Page 162 of The BoneKeeper's Daughter

There’s a sort of prompt in her voice I don’t completely understand, but accept, so I’m careful in my response, vague memories of Axton talking about ‘tasting truth’ shaping my answer. “It is something someone very dear to me used to say.”

Nodding tightly, she turns to her brother, lips pressed together. “BloodLetter? Our meeting?” she asks, but he doesn’t move away.

“And something in this moment made you think of it?” He is staring at me, face disturbingly blank; I wonder how much they heard before coming from the copse.

“Simple candles light fires, BloodLetter. I am curiously happy at the moment, despite everything. And when I’m happy, I tend to think of those who contributed to it.”

“Hmmm. My Blood Rider contributes to this…happiness?” The question is curt, somehow dangerous, and demands honesty.

“He does, though he laughs at me.”

“Show me,” he commands.

Startled, I tilt my head at him, completely baffled. “Show you?”

“Your stones. How you skip them.” It’s not a request; he is looking for something, and it makes me nervous, but I nod.

“Alright, BloodLetter. Prepare to be impressed,” I say, my voice firm and earnest, and his brow wrinkles in confusion.

“I can’t tell if you’re serious, SoulBinder. Why in the world would I ever be impressed by a child’s game?”

“BoneKeeper,” I reply, attempting and failing to keep frustration from coloring my words. “Andyouasked for a demonstration.”

“And you are nothing if not accommodating,” Kyla interjects dryly.

“Just so,” I reply somberly. Then, picking a promising rock from the bunch in my hands, do my best to cast itacrossas Teo instructed, rather thandown. It skips once, twice, and then tumbles towards a third before sinking, and I don’t bother to hide the small flash of satisfaction on my face. “Ha! Three times! You see? I am entirely undeserving of your Rider’s censure of my abilities.”

“Three is a matter of pride?” He sounds so dismissive, which somehow, as always, sparks my temper.

“Small victories add up over time, I suppose.”

Nodding, he walks over to me, Kylabet just behind him. “Shall I instruct you on how it’s done, SoulBinder?” He towers over me, too close to be casual — a purposeful show of strength or power, and I try not to let myself be intimidated. “My Blood Rider may have given you ideas on the way things work which aren’t accurate. And it’s always best to follow the rules, even in things as seemingly inconsequential as skipping stones.” Face dark, he stares down at me, and says softly, almost threateningly, “I’ll choose from the ones you’ve already picked.Empty your pockets as well, hmm? So I know you’re not keeping the best of the bunch from me.”

I don’t think he expects me to do so so willingly, but I shrug, and pull the entire lot out. Teo is practically vibrating behind me, his attempts to disguise his near-panic doing more harm than anything else. There’s no reason for him to be so edgy in the moment, and Axton knows that, eyes flicking between me and his Rider. Kyla is silent behind her brother, hand resting on her sword, leaning forward slightly, as if at the ready for confrontation. The air, which only moments before had been so serene and soft, is now tense and sparking with uncomfortable energy.

“Take your choice, BloodLetter.” I offer, shaking the rocks in my hands before him. Ellie’s bone is almost indistinguishable from the rest — I’m overwhelmingly grateful that Teo didn’t choose a vertebrae or something similar, where the marrow is exposed and can’t be disguised in a pile of stones.

“Most of these are useless,” the BloodLetter grunts, poking discontentedly at my hand, and I frown up at him.

“Then choose your own if you find my selection so lacking,” I snap back, and he raises a sardonic brow at my tone, still staring into my open palm.

“Touchy, touchy, Binder. Are your feelings hurt?” A moment later, he freezes, then slowly, slowly raises his eyes to Teo. The muscles on his jaw tense from his clenched teeth, his full lips curled in something like disgust or disappointment. When Axton finally speaks, it’s almost a snake’s hiss of sound. Without looking away with Teo, the BloodLetter very purposefully picks a misshapen rock from my hand and shows it to me. “You shouldn’t let your feelings get involved in things like this. But don’t worry, Binder. I’ll fix the situation. Teo clearly didn’t explain what makes a good skipping stone. First, they should be flat.” The BloodLetter tosses it into the lake with a careless motion, then picks up another. “Second, not too large.” The stone follows the first, and Teo’s breath is now stuttering, though his face is unchanged. Kyla’s eyes dart from Teo to my hand to her brother; she opens her mouth slightly, as though she isgoing to speak, but then presses her lips together, her chin jutting forward. “Third,” Axton continues, “not too roughly shaped.” Here, he grabs Ellie’s bone, and still staring at Teo, throws it into the water. Teo makes a strange, swallowed, almost-sound, just a brief exclamation in the back of his mouth that disappears as soon as it starts.

I watch where she sinks beneath the surface, watch the ripples spread and fade, then turn to Teo, smiling reassuringly. “Don’t worry, Rider. I trust your instruction still. As you trust my abilities.” A pause. “To follow them.” He looks at me, confused, then nods, shoulders relaxing, and forces an answering grin.

“It’s alright, Binder. The BloodLetter has always been better at games than me, from skipping stones to shooting bows. I rarely beat him when I was a child, and now, as an adult, never. He’s willing to sacrifice pieces and make plays that I am not. He’ll probably skip the silly thing fifteen times if he gets it to skip once.”

Shrugging, I reach out a hand and rest it gently on his shoulder. “What we are willing to give away says more about us than the things we are willing to keep, sometimes.” Glancing back at Axton, I throw the rest of my handful of stones into the water all at once, smiling faintly at the raindrop sounds they make when hitting one after the other. Then, raising a dubious brow at the BloodLetter, wave a hand at the lake. “Show me, then, if you’re so perfect.”

He’s been knocked off-balance somehow, something about our interaction, my lack of response against Teo’s more emotional one confusing him. Grabbing a flat, oily colored piece from the shore, he turns to the lake without a word and sends the rock jumping across the mirror-surface. Twelve times it hops, ripples upon ripples ruffling out from the brief moments it hits the surface. It goes so far that the mist covers it just as it finally sinks beneath the surface. Axton makes a small, almost child-like sound of delight before catching himself.

“Thatis how you play, Binder. With unwavering purpose. If I had hesitated, doubted myself, I would have pulled back at the last moment and it would have sunk. Even in something as small as this, it’s important to know oneself.”

“Isn’t it fortunate then, BloodLetter, that I know exactly who I am,” I reply flatly.

He hums a low sound deep in his throat, some hint of savageness and anger swirling in its music, and studies me carefully. “You believe you do, Binder. You certainly believe you do. Kyla!” The sudden, snapped command has us all straightening; though she steps forward immediately, her hand doesn’t drop from the hilt at her waist. “Since the Binder here and my Rider have formed such a bond, perhaps she doesn’t need her bone eyes anymore. She’d need them removed before the boundaries of the Crimson Walls in any case; this will give them a chance to practice. My Rider seems unaccountably interested in her survival, so it shouldn’t be an issue.” Mouth twisting into a mirthless grin, he jerks his head towards Teo. “Perhaps you can behereyesand ears,” he commands his Rider, a strange emphasis in his words that passes me by, but it strikes Teo like a punch, his face draining of color.

“Whatever you direct, BloodLetter,” Teo replies cautiously. “I’m at your disposal entirely.”

---