“Mila,” he breathed, returning the gesture of respect. “Beautiful name for a beautiful girl, but”—he hooked a single, slender finger beneath the pendant’s chain,tsking—“oh, no. No nono!This simply won’t do. I cannot bear such an outdated, battered piece distracting from your radiance, my dearest Mila.”
“It—” I cleared my throat, taking a tiny conservative sip of his ki. Looking for deception, only to find genuine distaste for an outdated, battered piece worth more than everything else in his shop combined. “It was my mother’s,” I said, letting him taste old sorrows.
The grip on my elbow tightened, light eyes widening. “Ah. Well. The Goddess can be cruel, for all her wisdom. I’m so sorry for your loss, child. Come,” he said, fluttering bejeweled fingers. “Sit. I have the perfect piece to soothe such pain. Why don’t you take your dear mother’s pendant off, and I’ll have it cleaned? Perhaps we can replace the jewel in the center. How about a nice sapphire to match your eyes, hmm? I happen to have a selection of loose stones for just such an occasion.”
Pushing my ki through the pad of his dewy thumb, I trapped his hand on my elbow and directed his attention away from my pendant. Toward the case I’d seen a week prior while perusing the markets with my father, for I’d already chosen what I’d be leaving with today. “You are too kind, sir, but I couldn’t. I haven’t enough coin to—”
“Nonsense,” he breathed, pulling me deeper into the tent. Something akin to fatherly instinct lit up my senses when he dropped the hyper-cheerful sales pitch and said, “Everything is negotiable, darling.Everything. Remember that lesson, and you’ll do well in life.”
A tentative, fragile smile spread across my lips, no less effective for all that I’d rehearsed. “Thank you.”
“I won’t hear it,” he said, patting the back of my hand. Each pat landed with a burst of ki behind my eyelids. Dazzling. Enthralling. “Now let’s find the piece with ‘Mila’ written on it.”
I smothered the grin begging to be set free, allowing him to guide me around the tiny shop, hand in hand. Flitting from one display to the next, the merchant remained unaware as I slid beneath his skin. Drinking just a littledeeperto learn him from the inside out, while he filled my every cell with power and confidence.
I’d beenright.
Thiswas right, this Divinity thick in my blood wasmine.
The light shifted, signaling the arrival of another patron, but I didn’t spare the newcomer a glance, instead driving my merchant to stop before a display of brooches. It took little more than a tinypushto make it his idea to open the case.
“Oh, darling,yes. This is it.” He lifted the brooch, letting it catch the gloomy half-light. “It’s far from the most valuable piece in my collection, but it was made for you. I feel it deep in my bones.”
Did he now? The Glaith hung heavy about my neck, the most innocent expression I’d rehearsed fixed to my lips. “It’s beautiful,” I whispered, inspecting the savage likeness of a snarling wildcat with tiny amber eyes.
“Isn’t it? But I’m selfish.” He winked. “I simply cannot go another minute without seeing it against your skin, my dear.”
I returned his smile, tilting my chin back as he pinned it to my shift. And yet, my fingers lingered upon his skin, maintaining the connection with that which had become mine. “Thank you,” I breathed, meeting his eye. Watching his pupils dilate. “It’s beautiful. It must also be… expensive?”
The merchant blinked, pulse pounding at the base of his throat, unable to tear his eyes from mine. Unwilling, for he too, could taste the Divine. Through me. “Ex-Expensive, yes. Yes. But for you,” he said, licking lips gone dry, “I’m happy to see it go.”
What would it hurt to take just a little…more?To drink just a little deeper from my merchant and celebrate this tiny victory? My fingers tightened on his wrist, mouth watering, hungering for his ki. He wouldn’t notice the absence, not really. How could he miss what he couldn’t sense? What he’dneversense, for he was not of the Blood.
“A fine choice,” came a voice from behind, making me jump. “Not sure it’s worth the risk, but a fine choice, nonetheless.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks, fingers jerking free of the merchant on a startled gasp. Fist crackling with stolen ki, I spun to face the fool who dared disturb me.
He caught my wrist, standing too close, fingers rough and warm—but utterly devoid of ki.
I blinked.
Blinked again, turning the full strength of my senses upon him. Nothing. Not a lick or whisper of ki. “Impossible,” I breathed, meeting eyes darker than pitch, trying to wrap my head around the contradiction standing before me. Every living thing had ki to some degree, for without it we were nothing but fuel for the next generation. And yet this man, obviously so full of life, possessed nothing of the sort. Unless…
My eyes dropped to his neck, absent a chain that might have swung with a pendant like mine. Dressed in formal black and gold, dark hair cropped close and kept neat, the man had the gall to smirk at me. Clean, sharp jaw framing a handsome face, his werenotthe features I was accustomed to seeing. Too dark, build too big to be of Tritan blood. My gaze dropped further still, to the hand on my wrist—and the chunky, masculine ring sitting proud on his pinky finger.
Glaith.
I knew without seeing those distinct blue, green, and purple shadows scattering the light. Knew what the ugly stone set in a foreign family crest meant. But… “Impossible,” I said again, though this time it was a dry squeak. This time, I pulled away, for hecouldn’tbe what I thought he was. The Glaith was coveted by Tritan’sPriestessesfor its responsive reactions to ki. Thismancouldn’t possibly know what his ring was truly worth.
It was a coincidence, nothing more.
Trying to step back, I tucked my pendant beneath my shift, reuniting the warm stone with my skin, just in case. When the Glaith touched my breastbone, it pushed everything else out, deadening my forbidden senses once more. Turning my knees to water as it swallowed the Divine.
“The brooch,” he said, ignoring my attempt to free myself from his grasp, though those dark eyes tracked my every movement. Tracing the pendant beneath my shirt. “How much?”
The merchant blinked, still under my sway even without my touch on his skin or my ki thick in his veins. “F-For the lady, nothing. A gift, sir.”
“Take your hand off—”
