Page 107 of Kingdom of the Two Moons

“I will say this only once: I do not fuck Riven.”

“No? It sure as hells looked that way,” she seethed through her teeth.

“He had a nightmare.”

She kicked out again. He stepped back easily, his face blank, bored. Bereft of any emotion.

It was too much. She screamed at him. Screamed all the words she never dared to say sober and in the daylight. Screamed because she knew he’d already thrown up a shield to block the noise, or the others would have long since come running. Then everyone would finally know.

A part of her wished that. That it would just happen.

“I hate it! I hate this. I hate this fucking war! I’m tired and I’m scared as hells. I’m tired of hiding. I’m scared to want you, and I hate that I do, and—” Her voice broke off in tearless sobs. “Hold me. Fucking hold me. I want you to hold me like you held him.” It sounded so miserable, but she no longer cared. Fuck that too.

For a moment, she thought he’d just leave her there. Leave her hanging for the better part of the breaking day… but then he stepped up to her, those shackles around her wrists loosening. He caught her and carried her over to her bed.

He held her for a long, long while, until her breathing finally slowed and her sobs subsided.

“We all serve someone, Blair,” Caryan said eventually, putting his head back. Only then did she notice how tired he looked. There were dark circles under his eyes and he was even paler than usual.

“I want to be myself. Just once,” she whispered, twisting in his arms and tracing his lips with the tip of her finger.

His eyes drifted shut. “And who would that be?”

“I don’t know. That’s what scares me the most—that I don’t know.”

She fell silent after that. Only after a long time did she whisper, “Why Riven?”

Why bring him here? Why him? For a moment, she thought Caryan was already asleep, but then he opened his eyes again.

She could feel his hesitation. She sat up, straddling him. “Please, Caryan. Give me something to hold on to. I need to know something about you.Anything.”

Maybe it was because he was tired, but he said, “He reminds me of someone I have lost. Someone very close to me.”

“Who?”

His eyes closed again. She clenched her teeth, fighting her desperation.

But he finally answered, his voice quiet, “My twin brother.”

34

Melody

After the incident, Nidaw sends me to the laundry room where I fold bedsheets and pillowcases until my back aches so badly I’m not sure I’ll be able to move tomorrow. But at least it makes me tired enough to keep my rising panic at bay, but not enough to dispel my dark thoughts. I try to push all the ugly fear down while I work. Try to forget how Caryan sank his teeth into me last night. His unleashed rage.

In vain.

I barely listen to the chatter of the sirens, the murmured, slightly hissed sounds washing over me like a soothing chant. I’m so absorbed in my sinister ruminations that I barely register when their whispers suddenly turn into actual words.

I glance over to them, wondering why they’ve suddenly changed their language to mine. Only to realize that they haven’t. I can… understand them. Like those runes in the book.Talents of a silver elf.Maybe I should start to get used to it.

“In two days they celebrate Gatilla’s death day in town. It’s going to be huge, with fires everywhere and magnolia wine. And the Dark Lord will be there,” the one with slightly coral hair whispers, covering her mouth with her hand as if she’s just spilled a dangerous secret.Gatilla’s death day.

Gatilla, the woman who enslaved Riven.

The other one looks at her, those teal eyes wide. “I thought we were not allowed to go.”

“Didn’t stop me last year,” the coral-haired one admits with a wide grin.

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