Page 33 of The City Of Fractured Memory

My heart lurches for my friends. I should’ve paid closer attention all these years, should’ve realised their suffering. I’ve always been so preoccupied with solving crimes for work, I’ve never thought to look too closely at my life outside of it. I feel like a fool.

Vesper’s eyelids flutter at our voices, her lips parting with effort. “Xavier…is that you?” Her voice is barely more than a breath, but when her eyes find mine she startles, eyes widening slightly, no recognition within them. “You’re the one he spoke about,” she whispers.

My stomach twists uncomfortably. “Who?”

“Riven,” Vesper murmurs. “Long ago, he said the white-haired girl would come. That she’d see what he’d done and hate him for it.”

She doesn’t realise it’s me.

My pulse spikes, fury burning in my chest like a struck match. “He knew I would come here?” I hiss, glancing sharply at Xavier. “How?”

Xavier shook his head, guilt and fear flickering across his face. “I don’t know. He just… he likes to speak in riddles.”

My eyes track back and forth between the pair, my brow furrowing. “Why has it affected her so badly, but you so little?”

He shrugs. “I’m honestly not sure, but it’s certainly worsened over time for both of us. I guess she’s just more perceptible to it.”

“Does anyone else know about this?”

“Just one,” he says, stepping closer. “An Echofae woman comes once a week to try to heal her.”

My gaze snaps to his. “An Echofae slave comes here?” Considering his mistrust for their people, I have to say it’s a slightly bewildering notion. “Who?”

He shakes his head with a grimace. “I don’t know. I’ve never met the woman, it was Vesper’s idea. She insists it’s helping her so I just leave them to it. I’ll take all the help I can get right now, regardless of my own feelings on the matter.”

Vesper coughs, a fleck of dark blood staining her lip—no. Not red, something darker, like ink. I wipe it away gently with a trembling hand. “Riven really did this to her? To all of you?” I ask, my voice hard. “He did this for what? To make you suffer?”

Xavier’s jaw clenches. “That’s what he does.”

I turn away and start pacing the room, my cloak brushing the marble floor like a shadow. “There has to be something to undo it. Some way to stop this.”

“There isn’t,” Xavier says, his voice low. “Not unless Riven releases it himself. And he never will.”

I spin on him, my mind blazing with ire. “Then I’ll make him.”

Vesper’s weak smile falters, but there is a spark of something almost like hope in her expression. “You’ll try?” she whispers.

I meet her gaze and nod once, fiercely. “I will.”

The room is silent again except for Vesper’s shallow breathing. I study her pallid, weak frame, and a frown crosses my face, despite my determination to help her.

“Why did he do this, Xavier? I don’t understand.”

I turn to him and he gives me a sad smile. “My parents committed many sins, Octavia. Though for which one our family is punished, it’s unclear.”

“You should have told me sooner.”

He lets out a bitter laugh. “And what would you have done?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “But I’m certain Riven is connected to this case. I’ve never crossed paths with him before, and now suddenly he’s everywhere we go? He’s up to something and we are going to find out what, and when we do, we can use it against him as leverage.”

Xavier pulls me into a tight embrace, one I gladly cling to, despite my usual aversion to touching. When he pulls back, a smirk slowly breaks out across his face.

“Amen to that.”

Seventeen

Later that evening, a knock at our door comes as I’m pulling my coat on. I open it to find Xavier standing in the corridor, the light from the lanterns catching in his eyes, his expression carved from stone.