Page 99 of Thorn Season
“No, it wouldn’t have,” I said.
Hurt flashed in his eyes. And I realized I wanted to hurt him—this man who, by always remaining half a step behind me in his hunt for the compass, had conveniently hidden himself from the keeper’s notice. The copycats had warnedmeto stop searching. They’d killedmyfather when I’d continued anyway. And Keil was still standing here, golden and glowing andalive.
Hadn’t he been handed enough at birth, in the form of his freedom? Did he have to win in this, too?
“Was that all?” My specter writhed as I retrieved my key and shifted toward the door. “I have business to attend to.”
But Keil wasn’t finished.
“I know what it’s like to lose parents,” he said quietly. “It’s one of thehardest things a person can face. If you ever need to talk... I would listen.”
I paused, craning my neck toward him. He stood close enough now that I could smell his soap-and-linen aroma, deepened with a note of leather.
I wanted to wring the scent from my lungs.
“Why would I go to you, of all people?” I asked. “Wasn’t I your captive less than a month ago?”
Keil balked. “I thought—”
“Thought what? That I’d forgotten? Or that you mean anything more to me than an unspent favor? Allow me to unburden you of your delusion.” My eyes narrowed, and I went for the kill. “You were only worth toying with when it was entertaining. I’m no longer entertained.”
I savored every moment of watching Keil’s face fall, so much raw pain there that it overflowed, feeding the pit inside me.
I was about to turn when I noticed the dark change in his expression. His attention had caught on the high neck of my dress. The fabric had rumpled when I’d twisted toward him, baring the bruises beneath.
Keil slowly raised his fingers, dazed, but stopped short of the tender skin. His eyes met mine, and fury rippled across his face. “Who?”
I tugged at my neckline and unlocked the door.
He lashed an arm across the threshold, barring my way. His knuckles whitened on the doorframe.“Who?”
A long breath hissed between my teeth. I dragged my focus back to him and asked, low and vicious, “What would you do about it,Wielder? Hit them with a party trick?”
A muscle flickered in his jaw.
Then he lowered his arm, chest heaving, eyes burning a hole through the fabric around my throat.
I didn’t spare him a second glance before I slammed the door between us.
Before leaving home, I’d instructed Amarie—during one of her drier-eyed moments—to locate a copy of the mining records from what remained of Father’s files. It would be difficult, she’d said, and not just because she didn’t know if multiple copies existed. But because she was still struggling to organize Father’s belongings after my specter had destroyed the study.Heron kept journals. I should have at least found the pieces of them by now.
Hadn’t she realized she’d already erased away every trace of him in that study? Why bother salvaging a few journals only to burn those, too?
But a few days after I’d set her to the task, Amarie found a map of the xerylite mines, unscathed on one of Father’s bookshelves.
Tari and I unrolled the parchment across my bed, weighing the edges with silver candlesticks.
“The coordinates Junius gave me sit closest to this complex.” I tapped the location, tracing my finger to the tunnel’s access point. “The fields above stretch for a mile.”
Tari coiled her braid around her wrist, unusually quiet.
“What?” I asked.
“It’s just...” She sighed, sounding both pitying and exasperated. “You can’t honestly think this is a good idea. Kevi Banday delivered eurium weapons to these tunnels and never returned. Those same weapons were used to attack you and—”
“And kill my father,” I finished. “What of it?”
Tari grimaced. “You believed these copycats wouldn’t kill Wholeborns, but they’ll kill anyone who gets in their way. They could’ve gone after you first, but they went for your father. They wanted tohurtyou. And if you continue down this road, they will do to you what they did to him.” She took my hand, squeezing gently. “It’s not your job to stop them.”
