Page 31 of Amber Gambler

The weight of everyone’s stares fell on him, except for mine, which chased a moth’s evasive maneuvers as it fled from a hungry bat. I didn’t intend to watch the show, but my eyes weren’t really taking orders. I waited, knowing Josie would ask the questions I wanted to and then some.

“We’ll pay for Aretha’s time.” Josie smoothed her warm fingers across my brow. “Just send us the bill.”

“Already made the transfer,” Harrow said, distracted as he swiped his thumb across his screen.

“We’ll get the next one,” Matty pressed, his fingers tight on mine.

“Are you okay with me carrying you to the wagon?” He ignored my siblings’ protests to address me. “We can lay you down in the back. That way you don’t bump your head. We need to be sure you don’t have a head injury.”

“Yeah.” Slumping onto him, I murmured, “Okay.”

“That was too easy.” Matty tightened his grip. “Maybe the med-witch was a good idea.”

As he rose with me, Harrow asked, “Are you implying Frankie needs a head injury to see reason?”

“Yes,” my traitorous siblings chorused, but the darkness washed me away before I could reply.

“Hello again.” Warm brown eyes smiled down at me. “How do you feel?”

After taking stock of my aches and pains, I decided, “Good.”

Between Aretha and Josie, I had received a bath, which helped even more.

“Excellent.” Aretha craned her neck, checking behind us. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

Emboldened by how good I felt, I made a rare offer. “Ask me anything.”

“This is the second time I’ve healed you,” she began, “and I can’t help but notice there’s something…”

Fingers twitching, she buttoned her lips, but couldn’t quite commit to whatever she had wanted to say.

“Don’t leave me hanging now.” I jerked my head toward her. “What are you thinking?”

“Well, it’s just that...” She sawed her teeth over her bottom lip. “Are you, by any chance, divine?”

Laughter got caught somewhere between my brain and my mouth, ending up a soft wheeze. “What?”

“Do you have divine parentage?” She averted her gaze. “Your blood is…shimmery.”

Slow drops of the gilded sap weeping from the burning tree flashed through my mind. “No and no.”

“Refute your lineage if you want—” she lifted a piece of gauze in a baggy, “—but you can’t deny this.”

The dried crimson reflected under the overhead lights as she twisted her wrist.

“That’s not my blood.” I laughed at the absurdity of it. “I got in a lot of fights as a kid, like one every day, and I would have noticed if I bled glitter.”

“You had a nosebleed and several scrapes. I cleaned them. This pad is covered inyourblood.”

“Like you said two seconds ago. You’ve treated me before. Have you ever seen me bleed sparkles?”

“Well, no, but?—”

“The pad must have been contaminated.” That gave me an idea. “Could the water have been tainted by what attacked me? Maybe it has venom or poison and that made my blood go wonky.” Another idea hit me, easing the tension in my chest, and I tested my reasoning on her. “Could prolonged contact with a divine object cause this phenomenon?”

“Absolutely.” She let me see her toss the gauze into the trash can in the kitchen. “Do you still have it?”

“No.” I pictured Badb sailing away with it. “It was temporarily misplaced.”

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