I tip my head to give him access to my right ear. “I’m no longer opposed to piercing them.”
Phoebus gawps at me because he’s one of the only souls aware of my former reticence. “Are you certain?”
I nod, and his surprise turns to an emotion akin to misty-eyed pride. I don’t think it deserves pride, but my decisionisrather momentous. Today marks the first day Fallon Rossi Bannock ceases to be ashamed of what she is not.
Lazarus unhooks the sapphire pin adorned to his collar, then rubs one of his many crystals—a purple bead—and slathers whatever magic he’s extracted from it onto the brooch’s stem before aiming it at my lobe.
I shake my head and tap the cartilage up top, right where a point would stand had I been born a pure-blooded Fae. “Here.”
Phoebus’s mouth goes soft at my request, because he understands that will draw attention to my curved shells.
“Very well.” Lazarus pinches the top of my ear between his large fingers. “It’ll sting, but only for a moment.”
Before my next swallow, he stabs the bar pin through the cartilage, and although the pain is shallow, I hold my breath as he slowly slides the needle-sharp accessory back out and produces the definitive hoop. He rubs the translucent amber crystal hooked onto it between his thumb and index finger and applies the magical salve to my new hole.
My skin burns before cooling almost immediately. I release the air trapped in my lungs as he spears the hoop through and secures it. Although it weighs next to nothing, its presence fills me with renewed bravado.
“Knock, knock.” The chirpy voice emanates from Eefah, who stands in the doorway, black hair plaited into two long braids that start at the crown of her head. “I come to fly you to Luce. Are you all pack?”
“Yes.” I crane my neck and shoot Lazarus a smile. “I hope I’ll one day be able to repay your kindness.”
The tall healer inclines his head, his heavy silver locks draping over his shoulder, swallowing one shapely ear whole. “Stay alive. That’ll be payment enough.”
“I’ve no intention of dying.” My lips remain curved in spite of the dread gaining traction inside of me.
“Andrea had no intention of passing to the next world either.” His grief-stricken tawny gaze scrolls over my features one last time before he turns and ambles out of my borrowed room, vanishing into the abounding darkness.
“Nice earring.” Eefah’s smile is all crooked teeth and genuine sweetness. “When you getting Crow tattoo?”
I blink at her. “Um.” I sense that sayingneverwould collapse her delight, so I swap the word out with a vague declaration. “I haven’t decided yet.”
“Here I assumed you were all born with it.” Phoebus stands, his new green crystal glittering as brightly as his eyes, in spite of the purple circles rimming them.
I’ve no doubt that the second he gets home, he will slip under his bedsheets and hibernate for a month.
“No. We receive when we fly the nest.”
As he slips his huge feet into the green suede moccasins that somehow survived his swim in Mareluce, he asks, “How come Bronwen doesn’t have one?”
The corners of Eefah’s mouth turn down. “Because Costa Regio sent Fae-fire on Bronwen when she choose marry Cian.”
I startle. “Wh-What?”
“So that’s why she’s disfigured . . .” Phoebus murmurs. “How crazy that she knew Costa Regio personally.”
Eefah’s eyebrows join. “Costaisfather to Bronwen.”
My jaw drops in time with Phoebus’s.
“You did not know?” The female Crow swings her inky eyes between our two startled faces.
My ears buzz, and although I don’t feel duped, I do feel foolish for not knowing of their kinship. “Is Dante aware of it?”
“I do not know.”
“Her ears aren’t pointed,” Phoebus remarks.
“Because Costa cut tips off with steel blade. He was cruel man. Anuhlbheist.”
