you here?”
She falls into step with a sigh. “I was looking for you.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Why?” I know I’m being harsher than is necessary, but I’m in uncharted depths.
“I told you before,” she says, frowning. “I have to talk to you.” A hint of vulnerability edges her voice—a needful thing suggesting she requires me and only me.
Or maybe that’s just my wishful thinking.
Either way, I have to stop short. Look down. Focus on getting the cursed urumi back in place without severing a finger.
She pauses beside me. “But it seems you have something to tell me first.”
My head shoots up. “Tell you?” Have I betrayed my feelings so quickly?
“Yes, you have got to tell me the name of your weapon. Are you”—she leans closer—“are you wearing it like a belt?” She’s gleeful and adorable, and for an agonizing moment I contemplate a world in which she’d get to be gleeful about normal things like new shoes and good movies. It’s a world I can’t even imagine.
“It’s called an urumi,” I say tightly.
“An oo-whatie?”
“Urumi.”
She shudders elaborately, an endearing pout wrinkling her face.
I know I’m supposed to be stern, but I decide not to fight my smile for her. “What’s with the look?”
“Whips.” She nods to the urumi. “They make me think of Masha,” she says, referring to her longtime enemy, now dead. “Yeesh.”
“Technically it’s not a whip. Think of it like a curling sword.” I pull it back out, offering it to her. “Go ahead. You can hold it. Be careful, though. People have been known to slice their noses off while swinging it.”
“Nice,” she says, hefting the weapon in her hands. “Where on earth did it come from?”
“India.”
She gives me that look I know so well. “No, dummy, I mean where did you get it?”
I pause. I could lie, but what would be the point? Annelise and I are way past lying.
I lead her to a bend in the path obscured by hedges. When I face her again, only the faintest starlight remains, glimmering along her cheekbone, casting her mouth in half light, half shadow.
“It was my sister’s weapon,” I say quietly. All Acari are assigned a weapon, something in tune with who they are. Annelise has her throwing stars. Masha had a whip. Charlotte got an urumi—though I never understood why. My wee sister with something so lethal never clicked for me.
Annelise gives my comment the weighty pause it deserves. Finally, she asks, “And you know how to use it?”
“Who do you think trained Masha?”
“Ronan. Well now.” The look she gives me is a considering once-over, an assessment, like a girl seeing a guy in a new light. “I had no idea.”
I stand taller. Because I’m a piteous idiot. “There’s much you don’t know.”
Like how I might be going off to my death in order to protect her.
I gird myself to meet her eyes again. She’s watching me pensively. She’s so much smaller than me, but she’s so close. It’d be so easy to lean down. To angle just so.
“I have a secret to tell you,” she says quietly.
Her words stab me. Sharp emotion hews me like a chisel through ice. Does she have the same thoughts I do? Thoughts of how all I want to is for us to touch. Not with my powers—just a normal touch, taking her hands in mine. How easy it would be to lean over, to close the gap between us. To bring my mouth to hers.
“A secret?” My voice is a harsh rasp. Might she be having thoughts like mine right now?
“Emma’s alive,” she says. “That’s what I wanted to tell you.”
CHAPTER SIX
“ What?” I turn and walk to a crook in the path where I stand and stare into the trees, hiding my face from her. I need a moment to make sense of her words. Her secret isn’t that she loves me. Of course it isn’t. I’m a fool.
She follows, and so I busy myself with the urumi, taking it from her. I nick my palm getting it back around my waist. “This better not be any more of that nonsense about
She falls into step with a sigh. “I was looking for you.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Why?” I know I’m being harsher than is necessary, but I’m in uncharted depths.
“I told you before,” she says, frowning. “I have to talk to you.” A hint of vulnerability edges her voice—a needful thing suggesting she requires me and only me.
Or maybe that’s just my wishful thinking.
Either way, I have to stop short. Look down. Focus on getting the cursed urumi back in place without severing a finger.
She pauses beside me. “But it seems you have something to tell me first.”
My head shoots up. “Tell you?” Have I betrayed my feelings so quickly?
“Yes, you have got to tell me the name of your weapon. Are you”—she leans closer—“are you wearing it like a belt?” She’s gleeful and adorable, and for an agonizing moment I contemplate a world in which she’d get to be gleeful about normal things like new shoes and good movies. It’s a world I can’t even imagine.
“It’s called an urumi,” I say tightly.
“An oo-whatie?”
“Urumi.”
She shudders elaborately, an endearing pout wrinkling her face.
I know I’m supposed to be stern, but I decide not to fight my smile for her. “What’s with the look?”
“Whips.” She nods to the urumi. “They make me think of Masha,” she says, referring to her longtime enemy, now dead. “Yeesh.”
“Technically it’s not a whip. Think of it like a curling sword.” I pull it back out, offering it to her. “Go ahead. You can hold it. Be careful, though. People have been known to slice their noses off while swinging it.”
“Nice,” she says, hefting the weapon in her hands. “Where on earth did it come from?”
“India.”
She gives me that look I know so well. “No, dummy, I mean where did you get it?”
I pause. I could lie, but what would be the point? Annelise and I are way past lying.
I lead her to a bend in the path obscured by hedges. When I face her again, only the faintest starlight remains, glimmering along her cheekbone, casting her mouth in half light, half shadow.
“It was my sister’s weapon,” I say quietly. All Acari are assigned a weapon, something in tune with who they are. Annelise has her throwing stars. Masha had a whip. Charlotte got an urumi—though I never understood why. My wee sister with something so lethal never clicked for me.
Annelise gives my comment the weighty pause it deserves. Finally, she asks, “And you know how to use it?”
“Who do you think trained Masha?”
“Ronan. Well now.” The look she gives me is a considering once-over, an assessment, like a girl seeing a guy in a new light. “I had no idea.”
I stand taller. Because I’m a piteous idiot. “There’s much you don’t know.”
Like how I might be going off to my death in order to protect her.
I gird myself to meet her eyes again. She’s watching me pensively. She’s so much smaller than me, but she’s so close. It’d be so easy to lean down. To angle just so.
“I have a secret to tell you,” she says quietly.
Her words stab me. Sharp emotion hews me like a chisel through ice. Does she have the same thoughts I do? Thoughts of how all I want to is for us to touch. Not with my powers—just a normal touch, taking her hands in mine. How easy it would be to lean over, to close the gap between us. To bring my mouth to hers.
“A secret?” My voice is a harsh rasp. Might she be having thoughts like mine right now?
“Emma’s alive,” she says. “That’s what I wanted to tell you.”
CHAPTER SIX
“ What?” I turn and walk to a crook in the path where I stand and stare into the trees, hiding my face from her. I need a moment to make sense of her words. Her secret isn’t that she loves me. Of course it isn’t. I’m a fool.
She follows, and so I busy myself with the urumi, taking it from her. I nick my palm getting it back around my waist. “This better not be any more of that nonsense about
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