Page 112 of The Curse of Golden Blood
"I haven't said anything."
"You don't need to. I can hear you thinking from here."
He grabbed my arm, forcing me to stop. The touch was gentle but insistent, grounding me in a way that made my chest tight with things I couldn't name.
"Miralyte, whatever you're planning—"
"I'm not planning anything." The lie tasted bitter on my tongue. "I'm simply making a choice."
"The same kind of choice that had you opening portals in the middle of the night?"
I ignored him and continued walking.
His fingers tightened on my arm. "You're scaring me."
"Good. Fear keeps you alive."
I pulled free from his grip and continued walking. He followed, because that's what Tomos did. Followed and worried and tried to fix things that couldn't be fixed.
The palace around us hummed with power, magic flowing through the stones like blood through veins. I could feel it more clearly now, could sense the way it responded to emotion, to desperation, to the kind of raw need that carved itself into your soul.
"Miralyte." Tomos's voice was softer now, edged with the kind of desperate affection that cut deeper than any blade. "Talk to me. Please."
I stopped walking, my hands clenching into fists at my sides. The words I wanted to say clawed at my throat, demanding release. Tell him about the rot. Tell him about Gryven. Tell him that in a few hours I would be dead.
But I couldn't. Because if I spoke the truth aloud, it would become real in a way that couldn't be undone.
The vessel dining hall fell silent the moment I crossed the threshold. Conversations died mid-sentence, spoons clattered against bowls, and every pair of eyes in the room turned toward me like I was some mythical creature.
I supposed, in a way, I was.
The weight of their stares pressed against my skin, but I kept my chin high, my steps measured. Fear was a luxury I couldn't afford. Not when time was bleeding away like sand through an hourglass.
"Mira!"
Pelbie's voice cut through the suffocating quiet like a blade through silk. She launched herself from her seat beside Brond, nearly knocking over her chair in her haste to reach me. Her arms wrapped around me with desperate strength, as if she could anchor me to the world through sheer force of will.
"You're alive," she whispered against my shoulder, her voice cracking. "I thought... we thought..."
"Shh." I pulled back just enough to meet her eyes, seeing my own fears reflected in their depths. "I'll explain later."
The four of us settled at Pelbie's table, the scrape of chairs against stone unnaturally loud in the continued silence. Every other vessel in the room pretended to eat while hanging on our every word, their curiosity a living thing that crawled across my skin.
"Mira, you have to talk to us," Pelbie said the moment we sat down, her voice pitched low but urgent. "The rumors…" She shook her head. "People are saying you opened a portal. That you have magic."
I pushed food around my plate without tasting it, my mind already racing ahead to what needed to happen next. "Some rumors are just rumors."
"And some aren't." Brond's voice was quiet, but there was steel beneath the softness. "What's happening, Miralyte?"
I looked at each of them in turn. Pelbie with her wide, worried eyes. Brond with his steady strength. Even Tomos, who'd been silent since we entered but whose tension I could feel radiating outward like heat from a forge.
These people cared about me. They'd become something I'd never thought I'd have again after losing my family. But caring about someone meant wanting to protect them, and protection was a luxury none of us could afford.
"Not here," I said finally.
Pelbie's room was a mirror of my own. Small, functional, designed for temporary occupancy rather than comfort. But it had thick walls and a door that locked, which made it perfect for what I needed to do.
I pulled the vial from my pocket the moment the door closed behind us. The blood inside caught the lamplight like liquid garnets, beautiful and terrible in equal measure.
