Jack mimes picking up the little cylinder and taps the back of his ear, indicating for me to do the same.
I don’t really understand what he wants me to do, but I fumble around, following his directions. As soon as it gets close to my ear, the black square attaches itself to my skin with a soft click. Then I’m assaulted with a screeching directly into my ear and I let out a yelp.
Jack drags me closer, tapping at my ear until the sound fades and I’m left with a high-pitched buzzing in my ear.
“Sorry, sorry. Is that better?”
My eyes widen as I stare at him.
I understood that.
“Can you understand me?” Jack asks and I nod, my face breaking into a wide grin.
Jack gives me a half-smile and a little salute. “Good. It must be exhausting not being able to communicate. It should last a couple of weeks maybe, and then we’ll work out a way to power it up again. How’s that sound?”
I nod at him. I still can’t speak, which might be for the best, but there’s no way he can understand the relief coursing through me.
It’s like I’ve been trapped underwater for years and I can finally resurface.
Chapter 22
Reva
This library is something else. I get lost a half dozen times before I finally give up trying to find the books I’m searching for and wind up staring out the window at the street.
“It’s changed a lot in the past ten years.” Torin’s deep voice startles me into dropping one of the random books I did manage to find onto the floor.
“Have you spent much time here?” I ask as he steps up beside me, his arm brushing mine.
“I lived here for a few years when I was younger,” he says.
“Oh really?” I look up at him, but he keeps his attention on the window. Judging by the scowl on his face, he doesn’t seem to have happy memories of this place. “What did it used to be like?”
“The magic wasn’t so in your face as it is now and people like Jack’s family didn’t have quite the same level of influence,” he replies.
“How about your family?” I ask, realising that I haven’t heard him mention them.
Torin shrugs. “They’re probably still around somewhere. We don’t have a relationship.” He folds his arms and his skin brushes mine again.
It’s very distracting having him so close. The air’s thick with the scent of cloves and his body heat is travelling along my arm. I wait to see if he’s going to add any more detail about his family, but heremains silent. To save us from the strained silence that follows, I find myself blurting out the first shit that comes into my head.
“Does Jack’s mother always look at you like she did earlier?”
Torin glances down at me in surprise. “LIke what?”
I don’t formulate the thought before it’s already slipping out. “Like you’re a sentient slap of meat she’d quite like to spank.”
He blinks. I blink. We’re both blinking fools, caught out by my honesty. Then Torin tips his head back, letting out a rumbling laugh that leaves me warm and tingling all over. I feel a little flushed and almost like I’m drunk on his laughter and I find myself shifting closer until our arms are pressed together.
“I’ve known Jack since we were children,” he admits. “His family weren’t alwaysthefamily. Back in the day, they were still powerful, still influential, but nothing like they are now. Still, they couldn’t have been more different than my own.”
“How did you and Jack meet?” I decide to steer the conversation away from the sore spot that seems to be his own familial situation. I’m imagining the two of them as schoolboys who couldn’t be more different. I picture Jack egging Torin on while he displays some ridiculous feat of strength, like moving a statue just to confuse their teachers.
“I pickpocketed him,” Torin replies. “I used to be a lot smaller than I am now and happened to be working the street where he used to live. Jack seemed an easy mark, one of those people that’s entirely clueless about their surroundings.”
Huh, that wasn’t what I was expecting him to say at all. Then I remember Jack’s words about this city, how it’s a place of extremes, and I wonder if Torin was on the other end to Jack.
“Anyway,” he continues. “I managed to get a good haul off him and then a few days later, I saw him again. After it had happened a few times, I realised he was letting me steal from him. His pocketswere filled with a stupid amount of still-warm pies half the time and with enough coins to cover me on the other days.”
