“He said he wouldn’t touch you. That was our deal,” she said.
I swallowed. Reaching out to take her hand, I knew that our relationship was developing larger cracks. The smaller ones that had arisen after our village burned were only deepening and widening. Fracturing.
And yet, I still believed I could repair them. Ihadto.
She spoke of deals with Benn. Deals that she’d made to protect me.
“Don’t deepen your ties with him, Tess,” I said, the words, for once, strong and clear. “Not for me. I fear…”
Once I helped the horde king escape, once my part in it was discovered, Tess would suffer too. And I didn’t want that. No matter what she believed, no matter what she turned a blind eye to, I still considered her my sister. And blood was blood.
I couldn’t turn my back on her.
“And I beg you, Mina,” she whispered, her gaze suddenly glassy and fierce, “don’t do anything that would jeopardize their plans. For all our sakes.”
This was just the same conversation we’d had earlier. Just framed in a different way. She still believed that the witches could dispel the fog. She believed sacrificing the horde king was the only way, as did the others, and they wouldn’t consider that there might be other possibilities.
My shoulders sagged. Looking down, I told her, “I won’t. I promise.”
Her relief was palpable.
And it was perhaps the first time that I’d lied to her in my entire life.
* * *
Benn didn’t lookat me, though I certainly kept my eye onhim. And though he was the only one that kept the majority of my attention, I felt the weight of the others’ stares. The way the meal room went quiet as I walked in.
“Taylor,” Benn called, “Emmi, Jos, Bray.”
There was an inner circle among us. Everyone knew it.
At the last minute, Benn added, “Tess. Meeting in my quarters before we eat.”
“What about Jacques?” Taylor asked. “Should I—”
“No,” Benn said, his tone tinged with irritation. Jacques’ questioning of him still pricked, I realized. “He’s on guard duty. I’ll inform him of the plans later.”
The men stood and strode from the room with Benn, down the hallway that led past our sleeping room and up to Benn’s private one. At the last moment, my gaze connected with Tess’. Part of my eyelid was swollen and it drooped slightly into my vision but I didn’t miss her worried expression. As if when she turned her back for a moment, I’d return to the horde king.
There was a reason she was being summoned. And though not long ago we had jested in secret over those in Benn’s inner circle—I would giggle quietly as Tess did her best impression of them all—I couldn’t help but wonder if a part of it thrilled her now. To be chosen. To be included.
Breaking my gaze, she walked from the meal room and my belly soured. I huddled down in my usual place, immediately turning my thoughts to the key in Benn’s pocket and trying to ignore the way I heard my name every so often, whispered amongst the others that remained.
But it wasn’t long before someone hovered before me.
When I looked up, my lips parted in surprise as I saw it was Farah, Hassan’s mother. In her hand was a flat stone. The smoothest I’d ever seen.
I stayed perfectly still as she pressed the stone to my swollen eyelid. Sucking in a sharp breath, I realized it felt like ice, though the stinging sensation slowly morphed into one of numbness.
“For the swelling,” she told me quietly. “It was my mother’s. She often got terrible aches in her legs and she would use this. Keep it cold with water.”
She took my hand and placed it over the stone, keeping it there as she pulled her own away. I remembered Farah’s mother in our village. She’d claimed a reputation as an old, cranky woman who liked her quiet. Only, I think she’d taken a liking to my father, as she was always kind and welcoming to him.
“Thank you,” I whispered quietly.
She nodded, peering down at my face closely before she turned, walking back towards her son, who sat watching the exchange.
The stone was cool on my hot flesh. It felt soothing. It helped numb the tenderness, though it was Farah’s small kindness that had me closing my eyes, trying to hide the sudden glassiness that stung beneath my lids.
