“Because, Remo, I’m confused.You’reconfusing. Do you like me or not? Am I an obligation or a choice?”
“You were never a choice until the Cauldron bound us.”
“The Cauldron shouldn’t have changed anything.”
“But it did. Just like this place did. Just like watching you die did.” He tossed his hands in the air, disrupting the flyaways around my face, which had fallen out of my braid during the night. “Tell me something . . . didyouever consider making out with me before we were tossed together in the Scourge?”
My cheeks brightened. “No, but that’s because you were hateful.”
“And yet you kissed me back, Amara, so admit this place changed you, too.”
I notched my chin a tad higher. “This place changed how I saw you but not what I want. And what I want is a real relationship, not an ordained one, and certainly not one with an expiration date because the other party isn’t into long-lasting monogamy.”
“You barely know me. Maybe you’d hate dating me.”
“Maybe I wouldn’t hate it.” Was I still pink or had my complexion veered right to purple? “But dating isn’t even a possibility, because dating means strings, and you don’t want strings, Remo, so why are we even fighting about this?”
His eyes lowered to my lips.
I stepped to the side before he could kiss me. I suspected that would be a bad idea considering how much it had scrambled my brain back in the mud field, and I wanted . . .needed. . . to keep a level head. “Don’t.”
“Why does it have to be all or nothing? Why can’t it just besomething?”
“Because I want what my parents have. What my aunt and uncle have.”
“What if what they all have is only due to their brands? Both Kajika and your mother were branded by their partners.”
My ribs contracted. Giya had brought up the same point during one of our many discussions about boys and hearts. I’d hated her insinuation, because it meant magic was mixed into their love, and I didn’t want magic to have anything to do with that feeling.
“My grandparents aren’t branded, and they’re crazy in love. And my mother was branded by Cruz Vega first, and she never loved him. Besides, those brands are used by faeries to track humans. Unlikecaptis, they’re not used for seduction.”
“But what if—”
“Then I’ll find myself a human consort once I’m out of here and brandhim!” Infuriated, I spun on my heels and bustled out of the train and onto a platform that was carved right into a giant gray boulder.
Huffing a little, I scanned our newest cell—spectacular rock formations, a dark cyan forest denser and more tropical than the one in Neverra, and a glittering waterfall.
My lips popped apart at the sight. “This isn’t too bad.”
Remo grumbled, “We can’t even see the ground, Trifecta.”
Even though I now knew the nickname wasn’t pejorative, I still didn’t love it. “It’s undoubtedly full of creepy creatures, but there’s a waterfall. I love waterfalls.” Sure the sky was pasty white, and it was eerily silent, but I was still hopeful this world would be kindlier than all the others.
But then my hope vanished when a tinny voice erupted from the train: “Countdown to self-destruction will begin in ten . . . nine . . . eight . . .”
Self-destruction? What was about to self-destroy? This cell? The entire prison?
“Six . . . five . . .”
“The train’s going to blow!” Remo said.
I blinked up at him.
“Jump!” He grabbed my hand and dropped into a crouch, and then we sprang off the boulder.
The ground came at me hard. So hard my teeth knocked together, and my bones juddered, but the metallic sound of “three” had me scrambling back upright.
As a rumbling began, Remo tugged on my hand. “Run!”
