Page 51

“They were talking about killing me.”

Panic fizzes up my spine. I squeeze my eyes shut and inhale deeply, exhale. I cannot descend into a panic attack right now. I know how to work through this. I’ve done it many times.

Breathe in for a count of four. Hold for six. Out through the mouth.

You are okay right now.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Tin says, his mouth very close to the soft curve of my ear, “I also talked about killing you.”

The breath wheezes out of me. “No, that does not make me feel better.”

“But I changed my mind. So maybe they will too.”

“If you’re trying to calm me down, it’s not working.”

“I wasn’t.”

I snort. “One thing I will say about you being heartless is there is no need to guess what you’re thinking, you just say it.”

“If people stopped lying so much, even to themselves, I think we would all be better for it.”

I don’t disagree.

“Anyway, you changed your mind about killing me because there was no longer an incentive. But the Wizard has put a price on my head, so excuse me for being a tad more terrified.”

“You can’t be killed, remember?”

“What if that was a fluke?”

Tin grumbles and looks out past his arm, but keeps his body close to mine, obscuring me from anyone who passes.

“Well, if it was a fluke, then you’ll be dead and I can stop answering your incessant stream of questions.”

“You are…” Words suddenly fail me.

He turns away from the square and back to me. “I’m what?”

How are we this close again? With barely air between us?

And why does his constant badgering make me feel … buoyant? In a way I haven’t felt in a very long time. Other than with Rook.

“Frustrating,” I finally answer.

His mouth screws up into a smile, and my gaze snaps to the movement, to the swell of his bottom lip, the flash of his teeth.

I haven’t seen him shower and yet he smells like the forest, like cedar and dry leaves and burning tobacco, and despite Enders hunting me now, I feel safe here, tucked into the cage of Tin’s body.

What would Rook think if he found out I fucked his heartless brother? They are enemies, and now we are enemies too. And I want him to ache as much as I do. I want him to know that what happened between us meant nothing to me.

I’m not ashamed to use my body to get revenge.

The line of Tin’s brow furrows. Not with confusion, but with a question.

I lean in.

Tin exhales.

Maybe he wants to punish his brother too.