Page 18 of A Liar's Twisted Tongue

DESDEMONA

For in the holy name of Sulva, she sacrificed her first descendant and the universe’s first Lucent as token of her love for Ayan. Eira bewitched Amun so deeply that when her soul took itself to another plane, the immortal found his path to do the same.

– THE GODS TALES WRITER UNKNOWN (REDACTED AND TRANSLATED BY QUEEN ASPILIAS AIBEK, 13AA)

Aralia gets out of bed before I do. She whispers, “You should use the bathroom before the others are awake,” and I turn away from the wall. I don’t know how she knows I am awake, but I thank her and walk into the living room. I take in the size of the suite for the third time now and wonder if it would feel any less eerie if it were in the septic.

When the hot water runs down my back, I think this might be the best I will ever get to feel. It’s like I have never lived before now. I sit beneath the stream and my hair sticks down my back while the bliss billows from my body. I don’t move until my fingers are more pruney than a prune.

I braid my hair like Aralia’s, the same way my mom taught me when I was young.

“You’d look good with blusher,” Aralia says, sitting up and looking away from her book. “It’ll make your face look rounder.” Then she’s digging through a drawer in the desk between the comfiest beds in the worlds.

Damien and Elliae were the first Folk to not point out my obnoxiously angular face. My jaw’s like a square, and I’m well aware that it’s a uniqueness not quite welcomed by the Folk. When Aralia hands me a silver tube, she says, “You can use it on your lips too.”

I don’t gape at the tube, which I’m sure is real silver. These kids are so spoiled, but that’s a sentiment for another day, so I just put the stuff on my cheeks and lips. Turns out she’s right, my face does look a little rounder. Prettier.

“It’s a glamour,” Aralia says, and when she dabs the pink stuff on her cheeks, I watch the already rounded curves of her face soften even more. Like the scars on my back.

She puts black stuff on her monolid eyes and they grow bigger and rounder. I kind of wish my mom had told me about glamour sooner, but I guess there was no time for vanity.

I offer a small “Thank you” for good measure, despite feeling no gratitude to the girl. She has everything she could want. Sharing a portion of everything doesn’t make her an altruist.

She offers me another silver tube. “This will take care of your freckles.

Right.

I go to the kitchen, hoping to find more of that delicious pie from last night. Instead, I find cups full of purple and green berries with seeds of some sort on the side. Students sit around the counter, and some take their cups to go.

Most of the fruits that grew in Lorucille were poisonous. It’s one of the first things I can remember my mom telling me. Don’t touch the berries. Sometimes Damien and I would find dead Folk in the woods, by the bushes with the secoyas or minthers.

Disregarding the warnings, I plop the green fruit in my mouth and its sweet juices explode. I sit down, and no one pays any mind to me until I suck down the berries in seconds. Then they all look at me. I guess they don’t eat like this.

“Thanks for the food,” I say to no one in particular, setting down my utensils and standing to leave.

“Did I just hear a thank you?” a voice calls back, strong and full and echoing through the room.

“Yeah,” I say, much quieter.

The woman walks in front of me and I’m met by green eyes, dark skin, and pulled-back brown hair. I’ve never met a Eunoia before.

She waves a large wooden spoon in my direction. “You must be new around here.”

“Yeah,” I say again.

“Still, I appreciate being appreciated. But don’t we all?” She laughs and points the spoon at herself. “The nicer you are to me, the nicer the food will be to you,” she whispers to me like it’s some kind of secret.

“Does that mean I’ll get more of it?” I whisper.

“Yes, it does.” She smiles.

“Everything I’ve had so far is incredible.” I smile back. “I didn’t know food could taste that good.”

“Where are you from, girl?” she asks me.

“Utul,” I answer without hesitation.

“And you’ve never had dragon berries? Or you just toying with me ‘cause you want a second serving?”

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