Page 48 of Zenith Tower

“Can I help her?”

“I don’t know.” Hale leaned forward but did not touch my wrist. “The readers pulled at a damaged Mark until it broke. Whatever you do, it cannot begin with pulling.”

“Then where does it begin?”

“Before you reach for Delphine again, you learn what your Mark feels like at the instant before it touches another,” he said. “You hold there. Then you withdraw.”

“Using whose Mark?”

Hale pushed up his sleeve. The rain-dark line along his forearm showed clearly in the pale light.

“Mine.”

My gaze lifted to his. “If I hurt you??—”

“I’ll tell you to stop.”

“They told Delphine to stop too.”

His expression tightened. “Then you stop the first time I say it.”

He lowered his sleeve while the guard was looking toward the junction.

“Not tonight,” Hale said. “Not without Kieran and Caspian knowing what we intend to do.”

The four of us had one supervised hour at the end of the week.

After Hale left, I kept my sleeve rolled up and studied his rain-dark line until the supper hatch opened.

Astra

The steward unlocked my door and took me to the corridor between our separate wings.

Caspian was already there, one shoulder against the wall. Hale stood near him with his arms folded. Kieran sat on the floor beneath the false window, knees raised, silver light moving over his face.

It took me a moment to understand that he was sitting because he could not stand for the whole hour.

He saw me looking. “I know. Devastating from every angle.”

I sat beside him instead of answering. Our shoulders touched, and I let out a breath I had been holding since they separated us.

Caspian crouched long enough to press his mouth to my temple. The contact was brief because the stewards were watching, but his hand stayed at the back of my neck for another breath.

“I received a letter from my father,” he said.

“That sounds ominous.”

“It usually is.” He sat across from us. Hale lowered himself beside Kieran, careful not to jostle his injured shoulder.

A steward waited at either end of the corridor. Water rushed below the false window, loud enough to blur a quiet voice. They could watch us, but unless they came closer, they could not hear.

Hale checked both ends before Caspian began.

“My father filed a formal inquiry into conditions here,” Caspian said. “He asked what questions he should send through his private courier.”

“What did you give him?”

“Delphine Moreau. Sadie Corwin. An independent healer for Kieran.”