My body was confused. It hurt, but it didn’t. It burned, but it only burned in all the right places. Hands spun me around, and while I suspected that I kept spinning, that was impossible, because I was anchored against a hard chest and there was a grip at the back of my head, pulling me up. The fire swelled, becoming somethingmoreas lips pressed against mine, hard and coaxing. I reacted on instinct, because my mind didn’t seem to know what was happening. I still couldn’t figure out what I was feeling. Whether I was hurting or not. Why I was arching into the hands, why my mouth was parting, my own hands grasping, almost-silent sounds sparking up from somewhere inside me.
Somehow, through the intense meld of pain and pleasure, my mind began to register details. The pain was slowly leaking away, and it was being replaced by other sensations. The burning smell of sugar-plants. The hard feel of muscle beneath my fingers. The taste of something addictive.
Aros.
A rough, rumbling sound seemed to echo from his body, passing through me.
And then he was gone.
Or …
I was gone.
I tumbled to my knees, blinking around the sudden darkness, my hands finding the floor, words breaking up in my throat before I could get them out into the air.
“W-Willa?” The stuttered question had come from Emmy, which meant that I was still in the same room, and so was she.
“What … what happened?” I managed to ask, my hand wrapping around my throat, my eyes still trying to adjust to the darkness.
“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Siret muttered, somewhere right above me. He sounded strained. “Just an average sun-cycle in the life of a dweller who really wants to get herself killed.”
“Where’s Aros?” I squeaked.
No answer.
I flung out a hand, my fingers wrapping in material. I started to pull to my feet, but Siret grabbed my arms and set me before him quicker than I would have managed it myself.
“Where’s Aros?” I repeated, the concern in my voice carrying.
“He stepped out for a bit.” This had come from Siret again.
“Emmy?” I asked the darkness.
“Still here.” Her voice was stronger this time. “Thanks for making me watch that, by the way.”
“Why the hell is it pitch-black right now?” I grumbled, ignoring her sarcasm.
Just as I said it, the real world flickered back into focus. All of the other Abcurses had disappeared. Only Siret remained.
Fakey was also gone.
Sixteen
Iwas trying notto admit it to myself, but there was a pretty good chance that I’d just done something really bad, and now we were all standing in the aftermath of it. It was hard to come to terms with, though; after all, Ihadbeen trying to save a girl that definitely wouldn’t have tried to save me in return—or to begin with. So that wasn’t a ‘bad’ thing. Aros had used his gift on me to drown out Coen’s pain, and that wasn’t a ‘bad’ thing either.
Yet … something ‘bad’ seemed to have happened.Thatmuch was clear. They had all disappeared, and Siret was covering for them.
“We should go,” Emmy announced, staring at me, trying to convey some kind of secret message.
Unfortunately, no matter how often she tried to teach me the art of silent conversation, it wasn’t something that I was ever going to master. I wasn’t even good at normal conversation. I thought she was telling me thatIshould go withher, but she flicked her eyes to Siret and then grabbed Atti’s arm, quickly striding out of the room.
“I have no idea what kind of secret message you just tried to give me!” I shouted after her, just in case she wasn’t already aware.
I saw her head shake as she left, but she didn’t turn around.
“Why do I feel like everyone knows something that I don’t?” I spun to face Siret, planting my hands on my hips.
“Because that’s usually the case?” He arched a brow, not even a little bit intimidated by me.
