Page 71 of This Dark Descent
“Why?” Ari asked as the woman turned for the door. “You barely even know me.”
“Let’s just say I have a long history of cleaning up my brothers’ messes. Good evening, Miss Kadar.”
Ari watched her go. She had no need of Shira’s help.
What she needed was to talk to Damien.
SHE FOUND HIMsitting by the fire in his room, whiskey in hand, his shirtsleeves rolled up to reveal his forearms. The firelight cast a warm glowacross his olive skin, lending depth to his gray eyes as he watched her descend the stairs.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
The simple question almost stopped her cold. That he could see through her so easily, as though she hadn’t spent years of her life honing her emotions into silent blades, was something she still wasn’t used to. Yet as much as it terrified her, it also thrilled her. She missed having someone that knew her.
She stopped at the edge of the rug. “I went looking for the men that attacked me.”
There—a flicker of surprise. He might be able to read her, but she could decipher him too. He set his glass on a stack of books and stood, giving her his full attention. “Why did you do that?”
She opened her mouth to respond, then stopped, uncertain of how to explain. Her hand slid into her pocket, finding the cool edge of the emerald. The last couple days of training with her magic had changed her. They’d made her feel stronger, more confident. She’d seen an opportunity to destroy her lingering fear, to not let them win like Mikira had said, and she’d taken it.
But what had she meant to do? Show them what she was capable of and walk away?
The voice laughed.No. Oh, no no no.
“I was still angry,” she said at last, realizing her hands had curled into fists. She drew them tighter, savoring the sting of her nails into her palms. “I was angry and scared, and I thought if I faced them down, I could erase what remained of both.”
She met his gaze, unwavering. “Did you kill them?”
“Yes.” He didn’t hesitate.
For all his faults, my brother doesn’t lie.
Her fists trembled, and she realized this was what she’d wanted: to know if he would tell her the truth, no matter how bloody.
“Good,” she said and the look in his eyes nearly undid her.
She closed the distance between them. “I found the enchant dealer. You didn’t get my name from him, did you?”
“No.” He didn’t look away from her as he spoke. “I’d been following the rumors about you for some time when I learned Lady Vanadahl had an undetectable enchant. I won a game of cards against her, in which my prize was a piece of information. Your name is what she gave me. She’d already sold the cat, so I tracked it to the enchant dealer to confirm it was what I suspected.”
“Who else will she give my name to?” Ari asked.
When Damien smiled, there was an edge to it. In it, Ari read a thousand different promises that sent a thrill through her. “She won’t. Shortly after, Lady Vanadahl received a visit from the pit boss of the gambling den she owed. Last I heard, she hadn’t woken up.”
CHAPTER 24
MIKIRA
THE NEXT FEWdays before the third race settled into a routine Mikira came to crave: training with Reid and Atara in the afternoons, lunch with everyone in Damien’s quarters, then evenings with Talyana at the festival. They spent the nights swapping stories and eating more sweets than they could stomach. Even her fear of accidentally sabotaging Damien had begun to fade as each day passed without incident. Perhaps Rezek had hoped the information about the ring could turn into something but it never had.
Ari caught her halfway out the door on her way to one of her meetings with Talyana, and promptly redirected her to her own bedroom, where she commanded Mikira to sit on a stool while she fixed her hair into an intricate plait.
“I’m just seeing a friend,” Mikira complained. “She doesn’t care what my hair looks like.”
Ari snorted derisively. “You practically fly out the door every time you go to meet her, Kira, and you’re always trying to smooth the wrinkles out of your clothes. Even Reid noticed.”
Mikira recoiled into the stool. “He did?”
“If you’re not aware of how much attention he pays to you, then you’re twice the fool over.”
