I’d never seen anyone who wasn’t my age. Everyone at the Gathering was young. Now, I realized there was a separation between the two groups. The young worked while the old rested. It was a sign of respect, but I didn’t understand why age exempted them from work. My father worked every day until his death.
I stopped before we reached the door, feeling a surge of uneasiness.
Morco halted when he realized I was no longer at his side. He turned back to me and absorbed my trepidation. “What do you fear?”
“Does she…know about us?” Was I here to meet his mother? Or was I here for the good of the Obsidian tribe?
He stared for a while before he stepped closer, like he might touch me, might even kiss me. “She knew before I did.” His eyes flicked back and forth between mine before he turned away.
I followed him inside, and we walked into an entry with a fireplace that illuminated the room. Two maids were there, one holding a bucket of water like she was about to help someone bathe.
The other approached Morco and waited for his orders.
“My mother is expecting us.”
She nodded. “This way.” She led us into a hallway and then into another large room, chairs and couches on rugs, several fireplaces against the walls to illuminate all the corners. Groups of people sat in different sitting areas, engaged in quiet conversation.
One woman sat alone and faced us directly.
And she had no eyes.
I stilled at the sight, releasing a gasp I was powerless to stop.
Morco stopped beside me but didn’t look at me.
Empty eye sockets stared back at me, dents in the skull, scars all around the eyebrows and the cheeks, like someone had carved them out with a knife and missed several times in the struggle.
“I thought you knew.”
When I’d come to his bedside, I’d been focused on him and nothing else. In a different situation, I would have noticed that the woman beside me had no eyes. I wished I’d noticed then instead of gasped in horror like this, but my reaction would have been the same in either instance.
“Do not fear my appearance, Hanne,” she said with a strong voice. “Our vengeance is due.”
Morco’s hand went to my arm, and he gently held me. It didn’t elicit a surge of heat and desire like it did before.
I was too horrified to be affected.
He guided me to one of the chairs that faced her before he took the seat beside me.
A heavy silence enclosed us in an invisible bubble. My breathing was still elevated, and I did my best to fight it. I didn’t want to subject her to my discomfort. My eyes shifted away to focus on something else. I looked at the other elders in the room.
They didn’t have eyes either.
The flames cast deep shadows in the empty sockets. They looked like skeletons with skin. They didn’t face one another head on…because they couldn’t see where their companions sat.
My eyes immediately flicked away, and this time, I didn’t gasp.
Morco reached out his hand for mine and squeezed it on my thigh.
I squeezed it back before I looked at him, tears burning in my eyes, my hand trembling.
He stared with the strength of two men, loaning me his stability when I felt none. It was a sight he must have grown used to over time, or perhaps he just pretended for my benefit. His lips moved, and he mouthed, “It’s okay.”
“The Knives may have taken my sight, but they can never take my heart.” In a long-sleeved dress made of beige hemp and fur, she straight perfectly straight in the chair, holding herself like a queen who had a ferocious army at her disposal. “Our day will come—and they will bleed.”
My breaths hadn’t regulated yet, finally understanding why the Knives were so deeply feared.
“And I believe that day will come in my lifetime—because of you.”
