He turns back, and for a brief moment, I wonder what the Scorpions look like when they smile. Not the cheeky, controlled, arrogant grins that I’ve been given since I met them, but an overjoyed and gleeful widening of their lips, until their entire face was alight with pure happiness. Maybe I’ll ask for that before they kill me. That isifthey try to kill me. But really what other option is there? I don’t see Tilleo putting me up for sale to the other Orders. The Scorpions don’t buy blade slaves. And I’ll slit my own throat before I get sold at a flesh market.
Leto gestures for me to go first up the ladder that leads to the roof, and I try to push down my wayward thoughts and pay attention to what I’m doing.
“Do you know what happened up at the manor?” I fish as I ascend higher up the rungs.
“Not sure, but I think it was something to do with the Order of Bruins. They were arguing with Tilleo out front when I was watching to see if the guards were really all leaving. Some slaves ran out to the stables to hitch sand stags to a carriage. I figured I’d ask Yotta and Taur about it in the morning since they’re assigned to them. Maybe they took a hunt or something,” Leto hypothesizes from behind me.
“Maybe,” I agree, my mind whirring at what I know is really going on.
Did they buy that Sennet got the best of Gartox? Technically it’s the truth. Not that I can tell anyone I was there and saw it with my own eyes. There’s also the small fact that I tried to rip his throat out with my bare teeth. What if I didn’t cover it up as well as I thought? I want to ask Leto if he saw the Order of Scorpions out front with Tilleo and the Bruins. Scorpius said he was going to talk to the master, but I keep my stupid questions to myself.
The sky lightens even more in the short time it takes for us to reach our spot, and I can already tell today is going to be blazing hot. The air is getting thick and choking off the chill of the desert night. I keep low, knowing the half wall that encloses the roof only blocks so much until we get closer to the guard room built in the middle. I step into the dusty space that’s only big enough to fit a few cots and a stool. There are cutouts in the sandstone walls, which allow the guard posted here a full view of the ludere and surrounding property, but a patrol hasn’t been assigned to this place for over a year.
Apparently, Tilleo feels more than safe with sentries only walking the top of the wall surrounding the stronghold, as well as an occasional check inside the ludere itself. It didn’t take long for some of the more cunning blade slaves to claim this spot for ourselves. I straighten when I toe the corner of the threadbare blanket that someone stole and laid up here. The cots and stool are long gone, and I tap one of the rocks that keeps the thin blanket from blowing away with my foot for good luck. I know I’m going to need it.
Leto grabs my waist and presses me to the side so he can tap his foot against the small stone too. I don’t know if this isourthing or if it’s a ritual passed down from other blade slaves, but we always do it when we sneak up here.
“We survived this place,” Leto declares, his proud stare now fixed on the world around us. His words settle against my skin like the warning mist of a rare Corozean rain, and I want to shush him so he doesn’t curse it. Then again, everything about today feels like a never-ending curse.
“I didn’t think Tilleo was going to heal you until morning, but I’m glad to see he showed a little mercy,” Leto tells me, and I scoff at the thought of Tilleo’s mercy. Leto should know better.
I study his face and shake my head, tempted to tell him about everything that’s happened, but I quickly decide against it. We don’t share those parts of each other; why change now on the eve of never seeing each other again?
“Where do you think you’ll go?” I ask to fill the silence that starts to stretch between us. Usually he’s pulling his clothes off by now or doing his best to get me out of mine. I’m surprised at the lack of urgency tonight. Then again, I didn’t exactly come up here for a quick fuck, I came because I wanted a decent place to hide. Maybe he can tell I’m not in the mood.
Leto offers me a warm smile and reaches up to wrap a strand of my hair around his finger. “You don’t usually have it down like this,” he observes as he plays with the straight lock that looks bluer than it is from the bruised light of early morning. “I think I have a good shot at the Order of Corvus or maybe even the Order of Wolves,” he answers, his eyes roaming over my face as though he’s working to memorize it.
“No Order of Serpents?” I ask, because I can’t think what else to say when he looks at me like that and something thick and uncertain starts to build between us.
I look away from him as I try to figure out what’s going on here and why it feels so different. Tilleo’s manor stands tall and forbidding in the distance. The sandstone peaks that tower over the wings of his residence paint pointed shadows on the sand as the sun starts to consider waking up. The tall wall that surrounds us hides the sandy hills beyond that stretch as far as the eye can see, or so we’re told by anyone who’s allowed outside of the large front gates.
“I think they’re looking for a female this Bidding,” he answers absently, stepping closer until our chests tease each other every time we breathe in.
I study him, trying to interpret the intensity I see in his gaze. The light skims across him in a way that encourages his tan skin to glow. He looks ethereal in this moment, and if I didn’t know better, I could be convinced that salvation might be found in his eyes.
“You’re beautiful, Auset,” he starts, brushing the back of his hand over my cheek.
“Did one of the guards let you puff from their pix weed again?” I question, ensuring my tone comes across playful, but everything about this is putting me on edge.
Leto and I don’t do this. There’s no softness or poetry in how we are with each other. He’s behaving as though I’m some dimwitted female in need of admiration and approval. But I’ve never needed or wanted flowery words and bullshit promises.
Sweat starts to collect at the small of my back, and it has nothing to do with the sun’s imminent rise or the way it will heat the desert’s sands to unpleasant and punishing degrees. I study the male who helped me find myself when I thought I was lost and beyond saving. I take in his straight nose and sharp jaw and the lips that aided me in taking back control and finding power in what happens between a male and a female when they both want it to. I chased gratification against his hard body and found an escape that helped me survive this place.
Now, as Leto looks down at me, the hint of nerves alight in his brow as he puts on an act that he should know I’ve never needed, I start to suspect that I’m about to find betrayal in his arms too.
“What did Tilleo offer you?” I ask, all hesitancy and pretense gone between us.
I step back and casually drop my hand to my side so I can reach for the dagger at my back. His amber gaze tracks my movement, and I pause not wanting to give myself away just yet.
He sighs and rubs at the back of his neck. “Why would he offermeanything when he can simply order this?” he counters, the heat that was simmering in his words gone as though it was never there.
He has a point, but something in his face tells me this is a choice and not a command.
“You’re about to be bid on later today,” I remind him. “Tilleo knows sending anyone after me is a risk. He would have sweetened the deal; we both know it.”
If Tilleoorderedthis, if he was going to force someone’s hand, he’d choose the blade slave most likely to succeed. According to the ranks that would be Harsh, not Leto. Harsh recently learned that I’m more formidable than he thought. Leto, on the other hand, doesn’t know that…yet. I know him and he only takes risks when there’s something in it for him.
Carefully, I inch my hand closer to my dagger, trying hard not to draw any attention to the slight movement.
