The ligaments running down the length of my throat tauten when her nostrils flare. Can she smell the salt?
My gaze wants to go to Syb’s but remains fixed on Eponine who still hasn’t drunk.Come on. Come on.My heart begins to tremble as hard as the rest of me.Come the fuck on.
When her eyes flick to mine, the blood drains from my face.
She knows . . .
Oh, Gods, she knows.
She tilts her glass and drinks. As she licks her lips clean, her nose crinkles.
All right, so perhaps she didn’t know, but now she must.
She holds out her glass to Tavo, rings sparkling on each one of her fingers. “Change my glass, Diotto. The serpents have flicked seawater inside.”
If she really believes the serpents responsible for the salt, why is she staring fixedly at me?
After he takes her glass, she leans back into the cushions, and strokes the velvet tassel on one of the cushions. “Better ask your questions before it wears off.”
My heart comes to a screeching standstill. “I’m sorry.”
“Are you?”
“Yes. I don’t like to steal secrets, but I cannot wait another week to know.” I swipe my tongue over my lips, then lower my pitch so that only she will hear it. “Where is my grandmother?”
“In Shabbe.”
I startle, until I grasp she is speaking of Nonna. “Meriam. I meant Meriam.”
She crooks a finger my way, and although I’d prefer to keep my distance, I inch closer. “Near.”
“How near?” My voice judders like the rest of me.
“In Luce.”
“But where?”
My heart beats six times before her mouth finally shifts over words that firm my decision to leave Antoni’s home, but not in favor of the Sky Kingdom.
No. I must go west, back to the land of beaches and jungles, to the land guarded by women who wear the name I used to believe belonged to me as well. Here I’d hoped never again to cross paths with the terrifying Xema Rossi . . .
Still reeling that my return to Luce wasn’t all for naught, I touch Eponine’s knee. “I’ll see that you still get what you desire.”
I set aside my resentment toward Lorcan to transfer the confession I coaxed from her lips into his mind.Xema Rossi hides Meriam.
I don’t expect a,Well done, Little Bird, but I am hoping for some sort of response. An,I’ll send some birds to check out her claim. When no answer penetrates my mind, I realize that he must not be present after all, and a touch of . . .somethingcorrodes my joy.
“Will you stay through dinner now that you got what you came for?” Eponine’s question steers my mind off Lore.
I conjure delight I’m no longer feeling even though, like she said, I did get what I came for. Why is joy so fleeting? “I’d like nothing more than to dine with a future queen, if said-future queen is still willing to break bread with me?”
A smile creeps across her mouth. “Turn right!”
My brow furrows, because turning right will lead into Tarelexo.
“I want to see where the other half lives. Whereyoulived.”
I forget all about my shame and edginess then because I haven’t returned to my home since Dante promised to have it restored.
