Rhet says, shifting his hold on Acari with a bounce. He addresses the woman. “Bring the girl to us.”
The woman disperses, as does Rhet, and I’m left with no choice but to follow him. People stare at us as we walk by the different dwellings, but it’s not with fear like I’m used to. My hand floats up to my forehead again, and to the runes that shouldn’t be there but somehow are. I can’t explain my joy at feeling their raised edges, but something about them makes me feel lighter, like perhaps I’m really not the monster that everyone sees me as. As we walk, I trace the markings, getting to know myself with what little information I’m provided. They tell the story of my life, but it’s like they’re in a language I don’t know how to read. I don’t know which words earned me the dots beneath the star on my forehead, I don’t know which moment earned me my first marking of true fear.
Rhet leads us into a hut at the center of the encampment, lowering Acari’s unconscious body onto a cot made of woven leaves. The healer approaches him, and the two of them share a hushed conversation as I watch them silently from the edge of the room.
He leaves her to begin her work, a needle and thread in her hands, and grabs something from a nearby table before crossing the room to me.
“Here, eat.” Without further warning, Rhet throws something circular at me.
I barely catch it in time, and I’m just about to tell him I don’t want anything from him, when the words dry up in my mouth. With the fruit in hand, my fingers glide over its soft skin and nothing happens. Poison does not seep from my fingertips. The life of the luscious apricot is not drained before my eyes.
My eyes flit to Rhet, who nods.
The apricot is in my mouth in the next second. Its juicy sweetness drips onto my tongue and I practically melt. It’s been…I don’t even know how long it’s been since I’ve been able to eat a fruit. Years. It’s been at least years.
I roll my head back, savoring the sugary nectar, but I’m interrupted by a burst of light as the door opens.
“Cari!” cries the little girl who rushes inside. The princess sees her brother first, and the healer at his side. When she notices me, she shrinks behind Rhet.
He pats her head once, then twice, awkward and yet somehow fatherly. “Don’t worry. She can’t harm you here.” Then, inching past Gem and her clawing arms, he walks to the door. With the doorknob in hand, he snorts at me. “Don’t get any ideas about this one. I’ll be back soon.”
Without another word, Rhet cranks the door ajar and sinks into early morning light.
Slowly, Gem turns to face me. Her lips pinch together as she assesses me.
I sink my teeth into the apricot again, the sound magnified in the quiet hut.
Gem steps cautiously toward me. “Nice?”
Still chewing, I glance at the door. “Rhet? I
