Confusion knots my brow. “For what?”
Rio says nothing, but his eyes tighten at the corners. Esme moves her hand to her wrist, pulling something off and tossing it at him. He snatches it from mid-air, still scowling.
A copper bangle. Beneath it, her skin is crisscrossed with deep red stripes. Scars.
I put the pieces together a moment too late. “Wait—”
Her eyes are glowing. Flaring, the violet spinning and swirling as she runs the material through her fingers.
Esme’s lips don’t move. But her hands keep moving, shifting.
Molding, I realize. I stay completely still, barely breathing as the leather shifts in her hands, taking shape.
Maegis. Caelumnai maegis. I can almost taste the power on my tongue, crackling and alive in a way I wouldn’t have expected. Around me, everyone is still.
It doesn’t take long. A minute. Maybe less. Esme’s eyes soften once more, her hands dropping to her lap. And in them is a pair of trousers, and a pair of soft-looking, buttery leather boots, as well-crafted as any I have seen elsewhere.
Rio doesn’t pause. He drops down to his knees beside her, cradling her head as it lolls. The clothing falls to the floor. “Smee. Talk to me, you eejit.”
Callan is beside me. I didn’t see him move as he shoulders between us. “Esmeray?”
Her eyes flutter. Rio swears softly, his hands wrapping around her as he lifts her up. “Cal—help me.”
Callan is already pushing the stools back, making space for Rio to settle on the floor. He cradles Esme against his chest, running his hand over her cropped hair. “Talk to me, Es.”
I step back. And I realize my hands are shaking. “What—what is this? What’s wrong with her?”
Merrick’s low voice startles me. “It’s the pretium.”
The older male stands at my elbow. He sighs. “She’ll be well enough in a minute.”
But Rio’s face suggests otherwise.
My heart thuds against my ribs, almost painfully. “What is the pretium?”
“The cost,” Rio murmurs. He doesn’t look at me, his hands still cupping Esme’s face with a tenderness I didn’t expect. “There is always a cost.”
A cost. I glance down to the copper bangle, discarded on the floor.
A cost to be paid. For the maegis. For a pair of boots, and a set of trousers. My head begins to shake. “Why did she do that?”
None of them answer. My chest tightens further. “What is this cost?”
Callan turns to me. His eyes swirl, as if alive with maegis. “For theperisti, it is a memory.”
The air grows thin. My words come out strangled. “She will lose a…memory?”
“The curse of the peristi,” Merrick says softly. “Each use steals a memory from them. Some are small. Others are more important. For a use like this, it would likely be something relatively unimportant. Perhaps slightly frustrating when knowledge becomes out of reach. Something you knew instinctively how to do just yesterday becomes a brand-new skill.”
“We think,” Rio mutters. He stares down at Esme. “We hope. Come on, Es.”
It still feels as though I can’t breathe. “That’s why you wear copper? Caelumpunishesyou for using something he gifted you?”
I had no idea the sky god punished his people for using theirmaegis.
“It was not always this way.” Callan gets to his feet, frowning. “It began on the day of the Shift.”
I stare between them all wildly. “And all of you are affected by this? Your maegis steals your memories?”
