Page 103 of The Reaping Rose

“Please.” Perame reaches out as if she forgets Esen isn’t in her body, or perhaps she doesn’t mind.

Her hand brushes the illusion in the air, and Esen’s eyes widen. She steps back as though Perame shocked her, and Perame does the same, clutching her hand as if she’s hurt.

“Don’t come looking for me again.” Esen shakes her head. “I can’t help you. I won’t.”

With that, a barrel of darkness stirs the air around us. The musk of a fire being smothered to ash floods my lungs. When I turn back around, Esen’s eyes blink from where she sits beside the overlord, and she refuses to look our way.

Chapter 35

Greer

I’m not hungry. Haven’t been in months, even though I’ve forced food down to keep up my strength. But if I sit staring at the walls any longer, I’ll be forced to sit inside my head, and that’s the last place I want to be right now. So I reluctantly decide to go to dinner.

Atlas is leaning against the wall outside of my room with his arms and ankles crossed, waiting for me when my door swings open. He lifts off the wall, his purple gaze skimming me head to toe as his eyebrow hitches.

“Done looking yet?” My eyes narrow, which makes his smile widen.

“At you? Never.” He winks.

I grumble, shaking my head and walking past him. My sheer red dress is airy, flowing behind me. Two panels drape over my shoulders, covering my breasts and securing at my waist. It’s not often I dress in something this revealing, but the dress is a relief from the heat of the Solace desert.

Atlas must feel the same about the heat, given his thin attire breezes with his steps as well. His soft green pants flow around his legs, and his sleeveless tunic is open, showing off his thick muscles. Down the front of his chest is a line of rune markings that start at his neck and trail in a line somewhere below the band of his pants.

When he catches me glancing at his thighs—at the strong muscle flexing beneath the thin fabric—he breathes out a laugh, and I look away.

With a dismissive sigh, I brush my curls off my shoulder. They’re looser tonight, tucked behind my pointed ears, showing off the silver-winged cuffs that were a gift from my mother. In Echme, ear cuffs are worn for ceremonial purposes. The silver points represent the metal threads tied to the posts that summon blessings of the gods to the sand. The wings represent the freedom our magic brings us.

My mother gifted these to me as a reminder of the beauty of our home when we moved to Tempest. After I lost her, I wore them as a reminder of the hope she always held for something better.

But I no longer wear them in celebration. They are a mark of both joy and battle. They are a testament to the family that made me the point of a blade. Sharp and unyielding.

“Red.” Atlas scans me so thoroughly I might as well be wearing nothing.

“Yes, Atlas. It’s a red dress. How observant of you.” I roll my eyes. “What about it?”

“I expected you to be wearing silver.”

I wish anyone else was here to entertain him so he’d stop trying to talk to me. Still, I can’t help but ask, “Why would I wear silver?”

“Silver and black seem to be your thing. You’re always wearing them.”

Because those were the staples of my wardrobe in the Ley Court, and it became habit. Silver Guard armor, black and gray leathers. I don’t appreciate him reminding me of what I’ve carried from years serving a Crown that did nothing but destroy all I care about.

I grumble, pulling my shoulders back. “Stop paying attention to what my things are.”

“Wish I could.”

When I glance up at Atlas, his expression surprises me. The flirty smile has fallen, and in its place is something genuine. Something borderline sad that makes me believe he really does wish he could stop paying attention to me. That hint of his true self beneath the bravado catches me off guard.

So I concede and offer him a bit more than I usually would. “Red is my favorite color.”

“You wear it well.”

“It has nothing to do with how well I wear it.” Or how the heat of his eyes appreciating me wearing it makes my cheeks heat.

“No?”

“No.” I step past him as he waits for me to walk into the dinner hall first. “It’s to remind you that just because I don’t have my sword on me right now doesn’t mean you should forget the blood I’ll happily draw should you give me a reason to.”