The warmth of his fingers ghosted over my skin as he wiped away the blood, his touch careful. It shouldn’t have felt so intimate. It shouldn’t have made my breath hitch.
But it did. And he was the secret leader of a rebellion that had killed innocents tonight. He was the Twin Blade and the Ravager. And he had a family with another woman.
What the hell was I doing?
I pulled back, flinching away from his hands. He let me go easily, but his eyes didn’t stray from mine.
My pulse kicked hard as I stared back at him. “I thought the Ravager was an Azure.” My voice was still hoarse.
He gave me a faint smile. “Misdirection is everything.”
“You’re the one who did this,” I snapped. “Don’t play word games with me. I saw the rebels. You’re the Ra—”
Yvonne stepped up then, cutting me off with a heavy stare. “Perhaps we should take this somewhere more private?”
She held Poppy close, who was biting her lip hard, trying not to cry. It made the fight drain out of me as I nodded, turning away from Blake toward Yvonne. I had no place in their little family.
“I should go,” I said.
She reached out then. “At least come to my home and let me get you something for those wounds before you head back. You just saved our lives. We owe you everything.”
Poppy raised her tearful eyes to me. “Please?”
Blake stayed silent, before I wearily agreed. Without the mask, he was simply a man, a powerful, handsome man dressed in black. Nobody would know. He turned away abruptly and started sifting through the broken metal and blood.
“I wouldn’t have made it without you smashing that demon with the lid,” I said quietly to Poppy. “How is it that you already have magic at your age?”
Poppy’s expression fell. “I’m not supposed to show other people.”
Yvonne stroked her hair, voice warm with reassurance. “You did exactly right, darling. It was very clever of you to know when to break the rules.”
Why did Blake’s wife have to be kind, beautiful,andwise?
Blake returned then, handing me my ribbons, wrapped perfectly, as if I’d never unleashed them on him.
Poppy peeked up at me again, pulling my attention. “Your hair’s such a pretty color.”
I huffed a soft laugh, but Blake was already tugging my hood over my head, then doing the same to his own.
“Come on,” he said gruffly, taking Poppy from his wife. “We must leave the square before Jace and his band arrive.”
Meaning the warriors sent by the king to put down the rebels.
The square was empty now, save for the bodies of demons and their victims alike. Blood pooled in thick, dark streaks, the stench of death settling into the air. As we passed, a few people crept forward, checking for survivors. There were none. My stomach twisted as I passed a husk of a man, his body drained.
Blake shifted Poppy higher in his arms. “Do you think Mommy can warm up some milk buns when we get home?”
I blinked, startled by the softness in his voice. Something in my chest burned. He was trying to keep Poppy from looking at the carnage around us.
She brightened slightly, nodding against his shoulder. “With sugar?”
“Of course,” he said, his lips pulling up just slightly into a smile.
The streets wound through the city, quiet beneath the hush of night. Shadows stretched long against the stone and metal walls, and the air carried the mingled scents of damp earth, distant fire, and the metallic tang of blood.
Blake led the way, his shoulders tense beneath his cloak, his steps sure and steady. Yvonne walked beside him, her hand a constant presence on Poppy’s back, as if grounding herself in the fact that her daughter was here and safe.
I followed slowly behind, watching the display with something like grief clogging my throat.
