There was no way she was showing him any signs of fear. According to him, he had saved her, so he couldn’t hate southerners that much. ‘Cute,’ she said flatly, then struggled to exhale properly, as she had held her breath way too long before speaking.
A squeal of excitement came through the wall, causing them both to turn that way, and Scarlen felt her cheeks pink at the breathy sounds that followed before a shushing noise, then silence once more.
‘Who do you think that was?’And I asked that why?
‘As long as it’s not my little sister and Rav, I don’t care.’ Bear huffed as he dealt the cards. ‘That’s all I need to hear.’
Scarlen bit back a laugh, then a thought occurred. ‘Why is she the only Rebel with a life sentence?’ She met coldness in his stare. ‘Someone mentioned it to me.’
‘She was arrested for being in Borough South, that’s all.’
‘I didn’t know crossing Boroughs was a crime. As far as I know, you can cross borders whenever you like, if you can afford to, that is.’ There had been a toll for as long as she could remember, and crossing into Borough Mids had been one of her biggest challenges, but with friends like Temple, she might just find another way in now, as she was sure he or his brother would know. The way Temple prattled on about his life, his family had their fingers in a lot of pies.
‘After we were arrested for treason, the king passed a new law banning shapeshifters from Borough South, health and safety reasons. His health. His safety. Wynter was already there at that time. She had been following me when she was supposed to stay at home.’
And now is the perfect time to get some answers.‘She wanted to help kidnap the princess?’
His gaze was on the four cards in his hand, but his head shook a touch as he blew out a quiet sigh. ‘They couldn’t prove that, so she got a life sentence just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.’
‘Why were you trying to kidnap the princess, anyway?’
He picked up a card from the top of the deck. ‘Who said that was what we were doing?’
‘The king.’
‘Your king says a lot of shit.’
What’s that supposed to mean?
‘Pick up a card, Scars.’
She did, but the three of clubs did little for her hand as more questions whirled, but she couldn’t interrogate him, as that would raise suspicion. Or maybe she was being paranoidbecausesheknew who she was. She had to keep a straight face. Not give away any clues, not that she was sure how she would. It was obvious he had no idea what the princess looked like. Hardly anyone had seen her. But there was something about the way he looked deeply into her eyes that made her think he could read minds. She was certain he was trying to figure her out.
Bear peered up through his long, dark lashes. ‘Got any more questions for me?’
It was for the best she stopped asking about his crime. It couldn’t be easy knowing what was to come. ‘Are you really a bear?’ And now she felt stupid.
A side smile made him look even more gorgeous, which she was determined to ignore. ‘Yeah, but I’m double the size of an ordinary brown bear, which is rare, so that’s why I’m called Bear. We’re not all called by our halfling, as no one knows what we’ll be until we turn sixteen, so we often have a different name to start with. I was named after my father at first.’
‘Halfling?’
‘The other half of us. Our animal form.’
‘So Oxley isn’t an ox?’
‘No. He’s a bear. But Raven is a raven, but not the type you know. He’s as big as a small dragon.’
Scarlen breathed out a laugh. ‘A dragon?’
‘Yeah, I know, they’re only in the story books, but you get the general idea.’
She nodded. ‘I do.’
A long moment of silence passed between them as they continued to pick up more cards.
‘We’re not demons,’ he said quietly.
And Scarlen was starting to believe that, as there was nothing about Wynter that was horrible in any way, and Oxley had taken her spoon punishment, and Bear wasn’t giving off warning signs, not that she trusted him the way she did Wynter.
