Page 95 of Wings of Ebony
“Thanks.” I offer a half smile, hoping she means it this time. I tell her everything, how Aasim’s ancestors got magic from the gods, how a Sickness killed almost everyone in their tribe, how the Chancellor found Aasim amidst the fleeing and raised him like a son, imagining his only memories and allegiance would be to him. And how his people have been living in secret, biding their time.
“Biding their time for what?”
An unsettled feeling clinches my insides. “That’s for them to answer, not me.”
“I-is there any proof of this?” Her words sting.Denial.
“My word. The people here. That’s proof enough… for me.”
She takes a deep breath.
“Plus I saw it… sort of.”
“Saw it how?” She’s pacing. She says she don’t think I’m lying but she ain’t acting like I’m telling the truth.
“In a vision… or something.”
“A vision? Rue, that’s nonsensical talk.”
I am silent. And clearly irritated.
“I know you wouldn’t just lie, Rue. I’m not saying that. But maybe you don’t know what you saw?”
Wow.“Uhm, I was wide awake.” NowI’mpacing. I expected this to shake her, but this? Maybe Aasim was right.
More silence.
She mutters to herself like she’s replaying everything I just said. She’s blinked practically twelve times in the last second. She looks every which way but at me. There’s something in her eyes I can’t place. Curiosity, yes, but something else. She stares at her wrists, thumbing her finger over the onyx.
“Stolen.” Her words come out a mere whisper, like she’s talking to herself.
“Stolen.” My pulse quickens.
Her chin touches her chest and I can’t tell if she’s sad or pissed. I take a step back.
“Every…” She shakes her head no. Her eyes are glued to the floor even though I’m two feet in front of her. She won’t look at me.
Silence.
I could say something, fill the space with words. But is it my job to make her feel better about the stolen magic on her wrists? I didn’t do this. Aasim’s people didn’t do this. The Chancellor did. I told her the truth, that’s all I can do. She’s gotta decide what to do with it.
That’s on her. Not me.
She picks up her chin and her green eyes are glassy. “S-so e-everything I-I’ve ever known is a lie? That’s what you’re saying to me, Rue?!”
“I-I know this ain’t easy to hear. But, I mean, it’s the truth.” Around truth, some people act like roaches when the lights come on. They scatter, trying to not hear it. But Bri wouldn’t be like that. Would she?
She mutters something I can’t hear.
“Sorry, what?”
“I-I believe you. I’m just—” A tear rolls down her cheek. “So angry. That everything I was taught wasn’t true. That I’ve been walking around here like… like all this knowledge, my grades… being the top of my class… as if any of this really matters. Everything I’ve learned. All the practice I’ve done. I worked so hard to be the smartest. As Zruki, I’ll be doing mostly mine work. I probably won’t ever get a big fancy job. But I still wanted to be smart. Like, real smart. You know? Even if others look down on me, I’d know that I’mjustas capable as they are.”
I’ve never heard Bri talk about being Zruki before. Not like this.
“Being born to Zruki parents and designated it’s like no matter what you do, you’re still Zruki. You can’t get rid of that title. It’s like a stain.”
“Like people only see the box they put you in,” I say. “They don’t see what you’re really capable of, what youcoulddo.”My entire life back home.
