“Can you be more specific?”
“No.” She left it there, reaching into her pocket. “I brought you a gift. If someone pins you again, this will make them let go.”
She held out a gold cuff, engraved with delicate vines and studded with gems.
“It’s pretty,” I said skeptically. It was the kind of thing I could sell if my family needed money, but I needed it for myself.
“It burns,” she told me. “But not you. Let me show you.”
She moved as if she were going to take me down, but I raised a hand to stop her. “Why didn’t you want to give me this inside? Where the mats are?”
She hesitated, but it was enough for me to put the pieces together. “You don’t trust everyone in Bismyth.”
“I want to,” she told me. “I think—I hope—we can. Now come on. Let’s train with it.”
I nodded and followed her, but disquiet lingered with me.
When the clan was walking back to the barracks, Ander was sitting at one of the tables by the fountain. His tall, muscular figure, the gold-touched brown hair that was shaved at the sides, and the way he commanded a room was as eye-catching as Fieran.
Fieran’s lips tilted. “You can go talk to him now. No need to climb those stairs again and then back down just to try to trick me. You look as if you’re about to collapse.”
I glared at him. “Maybe I will. Maybe I enjoyhiscompany.”
“Maybe.” He didn’t sound troubled. “I’ve enjoyed our day together, anyway. See you at supper.”
I was sure he was testing me, trying to figure out the exact limits of my relationship with Ander.
But it was useless to pretend I wasn’t plotting with Ander.
Perhaps I could play on Fieran’s jealous impulses enough to divert him from the truth.
Besides, I really hated those stairs.
Fieran watched me go toward Ander—almost as if he were handing off my safety deliberately—before he shifted his wings. They swept out to either side of his powerful figure, towering over him—long purple-black wings, shimmering, transcendent. It was impossible not to stutter with awe at the sight.
Then he launched himself upward.
“I hate him,” I told Ander as I approached, despite the smile fixed on my face. When I rested my hand on his shoulder, the thick muscle flexed beneath my palm.
Ander, for his part, picked up his part seamlessly. “Are we making him miserable?”
My smile suddenly turned effortless. “Is that even possible?”
“It’s possible.” He put his hand on mine before I could pull away, though I’d only planned to touch him briefly, and his calloused palm was warm against my skin. “I have your book for you.”
He tapped the top book on a stack with his free hand. I didn’t pick it up yet, knowing Fieran was watching.
“Thank you.”
“Just be careful.” There was an unexpected thread of impatience in his tone, just a hint of it. “If there’s something he wants you to believe, he’ll make sure you find it on your own. That you earn it. That way you’ll think you truly know.”
His words left me thinking back about everything that led me to seek out the book. Ander was implying that Fieran had maneuvered me into seeking out this book, which seemed fantastic even by Fieran’s standards. “I want the full story of what happened between you two, Ander.”
“It wouldn’t be that useful to you. Unless you want to know for reasons besides making sense of Fieran’s manipulations.”
“Don’t you want me to despise him?”
“I hope you despise him enough for your own sake.” His gaze was too knowing, especially when we were so close. “Or is it hard to remember how to hate him when you’re by his side?”
