Page 68 of Phoenix's Fire

He shrugged. "I have a feeling you might be the one thing that keeps the Phoenix from killing me."

Which made me chuckle. "Okay. So what do you want for this bowl?"

"I want you to promise not to tell anyone what I'm doing."

I nodded. "I can't. If I tried, I'd be the one sent to quarantine. So what else?"

"I want you to save me if I come back with one of those arrows."

I nodded again. "I give you my word."

"And maybe," he said, "I want you to trust me a little. I mean, I get it. I'm nervous as hell saying this much, but I can say I didn't know. I was confused. I can play it off, but they'd still beat the shit out of me. You? I'm sure it's worse."

"Yeah," I agreed. "And the only people who'd care for me are gone."

"Merienne and Ayla?" he asked.

I nodded. "I just hope they're together. I think Ayla is Meri's only hope. She was so thin, Tobias. She looked nothing like she did the last time I saw her, and I don't want her to die!"

"I don't want you to die either," he said softly. "It's nice to finally have someone to talk to about this stuff."

"But they'd punish us if they knew."

"So we never admit it," he said. "Cross my heart."

My head snapped up. "Where did you hear that?"

He paused, his body twitching as my words hit. "I don't know. Why?"

"Because my mother used to tell me that. She'd say she loved me, and she'd cross her heart."

His eyes lost focus, then he began to bob his head. "Mine made me cross my heart when I promised to do something. I can't remember my father or friends ever saying it, but I always have."

"Huh."

Across from me, he murmured softly. "Maybe that's why they don't want children of quarantined moms to marry?"

"I can't remember it ever happening before," I admitted. "We've always been told it wasn't allowed. That the risk of possession was too high."

So he leaned in. "Yeah, but think about it. Which of the elders was born in quarantine? Which of their wives?"

"I don't know," I admitted.

"Among the gatherers, I was the oldest," he said. "The men in their thirties? They said it didn't used to be like this. They said we're the first, Callah."

"First what?"

"First children born from quarantined women. Mr. Worthington said it's because we need those bloodlines. We can't survive without them."

I sucked in a little breath. "We can't be!"

"But we are," he said softly. "The bigger question is why."

"No," I told him. "The bigger question is what we can do about it."

He looked up, meeting my eyes. "It seems you're as brilliant as you are beautiful. I think becoming a hunter was worth it to finally find someone who can think for herself."

"Still not going to marry you," I grumbled.

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