“Attempting Blood Sight, were you?” Ross joked.
When neither Basil nor I chuckled along with him, Mel’s suspicion seeped into the air around us.
“Shitting stars.” She leaned forward. “Youwere?”
I shrank into the booth. I was already a shit liar, and alcohol only worsened my pretenses.
“No,” Basil insisted.
“Why would you try that unless…?” Mel’s attention darted to me, then back to my brother. “You think you have the Sight?”
The silence that befell our table was so loud it drowned out the boisterous cheers and musical ruckus. “Damn it, Mel,” I hissed.
“Shit, are you talking aboutBlood Sight?” Ross bellowed.
I waved my hand. “Keep your voice down.”
“I knew it.” Ross smacked the table, rattling the tankards. “You always were too good at cards.”
“Your gambling misfortunes have nothing to do with my gifts,” Basil remarked. He froze, our eyes locking.
Well, shit.
“So youaregifted.” Kole’s pale eyes narrowed on Basil in accusation. “And you tried Blood Sight duringTempus,no less?”
Mel wrapped the ends of her fair hair around her fingers. “The Astrals could see this as an insult.”
“Trust me, I know,” Basil grumbled into his hands. “Any way you could all forget about this?”
“No way,” Ross said. “Besides, we’re all thinking it. Did you see something?”
Basil’s face remained unreadable. I’d never seen him so at a loss for words. Our grandparents had sworn us to secrecy as children, and yet because of me, that would no longer be the case. As the alcohol-induced haze cleared from my mind, regret settled in its place. I’d acted on impulse, leveraging my brother’s desire for my happiness against him.
“None of you speak a word of this.To anyone,” I warned, my eyes darting around the table. If anything happened to Basil because of me, I couldn’t live with myself. To my brother, I whispered, “You don’t have to say a word, Baze. You didn’t even see anything. Right?”
“A bit late for that now, isn’t it?” he whispered back.
“Come on, what did you see?” Ross pushed.
Kole nudged his shoulder. “Tell us.”
To the group, Basil cleared his throat. “Alright, alright. I did see… something. Someone.” He ran a shaky hand through his fine hair. “But it wasn’t Rahz. It felt like I’d fallen asleep and was dreaming. I was surrounded by stars, floating endlessly. A figure hovered in the distance, dripping in black liquid. It didn’t see me at first. But then it heard your voice when you called out for me.” Basil stared at me, and I’d never seen him so shaken. “It didn’t have a face, but it looked rightthroughme. As if it saw you, too. And then I was back in the alley.”
I shivered from the scene he detailed.
“What does it mean?” Kole strummed his fingers along the table, peering at me curiously.
“It means you two fucked with something you shouldn’t have,” Mel cursed.
“I don’t think it was the future.” Basil took a swig of Kole’s ale. “It was a warning. And I could have sworn it had a tail. Like a?—”
“Scorpion?” Kole surmised. “Considering Scorpio’s color is black.”
“Just what we need, an omen from the cursed queendom.” Basil rubbed at his temples.
Ross whistled low. “I still can’t believe you never told us you’re gifted. I’m disappointed in you, Ariti.” He whispered something to Kole before rising. “If you’ll excuse us, we need to step outside for a quick piss.”
Basil stood to let them out of the booth. When only Mel remained with us, she cast an apologetic look my way. “I shouldn’t have pressed you.”
