“No,” Gem insists, peering up at me through eyes as wide as stones. “Nice?”
I realize then that she’s talking about me.
“Oh,” is all I can manage.
This is a great opportunity for me to lure her to a false sense of security with me. I’ve never needed to rely on such tactics before, but now that my mission is a little more complex, it might behoove me to get on her good side as well.
But the way she blinks up at me makes me feel like my stomach is twisted in knots. Like somehow it would be worse to lie to her about being a friend than it would be just to take her young soul.
“No,” I hear myself reply, quiet but firm. “Not nice.”
Her frown deepens, and I turn away, burying myself deeper into the dark confines of the room, in shadows, in blackness where I belong.
19
Caught in a Lie
Sinisa
Two hours pass and Gem’s black, curious eyes still blink over at me. Every time I look away and look back, she is still staring at me, expectantly, but for what, I do not know. I can only take life, not give it, and even that I seem unable to do right now. Not as long as I’m here.
If anything goes wrong, I won’t be able to protect myself, let alone her brother. The only one able to save the prince now is the healer before us.
The woman unwrapping the sodden bandages around Acari’s shoulder bears the same hand markings as Rhet. As she works though, cleaning the wound, applying poultices, and securing new dressings, it’s easier to ignore her runes and to focus instead on whether the prince is still breathing.
He’s hardly moved since Rhet brought him in. He does not flinch or wince when the healer applies pressure to the teeth marks marring his shoulder. His chest simply rises and falls in a soft, peaceful rhythm.
I, on the other hand, am anything but peaceful. Patience has never been my strongest virtue, and although Rhet has been gone only a few hours, his absence carries the weight of an eternity.
I am on edge. I can’t shake the feeling like we have walked willingly into a trap, and the small child’s gaze-of-guilt isn’t helping any. Without my Reaper power, I feel more vulnerable than I have ever felt. What’s worse is having my target staring at me like she knows what I still plan to do to her. It’s like she can see right through everything, and the longer we share a room together, the more difficult it becomes to think about.
“Stop staring,” I snap at her finally, and then groan when she doesn’t listen.
I wrench my thoughts away from her and to the encampment. A place like this shouldn’t even exist. There has never been a place where a Reaper could not go. We are the bringers of death, and death knows no limits.
So, how is it that a group of bandits live in a place where Reapers cannot reach? How did I become mortal again—even if temporarily—when I crossed the barrier? Does the Council know this place is here?
I saw Nerul in the woods, just before we crossed over the boundary, so maybe they do know. If the Council knows though, Nerul sure didn’t. He looked just as surprised as I was when I grabbed Rhet’s hand and the encampment flashed into view. I wonder what it looked like from Nerul’s perspective, to watch all three of us disappear. I wonder if he’s still standing there, pondering how it works, the same way I am. Probably not. He’s probably already in the Pit of Judgment telling the Council all about it.
After tucking the dressing inside itself, the healer bows without a word and disappears from the tent, leaving Acari with just his sister and me.
A few moments pass and not a single one of us moves a muscle—not Gem, not Acari, and certainly not me. But when Acari begins to stir in the cot made of banana leaves, I perk up and draw closer to his side.
“Acari?” I whisper in the quiet room.
I can tell it’s an effort to open his eyes, the side effects of the daminila pollen likely still in effect, but he manages to peel one eye open drowsily, followed by the other. He finds me instantly.
“Sinisa?” he asks, his voice hoarse with exhaustion. “Where’s Gem?”
“Cari!” Gem shrieks, racing across the room and squeezing in beside me. She’s so small that she can barely see over the cot. “I here, Cari!”
“Gem,” he rasps, her name almost entirely a sob. His eyes close as he cups her cheek, a happy kind of sadness curving his lips. “I thought they… I thought you… Are you all right?”
Leaning into his hand, she nods vigorously. “Rhet nice.”
I snort, crossing my arms. “He can’t be that nice if he kidnapped you.”
Acari flicks his gaze to mine, a mixture of agreement and warning. “Let’s not talk about that. I’m just glad you’re safe.”
“You have very low standards for what you call safe,” I snort again. “We don’t know these people, and we don’t know what they want. Now that you have awoken, and since your wounds have been tended, we should go. Before they come back.”
“Rhet said stay,” Gem pouts. She doesn’t look at me when she says it though.
Caught in between us both, Acari glances from one of us to the other. He examines the cloth wrapped around his shoulder and timidly tests his arm’s mobility. He winces at the slightest use of his muscles, but he’s able to raise it from the cot at least one hand high. Lowering it back down gently, he turns to us both.
“Maybe we should hear what they have to say first. They didn’t harm Gem and they helped me. They even made you human again.”
“I have always been human,” I growl.
“Sorry, mortal,” he
