Page 106 of Eternal Ruin
June turned away, cleaning up her working station. “Nothing. So what gift do you have for me?”
“The moon. It’s close to the earth tonight.”
June smiled again. “I’m serious.”
“The stars, then? It’ll take me a while to collect them all, though.”
“I’m not that greedy. One will do,” June responded without thinking much about it, forgetting she should be on her guard.
Taj’s laughter was catching, with a musical lilt that made her regard him in a new light. The moonlight from the tall windows bounced off his headband, turning it luminous. The material really was beautiful and rare. Saui silk from what she could tell.
“Your headband, then,” June said. “Can I have it?”
Taj flashed her a smile and adjusted his headband. “I’m afraid no. This covers a very hideous scar.”
A scar. A combination of aloe vera and rose oil should help.
“Maybe I can help.”
Taj blinked. Maybe he hadn’t expected her to be so bold. But June could handle any injury. She could concoct any remedy to manage the pain, if not heal it. It was the one thing she was good at.
It’d taken Samson months to speak to her after she first arrived, to show her his rotting hand. June had retreated into herself then, to the vast green land where knowledge and her nightmares roamed free, to ask for a cure. She learned raresauag leaves could offer temporary relief from black rot. Like every Nefrasi, Samson had marveled at her mind, asking her how she knew to heal uncommon illnesses.
Books, she’d say. I know everything from books.
There was no other explanation, so they believed her.
“You don’t have to show me if you don’t want to,” June said gently.
Taj’s arms tensed, grabbing the ends of his headband. For the first time since she met him, Taj looked nervous, which, in turn, made her nervous. The knot loosened behind his head. He pulled the soft silk and let it unfurl between his fingers, eyes fixed on June.
Three horizontal scars were burned onto his forehead. Red and damning.
June jerked, nearly taking a step toward him before her hand went to her mouth, freezing. He stared down at the golden fabric, a firm line to his mouth.
“Hideous, right?”
June barely heard him, her body was shaking, and she was trying to stop it. Those scars were beyond her help. Beyond anyone’s.
“June,” he said, her name soft on his lips. “It’s not that hideous, is it?”
He was smiling but she was not. June’s heart beat wildly with the impossibility. Had Taj met… Varos? The one creature that haunted her nightmares?
Impossible.
Her eyes remained wide, her mouth covered with a curled finger.
Taj grabbed her shoulders, and she let out a soft squeak.
“June,” he said firmer, making her frightened eyes dance between his forehead and his mouth. “Why are you shaking?”
“I—I’m not.”
“You are,” he forced out, his eyes searching hers. “Why?”
June could see his mind whirling, trying to understand. His gaze ran down her form, fingers flexed into her shoulders.
“You’re hurting me,” she managed.
