“Oh,” I said, opening my hand to show them the three gold Skye had given me. “You’re not really. It’s Leland’s gold. He’s making me shop with it.”
“Leland,” Baylee scoffed. “Bet Vyralovesthat.”
I couldn’t stop myself.
“Who’s Vyra?”
“Girlfriend,” Alice sighed. “Counterpart, if we’re to believe the papers.” She turned to Baylee. “Did you hear he’s teaching this year?”
“First years,” Baylee sighed romantically. “They’re so lucky.”
The room spun, something heavy sank in my gut, and I had to will myself to breathe. Leland never mentioned a girlfriend. He’d said he wasn’tavailable. He had thatVtattoo, and I basically figured. But hearing it? I don’t know why I cared. Why myblooddid.
I hobbled my thoughts together.Stop thinking about Leland.He works for Jaxan.He can’t be trusted.He has, very possibly, the most beautiful arms I’ve ever seen. Not to mention his face. His jawline. The soft knits he wears.
I must have been standing there too long because Alice’s throat cleared.
Withdrawals — had to get rid of them.
“Do you sell moonale?” I asked, tipping my chin to the mahogany pub-style bar in the back.
“Usually. But to you, I can’t. I need this job. And — ” She let out a sigh of reluctance. “My dad said the Echelons are hoping youdeteriorate sooner rather than later. That’s why they forbid it.”
At least she looked sorry about it.
“Oh,” I said, my fingers closing over the gold in my hand. “No, it’s okay. I get it.”
Baylee punched Alice in the arm. “She said it was for theTruth-Teller.”
Alice eyed the door nervously, biting her lip. “I still can’t sell anything to you. But if theTruth-Tellerreally needs a Counterpart text, then the person shopping for the Truth-Teller might want to look over there. Tell him we don’t do to-go cups of moonale.”
“Thanks.” The corner of my mouth lifted subtly in acknowledgment. “I’ll be quick.”
Over in the area Alice indicated, my eyes snagged on a text calledCountering Your Counterpart. Then I saw it was written by the Echelon Helen Blackburn and left it, picking upForcing the Bondinstead. I don’t know what then compelled me to walk to the front of the shop, pausing at the magazines in the display window. If this were the human realm, I might have stood there longer and flipped through the pages. But this was Everden, and Alice was clearing her throat from behind the checkout counter to hurry me along.
I quickly grabbed a magazine and hid it under the Counterpart text. I wasn’t going tostealit. I just wanted to be slightly less obvious about needing it for research, which was the only reason I wanted it. I had to learn more about Leland,The Most Eligible Bachelor in Everden. About his gold, his influence, anything that would make him less appealing. Anything to give my blood some peace.
A loud crash sounded from behind the checkout counter as the shipment of pens Alice had been sorting scattered across the ground. Baylee was furiously tying and untying her ponytail. I placed my items gently on the counter to check out, but Alice wasfocused on the glass door.
“It’s the Truth-Teller,” she said, barely breathing, “holding Vyra’s hand.” She turned to Baylee in disbelief, her cheeks flushed with warmth. “The Truth-Tellerholds hands?”
My blood hissed, scalding me with Leviathan-sized waves pounding at my skin. My neck was sweating. So were my hands.
Don’t look, Ember.
Do not. Look.
“Oh, Goddess,” Baylee said. “Now they’re kissing. They’re — ” Her whole upper half leaned over the checkout counter. “Reallykissing.”
I felt that, if I looked, it would happen. The final moment. The moment I deteriorated. My last shred of sanity eviscerated over thirsting for his power. I felt him. I felt him from the other side of the brick wall. Felt him with someone else. Vyra, his girlfriend, the most eligible bachelorette in Everden.
I looked.
I shouldn’t have done it. I knew it wasn’t rational. That this was all a function of our magic. His hands were on her hips, sliding up her sides. And, of course, Vyra Lennox was beautiful. She looked better in person than she did on her magazine cover.
I scooped up the text with the magazine beneath it. The pain in my blood was too much, and the furious, disembodied feeling from last night had returned. I knew I couldn’t stay in Briary’s. I was wrath churning up a raging fire with rolling smoke. I needed air or the Sundering Sea.
Leland let go of Vyra, and the second they split off in opposite directions, I darted out of the shop.
