Page 26 of Accomplice to the Villain

Andreatsked, kicking a red boot against the floor. “Yikes. Can we have the scissors?”

Keeley stiffened. “Why?” Her voice was shaky.

Tatianna mindlessly handed the shears to Andrea, none of them sensing Keeley’s evident distress, but Clare could read it. Clare hadfeltit. “We’re just going to take a few inches off to hide these burned pieces, honey,” Andrea said.

“No!” In seconds, Keeley had sprung from the table and sprinted to the wall, her red leather armor open at the back as she huddled on the floor. Almost unrecognizable as the warrior Clare knew the woman to be, she looked frightened and dazed, shaking. Her eyes misted as she looked up toward Gideon, who’d moved almost without thought to her side. “Don’t—don’t let them cut my hair. Please. I don’t like it when people try to cut my hair. Please, I don’t—”

The rest of the words were lost as Keeley shook so hard her teeth chattered. Gideon’s eyes didn’t leave her, his brown brows pushing together, his lips pulled down in a frown.

Clare couldn’t help it—the intimacy between the two forced her gaze in Tatianna’s direction, but the healer was already looking right at her. Clare could only hold the intensity of the gaze for a moment before looking away.

“Get rid of the scissors.” Gideon’s words were gentle but firm, resolved. He turned to Keeley. “I promise I won’t let anyone touch your hair, Captain.” He knelt and drew anXwith a finger over his heart. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

It was a mystery why the young woman seemed so shaken by an act so simple, but Clare had known enough scarred people to realize that the simplest acts could trigger the worst memories. Min and Andrea didn’t seem any less confused as they nodded and left the room, giving Keeley some much needed privacy.

Gideon grabbed a fluffy pink blanket from the corner, draped it over a chair, then guided Keeley toward it and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Shall I take you to your quarters, Captain?” Keeley nodded, and Gideon barely acknowledged the two of them as he lifted her like something precious and carried her from the room.

Tatianna sighed and watched with a wistful look on her face. “I really loved that blanket.”

Clare smiled, bumping her hip against Tatianna’s. The healer’s braids were pulled back in a high ponytail, giving Clare a perfect view of every beautiful plane of Tatianna’s face. “You lost it to a good cause.”

Alexander Kingsley hopped in through the open door just then, jarring Clare back to the reality of the life she’d built on the back of her best friends. He held up a singular sign.

Wind

Tatianna crouched to be eye level with their princely childhood-best-friend-turned-cursed-frog. “Alexander, why are you speaking in riddles?” Kingsley shook his tiny head and pointed a foot toward the door before scribbling something else onto the sign he’d pulled from the basket in the corner of the room.

Kitch

Clare sighed, frustrated that they needed to decipher Alexander’s words this way. What was he getting at?

“Any ideas?” Tatianna looked up at Clare with a sheepish expression, her pink lips pulling wide at the corners in a near wince. “I got nothing. He’s normally more articulate than this.”

The camaraderie that had been tentatively building back between them gave Clare pangs of guilt in her stomach, but she selfishly wasn’t prepared to give up the newfound ease. Just as she wasn’t ready to admit that the day Tatianna walked out of Clare’s life, she truly realized the depth of pain that came with a broken heart.

She could own her mistakes, and she could make amends for them.

She could start now.

Tatianna licked her lips, drawing Clare’s attention to them as Tati took a large swig of water. “I’m glad you’re here.”

You wouldn’t be. If you knew what I’ve done. How much I’m like my mother…

Clare felt the truth burning on her tongue, dancing at the edge of her parting lips. But the only thing to come out was, “Me too. I don’t like when we aren’t together.”

Tatianna’s dark eyes softened as she took Clare’s hand and squeezed her fingers. “Maybe when this is all over, we could give…being together…another try.”

Clare felt hope swell, sudden and strong, drowning out her guilt, her secrets, everything. “You would…want to be with me again?”

The healer began fiddling with her potions, reorganizing them—a tell of nervousness she’d had since they were children. “I would be willing to try.”

Clare sat on one of the stools at Tati’s work desk, knowing she needed to tread lightly. “Do you remember the day we first met?”

Tatianna grinned. “I remember you telling me my shoes had too much glitter.”

Clare folded her arms, quirking a brow. “And I remember you being so offended you dumped a vial of the stuff on our front porch.”

Tatianna showed no remorse at this reminder, just delight. “Yes, that was a wonderful day. Your mother was furious. I don’t know why she never reprimanded me for it.”