Page 19 of Blood Currents
“Mari?When you come back, will you bring them with you?Cyrus and Elio?I think… I think I need to tell them some things.About what Uncle did.About what I remember.”
“Of course,” I said.“Whatever you need.”
I slipped out of his room, closing the door softly behind me.In the corridor, I had to lean against the wall for a moment, my magic still raw from contact with the corruption.
8
Cyrus
The training gym was emptyat dawn, just the way I liked it.Sweat slicked my skin as I moved through combat forms, each strike sharp and precise with fire flaring in rhythm to my breath.The heat built with every motion.Ember watched from her perch above, her feathers shifting between amber and crimson—restless, like she knew I was pushing too hard again.
Burning away frustration usually worked.Not today.Lord Alstone’s polished performance at the assembly still seared in my mind, the way everyone had so easily accepted Keane’s guilt.My anger had dulled after countless training sessions, but the questions—about the council, about my father, about what else I’d been blind to—still smoldered.
I reached for my shirt when the door opened.Marigold stood there, frozen, her eyes flicking over my bare chest before she looked away as color flooded her cheeks.
“Sorry,” she blurted.“I didn’t know you were—”
“It’s fine.”Something about the way she’d looked at me—the quick flash of want before she hid it—kept me rooted.“What happened?You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
She stepped in, her arms crossed tightly like she was holding herself together.“I found him, Cyrus.I found Keane.”
My fingers went slack, and the shirt dropped.“Where?”
“His suite.Last night.The bloodline wards still recognize him.”Her voice wavered.“He’s alive.But it’s bad.”
Relief and fury struck at once, heat rising under my skin.Ember hissed softly, mirroring my surge of emotion.“You went alone?”
“I needed to know,” she said, brittle with conviction.“Someone had to.”
I closed the distance between us a step, the air warming around me.“That’s not why you came here.You could’ve told Elio.”I studied her face.“So why me?”
She flinched.“I… I don’t know.”
But I did.The way her eyes wouldn’t meet mine, her rigid posture.“You’re carrying guilt.”
“Nothing happened,” she said too quickly.
“I didn’t say it did.”I bent to grab my shirt again but didn’t pull it on, letting her see I wasn’t finished.“Something shifted between you two, you and Elio, I mean.”
She was dating Elio.She’d been dating Keane.Not me.Still, at times like this, she came tome.That shouldn’t matter.I had no claim on her.But it burned anyway.
She hesitated and then shook her head.It wasn’t the time.
Instead, she said, “I tried to heal Keane.I thought my necromancy could fight the corruption.”
“And?”
“It fought back.Tried to drag my magic with it.”Her arms tightened around herself.“It felt… wrong.Like it had a will of its own.”
No wonder she looked haunted.
“And you didn’t tell Elio because…” I couldn’t seem to let it go.
“Because he’s been distant.Masks back in place.And because…” She stopped.
“Because?”
Her eyes met mine.“Because you’re direct.You don’t manage me or lie about what you think.”
