Chapter 14 #3
‘Maybe throbbing a little bit.’
‘Throbbing?’ Caz lifts her head for a split second before returning her attention to her book and hastily turning the pages.
‘You didn’t tell me you were hurt.’ Kyor frowns absently.
‘I mentioned it yesterday, remember? Said they were tingling more.’
‘Oh, right. Yes.’ His voice has a somewhat detached, distracted tone to it, and a moment later he’s scooping riverweed into his bowl. A lot of riverweed.
As I look across the table, Ruben and Benny share a simultaneous yawn. If I had to guess, I would say the two were up late last night.
Together.
‘So what are your plans for today, Rosey?’ Benny asks, and although the question is directed at me, his eyes skirt across to Ruben, as if he can’t bear to tear them away.
‘The usual – training with Stefan – but I also want to talk to Toren. I know Caz has tried to find out what she can about the face markings, but I think it’ll be easier just to ask him. Find out about when they come in or if you can slow them. That sort of thi—’
‘We kissed!’ Ruben blurts suddenly. ‘Not that people probably want to know that,’ he says, flushing bright fuchsia, ‘but I thought you should know that Benny and I … we kissed.’
I blink rapidly at this sudden change in subject and because there’s something off about the way Ruben’s fixedly staring at me.
I honestly have no idea what’s going on.
It’s not like Ruben to make himself the centre of conversation, especially not when I’ve been talking about something so important, like the face markings and—
Shit.
The realisation hits like a punch to my gut.
I was talking about the face markings. About William, albeit in the abstract. Right here in front of Kyor.
Gods! I’m tired, yes, but that was just plain stupid.
It doesn’t matter how secure my feelings are for Kyor or how willing he is to stand by me here in Isthyr.
His father ordered William’s death. William’s very existence is treason, and the fact that Kyor is still so unwilling to accept the truth from Uzra tells me there’s still a way to go before he’ll ever turn his back on his father.
If he ever would.
And Ruben just stopped me from half-spilling my secrets in the only way he could think of.
‘Yeah, so anyway, it was a one-off thing,’ Ruben rambles on, refusing to look directly at Benny.
Benny stiffens. ‘It was?’
I wonder if Ruben hears that faint trace of hurt, of dismay. Because the rest of us certainly do.
‘Yeah, of course. I don’t mean… I just meant that—’
‘No, I got exactly what you meant.’ Benny’s voice hardens. Too controlled. Too careful. ‘It was a mistake. I agree.’
A dry and bitter chuckle rattles from Ruben’s throat, and his jaw flexes hard enough that I can practically hear his teeth grinding together. ‘And that’s exactly why I knew I should never get involved with an earl.’
Benny’s cheeks are now close to the fuchsia of Ruben’s. Not with embarrassment alone, but also anger, hurt … and yes, want. ‘I knew it was my title you had a problem with.’
I feel utterly awkward. Though this started as a distraction, it’s clearly devolved into something more – a genuine fight.
The sort that only happens when two people care entirely too much and are fully in denial about it.
I recognise it because Kyor and I fought a lot right before we fucked.
Here’s hoping that the boys get to the latter long before we did.
‘You have to accept—’ Ruben begins.
‘Guys, can you hush for a minute?’ Caz interrupts, her nose still buried in the book as she raises her hand.
‘I don’t have to accept anything!’ Benny’s on his feet and Ruben rises a second later, like he physically cannot help but be pulled closer to Benny.
‘Boys, please,’ Caz tries again, but Benny refuses to back down.
‘We should have talked about this in private, not here in—’
‘Will you two shut the hell up!’ The words burst from Caz as she surges to her feet.
All our eyes turn to Caz and the book she’s waving in her hand. Even Benny’s expression, which only a heartbeat ago was fixed in hurt-filled outrage, creases in confusion.
‘What is it?’ I say, looking at Caz. ‘What have you read?’
Her gaze lowers to my arms before moving back to the book and then finally meeting mine, by which point all the colour has drained from her skin.
‘The Veil,’ she says. ‘Shit, Rose. You have to complete the Rite of the Veil.’
I shake my head. ‘No, I don’t,’ I tell her. ‘I only have to complete it if I want to lead the Issen and—’
‘No, no, that’s not true.’ She presses her hands against the pages.
‘All Issen leaders are required to complete it, yes. But regardless of whether you want to lead or not, you have to go through all the stages within one moon. You have to, Rose… Otherwise those marks on your arm are going to poison you. They’ll kill you. ’
The room goes deathly still.
Beside me, Kyor is rigid.
‘No,’ he says quietly. Dangerously. A crackle of lightning snaps across his knuckles.
Whatever happens next, Kyor will burn this place to the ground before he lets me die.