21. Chapter 21
Chapter twenty-one
Shaw fingered the black rope, coiled and wound tight. “This should work.”
Lux copied him before glancing up at the merchant behind the stained booth. The Dark Market’s usual rabble was scarce, with those who remained exposing eyes brimming with fear and lack of a good night’s rest. The merchant's were no better. Deep blue circles edged into the top of his mask. He probably wouldn’t even fight her if she offered him half the cost.
She slid seven coptons across the expanse. The asked-for price. He nodded his grey head and with their business concluded, gazed out across the cloud-covered square.
Lux grabbed for the rope at the same moment as Shaw, their hands meeting. She yanked hers back, her veins inflamed, at the same moment he stilled.
“Shaw! There you are. I’ve been waiting at your apartment for hours!”
Lux rubbed her hand down the length of her skirt before shoving it into her pocket. Then she turned to watch a blonde head bobbing toward them, too bright for this place.
As if a wall erupted before her, Aline halted. Glancing between the two of them, her mouth dropped wide, and Lux widened her stance on instinct. Ever observant, Aline’s lips met one another once more, thinning.
“I didn’t know you would be coming by.” Shaw stepped toward her, his embrace quick.
“And I didn’t know I needed to give you fair warning now.” Dark eyes snapped with irritation, and she lowered her voice, “What are you doing with her ?”
Lux laughed, harsh and threatening. “I can hear you, girl.”
“I know.” Aline’s glare held no hint of fear. “Mind your business while I speak with my brother.”
“Don’t talk to her like that.”
At the admonishment, Aline pulled back, spine straightening. “Excuse me?” Rising onto the tips of her toes, she poked Shaw in the chest. “Since when do you defend her? We hate her, remember?”
“I don’t—” He glanced to Lux, his gaze revealing the same bewildered expression as the previous evening.
“Oh hell , enough already. Aline, your brother needed my help, and I’m asking him for a favor in return. When it’s finished, we will happily go back to never speaking to one another. Satisfied?” Lux didn’t look at Shaw as she spoke, sure she wouldn’t see anything worthwhile there anyway.
Aline’s eyes narrowed. “Good.” She sniffed, apparently believing she’d won at whatever match they’d fought. “What’s that for?” She pointed to the rope clutched in her brother’s hand, his fingertips blanched white around it.
“Trapping.”
“Trapping what?”
“Howlers,” Lux interjected.
Aline’s mouth fell open once more. Lux wished something would fly into it. “You’ll be eaten! You can’t do this for her!”
Shaw gripped Aline’s shoulders, pushing her back to her heels. “Calm down. It’s laying a few traps around the forest edge. It’ll be done before nightfall.”
“And what happens when you catch one?” Her glower tracked between the two of them.
Lux grinned, tongue pressed between her teeth. “Both your brother and me are familiar with the unsavory uses for a blade.”
“You witch . You’ll get him killed and laugh about it afterward!” Aline lunged for Lux, who did laugh then. Shaw hauled his sister backward by one ensnared wrist.
“Stop baiting her, Lux.” His glare turned her laugh into a smirk, but she humored him, not speaking further.
He released his sister. “I’m tired of the both of you. Aline, I’ll see you at dinner. Necromancer?” Turning his back on them, he marched off in the opposite direction.
Lux stared after him for a moment before she felt Aline’s eyes fixed on her like a branding iron. “If he doesn’t come back, I will personally pierce your heart.”
Lux laughed inwardly, pulling the hood of her cloak up against the icy drizzle from the overcast sky. Her face eclipsed in shadow, her gaze found Aline’s, meeting the challenge with one of her own. A last parting smile, a mocking bow, and she strode after Shaw.
The stink of raw meat enveloped them, and Lux struggled to remember to breathe through her mouth. What she wouldn’t do for a sprig of mint.
Shaw had barely spoken to her, aside from discussing the best cuts of meat from the butcher to lure the elusive beasts, and who would be stuck with carrying the odorous load. He was adamant she should be saddled with it given it was her idea, but Lux knew it had more to do with her treatment of Aline.
Of course, one look at her pale face and sweat-slicked palms, and he had given in. Swinging the blood-splotched sack over his shoulder, he’d turned from her. They were steps before the bridge, and he still hadn’t spoken since.
Shaw strode across the stones at the same moment Lux stilled.
A crow. A crow sat perched at its edge.
“Stop.”
A sudden gust of wind whipped Shaw’s coat about him. “What now?”
Lux studied the crow. The familiar tilt to its head. “I recognize this bird.” With slow steps, she passed by an incredulous Shaw until she paused before the black-winged creature. “Hello, crow.”
The sleek head tipped further, and she smiled at the acknowledgment. Except—the eyes. There was something unusual. Not quite right. Rather than familiar obsidian, they were murky and grey.
“Why—”
The bird lunged for her face.
Lux shrieked, batting it away, but the crow only continued its attack. Talons raked her cheek. She felt its beak pierce the skin at the corner of her eye, felt blood trickle hot from the wound. She screamed. The animal would not relent; it came for her, again and again. Until, abruptly, it ceased.
Lux stumbled back against the bridge, feeling the familiar cool stone beneath her fingers. She sought Shaw and watched him lower his spotless blade. Bloodied, her knife clattered to the moss at her feet.
Murderer.
Her back scraped down the stone as she fell.
“Saints.” Shaw’s arm reached beneath hers, his opposite thumb pressed to the edge of her eye. “It’s over, Lux. The cut is shallow; I’ll fix it up, so you won’t even notice.”
She shook her head against her parents’ eyes, lit with life before they transformed into a sinister grey and back again in her mind.
“I killed it. I killed them. I killed them, again.” Panic clenched her lungs, ripping out their air, and she clawed at her chest. “I’m a monster.”
Shaw dropped to her side, but his warmth couldn’t reach her. Her body shivered with cold. “You’re not a monster. Listen to me. Lux . Look at me.”
But she couldn’t breathe.
Rough hands gripped either side of her face, turning her toward him. A furrowed brow pressed to her own. Warmth. A little, at last.
“Inhale with me.”
“I—can’t—”
A hand left her cheek to push beneath her chin, extending her throat. The other grabbed her palm, pressing it flush to his chest. “You will. Do as I do.”
Lux couldn’t hardly hear his words anymore, but his touch…
His chest expanded beneath her hand. Warm breath grazed her face. And the more she focused on the rhythmic pattern of those two things, the less she focused on anything else. Her eyes desperately sought his. Near as they were, she scarcely managed to make out their familiar shape, but it was enough.
Her lungs ceased their frantic cry.
The pressure on her brow increased for a heartbeat before lessening; her breaths matched his pace.
His next exhale seemed to come from the depths of him. “You may act as if you’re sculpted of ice, Necromancer, but a true monster? I’ve met those before. I’ve shaken their hands, stared into their eyes.” His hands left to trail the lengths of her arms before gripping her frozen fingers. “You are not one of them.”