Page 42 of The Veil of Blood and Magic

You, my Matched, could never be on the wrong side of anything in my eyes.

Happiness, or the tease of it, threatens to spill tears over the rim of my eyes. I force them back, sucking in a sharp breath of the terrible scents around me. That’s enough to make them water on their own, so at least I have a valid excuse if anyone caught me wiping my eyes.

Sometimes I wish you were hereI write back before I can stop myself. I allow myself this little moment of vulnerability because the clock is ticking.

I know it in my bones, the closer we get to Lingate, the more certain I am that I won’t leave the palace alive. I’ll be lucky if I can kill the Collector but it’ll be a goddess damn miracle if I can wipe out all three enemies at once. The odds aren’t in my favor, and if I fail? I’ll be executed or collected, spending years in a cage subject to Goddess knows what? No…death would be a welcomed reprieve from that.

And I honestly thought I’d have no regrets. For the longest time, while I trained and gathered my strength, I never thought I’d miss this world. Better off going into the unknown and reuniting with my parents. But then Six happened…

Tell me where you are, and I’ll come to you.

He would too. I know he would.

I’m traveling. Won’t be in one place too long.

Always runninghe writes back.

Why did you choose the name SixI ask, desperate to change the subject.When we decided not to tell each other our real names?

Easy. That was the number of times I’d thought about you since I opened my eyes that morning.

I bite back my smile, my blood warming at the thought of him waking up in a cushioned bed, wearing nothing but a sheet, hair ruffled. It always amazes me how easy it is to fantasize about him when I have zero idea what he looks like physically.

But I didn’t need to know.

He was my Matched, and try as I might to deny it, I liked him. Maybe more than liked.

Are you asking me to tell you my real name?

NoI answer quickly.You’re Six. My Six.

As long as I’m yours.

I rub the gold script, tracing the words until they fade beneath my skin.

He goes quiet, and it’s then that I notice the sensation…like an internal line being severed. I stand up, studying the feeling. It’s new, just like the way he knew I was angry. Maybe it’s the proximity to each other, maybe it’s what he said, and Aletha is forcing us to feel each other in the hopes we’ll complete our goddess-blessed Matched bond.

But it doesn’t matter.

He’s my Six, yes. He’ll remain my Six. Because I’ll never get to know his real name. Not with the path I’m on, the one where he most certainly can never follow.

I wipe the dirt and frost from my trousers, leaving the cover of the decaying trees, the sky shifting from orange to purple as night claims the day.

Thanks to Six, I’m calmer, at least. I won’t bite Zev’s head off if he greets me with his usual silence, and that’s something.I can’t guarantee his safety if he opens his fucking mouth though?—

A bloodcurdling scream cracks the night air, which sends me racing toward it.

Chapter 12

Livana

Irush through the trees, the cold, muddy earth sucking at my boots, slowing me down. I dip into my enhanced speed, still fueled by the feed Jagger gave me last week.

I skid to a stop, my entire body freezing at the sight of the fuckingprinceand a few collector core standing in the middle of the half-ruined village. The Collector’s son looks menacing as ever dressed in all black instead of the royal colors.

He's at least a hundred yards away, and I duck behind the cover of a half-decayed tree trunk to ensure that I'm not seen as I assess the situation.

“We thought we found what you were looking for, your highness,” one of the collector core says to the prince.

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