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“You’re right, I should have entered in the morning before you had awoken and demanded the answers without telling you.” The corner of my lips twitched as I countered her, her eyes narrowing before she turned away from me, pulling her dress on the rest of the way.
“What do you want, Caspyn?” I shouldn’t have rejoiced in her sigh of defeat, but I did.
“I want you to tell me how the tattoos work,” I asked again, taking the last few steps to close the gap between us and immediately moving to fasten the long length of buttons that lined her spine.
That uncomfortable throb of my heart returned as I grabbed the fabric, my knuckles grazing over the soft skin on her back. I had moved to assist without thinking, but now I was having trouble breathing. This sensation, this knot that wound itself from my navel to my throat was a new, and very unwanted sensation. I tried to push it away, but it wouldn’t budge.
“I don’t—” she forced the words out through the sharp inhale as my fingertips grazed her skin as I reached for the next button.
“Ryndle showed me his ears.” I said before she could counter me, the words choked as I again tried to push that knot away. She sighed, stepping away to fasten the last few buttons on her own.
“I know. He told me he would. Before you ask, I am not showing you my ears.” She was firm as she moved to her bed roll and the small pile of belongings there. A small leather bound book, the Book of the Goddess, an inkwell and quill, a tiny pile of coins and what looked to be a necklace of red stones with more than a few removed from their settings. I don’t know what it was about the necklace, but it suddenly made me feel as though I was invading her privacy. Which I was.
Why in the world had I come in here?
“I’m not asking to see your ears, Lyani. I’m asking you to show me how the tattoos work.”
She stopped tying her shoes to look at me, those brown eyes flashing so that I could have sworn I saw the gold in them.
“Why should I?” She asked, already returning to tie her shoes.
“Because the Queen is using them. I saw them on that Fae army that she has. Two words. Ohrya and Kinz. Ohrya I know. What does Kinz mean?”
“Kinz? I’m not sure…” She asked, her hands suddenly shaking. “Are you sure that is what it said?”
It wasn’t only her voice that shook, it was every part of me. I stepped closer, reaching to her as though I would grab and pull her into me. I wanted to, after hearing that man in the carriage that feeling was more acute than it had ever been.
“Lyani, is everything okay?”
She shook her head as if banishing the shake and stepped back, turning to pack up her things and stepping away from my arms.
It was not the mark of a strong assassin to have your chest ache when a woman walks away from you. I pushed the emotion away before it tried to take hold.
“Yes, it’s nothing.”
“It doesn’t–”
“Why do you need to know about the words?” She cut me off, abandoning her bed roll again.
“Because if the queen is using them, I need to understand them so I know what I’m up against, and so that hopefully I can counter them,” and so I could use them against her. “I am going to be leaving when we reach the temple to finish my task to kill the queen. If I am going to succeed, I am going to need all the help I can get. I need to know how to use them.”
She stiffened, her hands still as she held her bed roll in place, any attempt at rolling it forgotten. Her motions were slow as she lifted her head, her eyes already narrowed.
“He told you who she is then?” Her voice was barely above a whisper, but she might as well have been yelling with how the words moved through me.
“What do you mean, who she is?” All of my enthusiasm of before died down as every muscle in my back once again tightened. I guess Ryndle hadn’t told me everything.
Not that I should be surprised.
Knowing that didn’t stop the frustration from rising up in me and heat sparking at my fingers, however. She exhaled, shaking her head before she went back to tying her shoes.
“The only holder of ice magic,” she said. Even I wasn’t fool enough to think that that was all she was referring to. “But you are right, you are going to need all the help you can get if you wish to walk away from that alive.”
Lyani gave me yet another look that was more exasperated than friendly as she stood, wiping her hands on her skirt.
“Give me your hand.” She seemed almost bored as she held out her hand to me, her scarred and dirty palm up as she waited for me to place my hand in hers.
I didn’t hesitate, sure there was some trick to this magic that required touch. A second after I had placed my hand in hers, however, she lifted the other hand, turning my hand over as she dragged the sharp edge of the blade over my palm.
