Sin’s hand clamped onto my chin, drawing me back to him.
“Focus, Rain,” he said firmly, and I nodded, giving him my complete attention. “I need you to make sure Corym is okay. It sounded like he hit his head, and I need you to see if you can wake him up.”
Had he lost his damn mind? He wanted me to go help the person who butchered him?
“I am all right,” Corym said, and I whipped my head over to see him climbing to his feet. “Just a minor contusion.”
I jumped up and got in his face, my inner Jersey girl emerging in full force. “Oh, it’s going to be a hell of a lot more than thatif you don’t have a damned good explanation for why you were carving Sin up like a fucking side of beef.”
“Rain,” Sin croaked from the sofa. “While your willingness to do violence on my behalf is extremely attractive, it’s not actually needed right now. Corym was helping me.”
“And I am nearly finished,” the scholar interjected, “so with your permission, I would like to get back to work.”
I stood there, horrified, trying to make sense of it all while Corym retrieved the knife and began cutting into Sin’s back once more. The scholar removed a thin flap of skin and tossed it into a bucket. My hand slapped to my mouth to hold back the rising gorge as the strip plopped atop of a mound of bloody flesh bits.
I dropped back to my knees beside Sin. As long as I lived I would never get the image of exposed muscle tissues out of my mind. “What happened,” I choked out.
“Oh, Rain,” he said softly. “I never wanted you to see this.”
“See what?” I begged. “What is he doing to you?”
He dropped his face to the couch, giving no response.
“Whatever is going on, please just tell me, Sin.” I couldn’t help him if he wouldn’t talk to me, and I needed to help him.
Sin remained silent, and Corym announced that he was finished a few minutes later. The scholar uncorked a glass jar full of silver flecks and began sprinkling them liberally over the bloody mess that was Sin’s upper back and shoulders.
“The fenite is in place, Dreisin,” Corym announced as he levered himself to his feet. “I will leave you to decide how you would like to handle Raynella.” He gave me a small bow. “Princess. I wish I could say that it was lovely to see you again, but we both know that would be false given the circumstances.” He paused, then added, “Do please allow him some time to recover before you make any rash decisions.”
Corym left, and I turned back to Sin, relieved to see that his face was no longer drawn tight with pain. “Please,” I begged him. “Tell me how to fix this.”
Sin sighed and pulled his arm out from under his body to curl it beneath his head so he could rest atop it. If I ignored the small tension lines around his eyes, I could pretend things were casual, relaxed even. Just Sin lounging on the sofa looking devilishly handsome as always. Except he wasn’t relaxed, and this wasn’t casual.
I scooted closer to the couch so I could lay my head near his. Face to face, we both took a second to breathe the other one in. His stormy ocean scent was tinged with the coppery tang of blood that permeated the air, yet his eyes shuttered in bliss as he inhaled me deeply.
“How can you do that?” I asked, our faces so close that I could nearly touch my nose to his.
“Do what?”
“Smell all that blood and look happy about it.”
He gave me a small, genuine smile, not a smirk, and it reminded me of the rooftop. When he smiled at me for the first time.
“Because I don’t smell blood, Fea Remia. I only smell you. And you smell like sweet apples and sunshine.”
I winced at his endearment for me. “I’m not a queen, Sin. I’m barely a princess.”
His brow furrowed. “I take it you asked someone for the translation?”
No,” I replied, not ready to deal with everything that came along with admitting to him that I sort of knew Rivellan now.
“Then how did you learn?”
“You first,” I said firmly. Reaching out, I trailed a hand down his neck and over his shoulder, but stopped just shy of the pool of blood that covered his upper back. “Tell me why Corym wasflaying off strips of skin. I don’t think I can ever go to sleep again without seeing the image of you sliced up like a half-butchered pig.”
Regret flooded his pale green eyes. “I’m so sorry you had to see that. Nobody is supposed to know about this, least of all you.” He took a deep inhale and closed his eyes on the exhale. “I’m an amplissario, Rain. Corym was… He was cutting the ramentum out of my skin so no one would find out the truth.”
I pulled away from him as shock twisted my features. “Why? I thought power was a sign of status here. The more the better. Why would you ever hide who you really are?”
