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She flinched as if he’d slapped her.
Shit. Basil rubbed a hand over his face. “Look, I didn’t mean—”
“Yes, you did. And it’s just as well. I appreciate frank words more than polite lies.”
He sighed. “All I’m saying is, there’s another way to look at life. Kindness doesn’t have to be bought. It shouldn’t be.”
“You and I,” she said quietly, “have lived very different lives, then.”
His heart splintered a little at the resignation in her tone. He let out a breath that hurt his lungs, and asked, “What is it you’re suffering from?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Your seizures. What causes them?”
She shrugged, turned her head away. “Nothing important.”
“Nu-uh.” He stepped in her line of sight again. “You already gave me that spiel. I want to know the truth. How bad is it?”
She wouldn’t meet his gaze. “It’s curable.”
“And you haven’t cured it yet because…?” He raised his brows.
A muscle feathered along her jaw, and she shook her head a little. “You saved my life. I need to repay my debt first.”
“What? No. We are not traipsing around Faerie with you being attacked by seizures when there’s a way to heal you. We’ll get your cure, and then we’ll go on.”
Her throat worked as she swallowed. She finally met his eyes, and the glint in hers made him cringe. “And what about Rose? Did you not say she’s likely in danger? You’ll just abandon her to her fate?”
He cursed and gripped the nape of his neck. His stomach was knotted tight, his muscles twitchy with irritation. “You’re right. We need to find her first.”
“Besides,” Isa said, “blood debts such as this must be paid before anything else. Even if it weren’t for Rose, I would have to wait until after I save your life to cure my condition.”
“That’s messed up.” He shook his head. “Your health is more important than repaying a favor.”
Her chin trembled before she pressed her mouth into a grim line. “Magic doesn’t care.”
She walked on ahead of him, and he couldn’t shake the impression that she’d really meant to say…
No one cares.
* * *
“And this one here,” Basil said, pointing at a faint scar on his chin, “I got when Lily decked me after I filled her toothpaste tube with wasabi.” He chuckled and ducked to evade a fairy flitting past as he and Isa maneuvered down the busy main street of Lam’il. “It took me several hours to prepare the tube so she wouldn’t notice it’d been tampered with. So worth it just to hear her screech when she brushed her teeth.”
Isa couldn’t help grinning. “She was right to hit you for that.”
“Yep. But she took revenge beyond that. When I got dressed the next morning, this horrible itch started in my pants.” He slanted a look at her. “She’d dusted my underwear with magical itching powder. I had to shower ten times—ten—to get it to stop.”
Isa covered her mouth with her hand, a choked chuckle escaping her. “It’s a miracle you two didn’t kill each other growing up.”
“Nah.” He shrugged one shoulder. “It was all in good fun. For all the pranks we pulled, we always had each other’s back. We shared all our secrets, talked about everything. I had best friends all throughout school, but Lily and I were even closer. Being twins, we—” His sunny expression darkened, like the shadow of clouds blotting out the light. He cleared his throat. “Yeah, so much about that.”
“What?”
“It was all a lie, too, wasn’t it? We’re not twins. I always thought…” He shook his head. “It just hurts.”
“Why?”
