“What you’re about to see might shock or even frighten you.”
I wave him on. “Get it over with then.”
He procures a polished-gold wine chalice and holds it in front of my face.
I take in my appearance. My hair has been ripped from its ponytail, sticking out around me in knots and tangles. Blood that’s not mine appears to be sprinkled across my cheeks like large crimson freckles. My blood-soaked shirt is slightly askew and there are deep smudges beneath my eyes—
Eyes that churn silver.
I flinch back into the cot, blinking rapidly. When I do, the silver disappears, replaced once more with the blue I’ve had all my life.
I look at Bes, trembling. “What does this mean?”
“We’re not sure,” Cec answers instead. “As far as we’re aware, nothing like this has happened in our history.”
I glance back at the cup before handing it back to Bes. “And what exactly isthis?”
The two of them share a look. I’m about to ask again and not as nicely, when Bes answers.
“It’s possible you inherited some of Cec’s magic when he healed you.”
My mind takes a moment to catch up. I barely believe that the magic of the Tree of Life is real, much less that it bestows any sort of power or magic on those who receive the leaf tattoos. I recall how it felt when Cec set out to heal me at the castle, though, and realize it’s the only logical explanation for why I’malive right now. I was dying—I felt it. Then, Cec placed his hands on me, and I swore I was being burned from the inside out.
And now, here I am, still alive.
“I didn’t…” I swallow hard. “I didn’t take it from him, did I?”
“No,” Cec assures me. “I can still do everything I could before.”
He trails off, thought painfully unfulfilled.
“We have no idea what you’re capable of beyond your eyes turning silver, like ours do,” Bes finishes for him. “And we don’t have the luxury to sort it out now.”
Bes takes my hand. “I know you never wanted this, least of all to be forced into it.” His hand tightens around mine “But we’re going to have to move soon. We have no idea if Ingrid came alone, and we haven’t been able to find…”
“Mara,” I supply. “Or Kali.”
Bes growls. “Theywillpay for what happened to you. For betraying us all.”
“I have no doubt about that. But how can either of them be alive if they betrayed us? What about their blood oaths?”
“The only possible way is that they never revealed the location of the base, or the names of the Themis’s. Perhaps they never planned to.” Cec sighs. “It’s likely we’ll never know.”
“Seems like the blood oath has a couple loopholes,” I note.
“Members may betray each other, but never our leaders or the stronghold,” Bes explains. “Although nothing in the oath specifies leading an outsider to the stronghold, like we did with you, that seal on the other side of the door serves many purposes. If an uninitiated outsider who meant ill intent were to pass over it, they would die instantly. Ingrid’s men never would’ve made it past. It’s possible Mara purposefully kept that stipulation from Ingrid in the hopes they’d pay her for bringing them there first.”
“At least she’s consistent.”
I flex my fingers, my hands, my toes.I don’tfeelany different.
Unfortunately, with the possibility of more God Men out there, I don’t have time to worry about what’ll happen to me now that I might have magic—goddamnmagic—flowing through my veins. A part of me still thinks I might wake up, and this will have all been an elaborate dream.No, this is real.I tried to avoid the order, and now it’s what saved me from certain death.
But at what cost?
Deprivation slips out of me before I can stop it: “What have I become?”
Cec touches my shoulder. “You’re still you, Hawkins.”
