Page 37 of Still the Sun

He pauses near the center of the room, halfway between the ladder and the machine. “You should not be gone so long without word,” he says.

My blood boils hotter. “I’m not your slave,” I bite back, setting the coil aside and grabbing a pile of gears. Maybe if I can fit these together on the floor, I’ll figure out how they fit in the machine.

“I never said as much. I—we—were merely concerned.”

“Concerned?”I drop a gear and stand up, glowering. “You’reconcernedfor me?” So many venomous words rise in my throat, I almost choke on them. Forcing my attention back to the gears, I say, “Go away, Heartwood. I don’t want you anywhere near me or this machine.”

He doesn’t retreat. “I don’t understand.”

Now I chuck one of the gears at the wall, feeling a little satisfaction when he starts. “Let me spell it out for you. I have to fix this garbage becauseyoubroke it. I know you did. I don’t know what the hell you are, but I know.”

His eyes widen, but he schools his features decently well, minus the eyes and the clenching of his jaw.

I try to turn back to my work, but I can’t. Red curls around my vision like mist. Wielding an accusatory wrench, I advance on him. He starts heading back toward the ladder.

“Coward,” I spit.

He flinches.

“I don’t understand.” I march toward him. “If you’re so desperate to get these machines working again, why would you do something like this? What’s your aim?”

His shoulders tense. He doesn’t turn toward me. In the back of my mind, I know I’m walking a thin line, but my fury needs an outlet, and I want answers.

“Is this some kind of sick ploy against Moseus? He’s trying so hard, Heartwood. He came and collected me himself. And he knows you’re the reason the tower doesn’t function. Even before I told him, he knew. I don’t know how he has the patience and forgiving nature to keep you around, but I sure wouldn’t.”

I’m a pace away from him now. As usual, Heartwood remains silent, and the silence makes me rage. Howdarehe ignore me.

“Don’t you care?” The thread of emotion leaking into my voice surprises me, and I grow louder to compensate for it. “If I miraculously find some way to put this back together, does it evenmeananything, or will you just tear it apart again—”

I don’t see it coming.

Heartwood lunges, a blur of white and brown. His hand grabs the front of my shirt and yanks me to the side, pressing me against the nearest wall and pinning me with inhuman strength. One fist against my collar, his opposite arm barring both of mine, one long leg pinning my thighs. I am helpless, and with his ghostly features looming over me, I realize how small I am, how stupid. Fear seizes my heart in cold, clamped fingers. Words die in my mouth.

“I broke it,” he hisses, “because it took you away from me.”

He releases me all at once, and I gasp in air like I’ve forgotten how to breathe.

Heartwood’s sharp eyes peel away from me, and he vanishes down the hole in the floor, never once touching the ladder.

Chapter 13

I slide to the cool stone floor.

What ... just happened?

I sit for a long time, not looking at anything, not thinking anything, because there is too much to think. The questions cluster and fight for dominance. My emotions swirl in a dark concoction. I still have the wrench in my fist. I let it topple to the floor.

Oddly, the first clear thought that wriggles to the front of my mind is,He didn’t hurt me.

Overwhelmed me, certainly. Terrified me, yes. It’s a wonder my trousers aren’t soaked. But I’m unharmed. I can still feel the press of his hand against my collar, but it was never hard enough to bruise. I’m fine.

But I’m not fine.

Cold confusion blows out my anger like a candle. Shivers swirl circles between my shoulder blades. My breath slows. I say the words over and over, forming them soundlessly on my lips, but I don’t comprehend them.Took you away from me. Took you away from me. Took you away from me.

What does it mean? All I have is an incomplete equation. The questions suffocate me.

Abandoning Machine Three, I take the ladder down, jumping past the last five rungs. I rush to Heartwood’s room, uncertain what I’m going to say, only knowing I need more. I throw the door open.

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