“That’s not difficult to believe,” I interject.
“—and snuck out without telling anyone, not even me. My mother told me not to leave the house, but finding Cec and bringing him back was more important than what she might do to me if she learned I went against her word.”
His gaze remains far off, lost in the memory as he continues. “I found him leaping between the dancers at some local festival. I immediately grabbed him, and forced him back home. When the woman we were staying with asked where we’d been, I told her I wanted to go see the festival and I dragged Cec with me. Upon my mother’s return, she made me hold my arms above my head for an hour as punishment. Still, I never told a soul the truth of that night. Until now, that is.”
My lips part in disbelief and melancholy.It sounds as if Bes has been taking care of Cec long before now.
“I tell you this not for you to pity me, but as a first step in gaining your trust,” he says, dark eyes finally meeting mine, “until I can prove it to you in actions.”
He holds my gaze until I look away, still ashamed for acting so childish. It’s not the worst tantrum I’ve thrown, but it wasn’t great either. Especially now that he’s shared a secret part of himself with me.At least I didn’t actually climb up on the railing.
“I’m sorry for”—I gesture at the railing I planned to leap off of—“all that. I’m sure it doesn’t surprise you I’m an only child and am therefore used to getting my way.”
He nods. “It does explain a lot about you, actually.” His lip pulls up slightly at the corner. “But it’s not your fault that we’re in this situation. What I said before was out of line. I apologize.”
I watch him for a moment, wondering where this Bes has been all this time. “Apology accepted.”
“I’d like us to be friends, Miss Hawkins,” he says after a moment.
Friends…hearing him say it aloud, it doesn’t sound right. I’m not sure Bes and I could ever be friends, whether it’s because he turns out to be my enemy after all this, or for another reason entirely. Once again, I’m reminded of the way he held me on thestern of the boat, after I nearly went overboard. He could’ve let me go immediately once he realized I was safe.
Yet, he didn’t. He comforted me when he should’ve been driving the boat.
“This situation… it’s not ideal, for you in particular,” he continues. “Both Cec and I are aware of that. A great evil in the world chases you because of your association with the amulet, but you must know by now that, at the very least, we’re not that evil. And I hope, in time, I can earn your trust.”
Bes holds out his hand.
I grasp his olive branch and shake it. “It’s a deal.”
Our grasped hands linger for a moment, warmth spreading along my arm toward my chest from the contact—
“Did I hear yelling out here?” Cec pokes his head out of the helm. “Is anyone hurt? Who do I have to kill?” He swishes his cane through the air like he’s wielding a sword. “Have at thee, fascist scum!”
Shaking my head, I let Bes’s hand go and chuckle. Without Cec cutting the tension between us, Bes and I might’ve killed each other by now.
Approaching him, I grasp his cane. “Easy there, soldier. You’re going to poke your eye out if you keep swinging that thing around.”
He yanks his cane away. “Yes, because losing an eye would be so much different than being blind.”
“Only mostly blind,” Bes and I recite in unison.
“Ah, using my own words against me.” Cec tips his cane at us, and some of his wild hair falls across his face. “Cheers.”
A giggle rises up my throat and I don’t do anything to stop it. I laugh the hardest I’ve laughed in a long time. Not because Cec did or said anything particularly funny, but because I’m exhausted. Because I killed another person and watched someone else get shot in cold blood today. Because, as much asI wish I could trust Bes after that childhood anecdote, he’s still withholding information.
My head lightens as if I’ve downed three glasses of prosecco, the bubbles going straight to my brain and scrambling it.
Cec joins in, and I find I enjoy the sound of his laugh too, though not as much as Bes’s—Bes, who’s once again scoring his features to be purposefully indecipherable.
I swallow the last of my frantic merriment. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite bluffing before; I do in fact need to take a dip in the sea.”
Bes stares at me with great incredulity, his mouth dropping open as if to demand what the hell all that was for then. Poor Bes, he must think me an unsolvable enigma.Welcome to my world, Belzoni.
“I haven’t taken a bath since leaving the States,” I explain before he can argue. I refuse to count my time in the stagnant, corpse-filled water of the Osireion. If anything, it made things worse. “And though neither of you have said anything, I know I smell something awful.”
Bes glances at Cec, who peeks back in his cousin’s vicinity.
“That’s what I thought. I’ll grab the bar of soap from my pack and get to it.” I point my finger between them. “You two—scram.”
