“Take my tunic.” In one smooth movement he dropped his belt and drew the tunic over his head. His body rippled with the motion, revealing the chiseled body beneath—a glimpse of tattoos, the flex of powerful biceps. I took it in all at once, memorizing his body even as I grabbed the shirt out of his hands.
I slid it over the remnants of my clothing. It was far too big, the sleeves sliding past my hands, the collar loose. I yanked the front down so the back of the collar was snug against my neck.
Only then did I realize how it was still warm from his body, how it carried the scent of his soap and his skin.
“Brace yourself,” Fieran muttered to me quietly.
“What are you doing down there, old friend?” a deep male voice called.
We looked up from the gully in which we’d landed after my fall. At the top stood three figures, squinting down at us.
My mind raced. Had he seen my mark? Hadthey? They were looking down from above, and they might have seen it before Fieran gave me his tunic. I still wasn’t entirely sure how much keener shifter senses were.
Had Fieran given me the tunic to protect my modesty…or to protect the secret he now knew?
“Another clan has arrived to help us, in such timely fashion.” Heheld his arm out to me, an invitation to fly again, and there was no time to obsess over the state of my secrets.
Instead, I stepped into his waiting arms. His arm wrapped around my waist carefully, and he flew me up toward the precipice.
The world reeled around me, my stomach tilting at the sensation of rising through the air. Reversing the fall that had almost killed me was an eerie feeling.
But Fieran held me carefully until we landed, as far from the cliff edge as he could manage. I glanced across the gully and caught the faint glow of one of our boundary stones. I shuddered.
“The griffin can never reach you again,” Fieran promised.
“Well, until we see it again in the Trials.” This was a feminine voice, lilting and haughty at the same time.
Fieran sighed under his breath as we faced the three new arrivals.
“This is part of Clan Amber,” Fieran told me. “Ander.”
He gestured to a tall, unsmiling man with brown hair, shaven at the sides and long on top. Then to a girl with her hair in long black braids. “Nixi.”
Then to another, very tall. “Haron.”
“Hello,” I managed, my mind still spinning. I had spent my childhood hiding the mark I was born with. It had been easier when I was younger and it was smaller, but as I grew older, so did it. Sometimes I thought it was growing in defiance of being hidden—growing larger with every year I did not present myself for the Trials.
Fieran was watching me carefully, as if he were worried. I tried to shunt my terror to the back of my mind for now and pretend to be normal.
“Where’s Maura?” Nixi demanded.
“Searching for any other rips,” Fieran said. “Hello to you too.”
“Forgive me for being worried about my sister.” She flashed him a sharp smile, one that seemed familiar after spending time with Maura. “I feel so safe knowing she’s with you, after all.”
“You’re twins.” I was shocked there were two of them.
Nixi’s appraising gaze swept over me as she snapped, “What a clever mortal.”
“Forgive Nixi, she’s just like Maura. She was raised by wolves.Sarcasticwolves.” Fieran set his hand on my shoulder, and the timber of the air around me changed.
Nixi wasn’t the only one looking at me now.
Fieran tweaked the too-big tunic, pulling my collar up a little bit in the back. My spine prickled; I always felt something when Fieran touched me, but this was different.
He knew.
“I just was surprised you two are twins, but in different clans?” I blurted out, trying to distract from the attention fixed on me.
