Page 126 of Heart of Thieves

Nic gives her a reassuring nod. “Laurel will be all right, Estelle.”

“She’d better be.” She sniffs and turns on her heel, following the Tentacles out of the room.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

NIC

I fish out the last of the bullet from Laurel’s chest, trying not to glance at her lifeless face. In it, I see Paol Chen’s body going limp and Lola’s eyes rolling back in her head.

Enzo flits around Lola’s bed.

“How’s her heart rate?” I ask, trying not to betray how worried I am.

“It’s not her heart rate I’m concerned about,” Enzo says, pulling a thermometer from her mouth. “I can feel that, and it’s steady. Her temperature is concerning, though.”

My stomach jolts. “Fever?”

“No. She’s freezing.”

I whirl to the closet and pull down a pile of blankets. “Put these on her. Then get a fire going in the hearth over there.” I nod toward the corner.

He sets to work tucking the comforters around her body as I return to Laurel’s wound, and we work in tense silence for several moments. Enzo’s movements are as rigid as mine, and I don’t have to share a heart with him to know he’s scared, too.

What if Lola doesn’t wake?

“I have something I’ve been curious about,” he says, as though to distract himself from the fear, “ever since the tournament.”

I pull medical thread through a needle. “Hmm?”

“The bioluminescent algae in that pond near your vault . . . Was it supposed to look like Donnic? The constellation?”

I let out a strained chuckle as I stitch Laurel’s wound closed. “It’s surprising you’d remember your constellations, considering how little you cared to learn them.”

“Pops told Donnic’s myth about a hundred times,” Enzo says, finishing with the blankets and crossing to the fireplace. “Remember my first midnight service? He took the liberty of telling the story of how you got your name during my anointing.”

I finally meet his gaze. “He shouldn’t have done that.”

Enzo grimaces. “Yeah. But you were a pretty special kid. I looked up to you a lot back then.”

A sour lump rises in my throat. Hearing him speak of our childhood together unravels something deep in my soul I didn’t realize I’d knotted up. For years, I’ve been craving connection, wishing I could share my thoughts and memories with someone, and here he is, remembering all those moments himself.

I don’t need to be able to speak my truth to Enzo. He lived it with me.

“I guess I thought you didn’t believe that stuff anymore.” He digs through the small basket of wood next to the hearth for kindling.

“Things like that constellation,” I say carefully, picking through my words so I can convey my meaning without triggering my curse, “can carry meaning beyond the religious observances they represent to some.”

Enzo nods, arranging the kindling. “You know . . . I used to think you spoke like that to be an ass.”

I laugh as I tie off the medical thread. “You weren’t cagey about that particular opinion, brother.”

“You’re really cursed, too, aren’t you.” He says it like a statement instead of a question.

I cannot confirm, so I just shrug.

Pursing his lips, he nods at Lola. “How long until she wakes up?”

My stomach churns. “An Unbreakable Lie has never been broken before.”