Before She Ignites (Fallen Isles Trilogy #1)(64)

Still, we’d held hands before.

There’d been a wall between us.

But he’d placed his hands into mine.

An invitation to hold his hands was not an invitation to indulge the fluttery feeling deep in my stomach. I squashed it, and ordered myself to do as he’d asked: tell him about my life.

But as I began to describe Crescent Prominence in stumbling quiet code, Aaru opened his eyes and cocked his head—listening.

Footsteps in the hall.

Before I could scramble away, back to my bed, the door slammed open and bright noorestone light shone in from the hall.

“Mira Minkoba.” Altan stood in the doorway, obscured by my light-induced tears. “I’m happy to see you’re awake.” His tone contradicted his words, though, and as he strode into the room, a pair of white-uniformed men at his sides, he frowned at the sight of me next to Aaru.

Behind me, Aaru’s curiosity at my surname burned, and my mind dutifully counted the letters of my name tapped against the back of my hand, but it was the pair of newcomers who held my attention.

Their clothing was off-white linen that glowed against their brown skin, with seven gold stars embroidered around the deep hoods. Seven buttons down the left side of the jackets gave the illusion of the wrap style that was fashionable in Damina, while medals were pinned right in the middle. They wore matching trousers, boots, and gloves, and both had long daggers at their hips. From one side of the hoods to the other, an off-white mask stretched. It concealed their noses and mouths, leaving only dark eyes to watch me.

I knew those uniforms. I’d seen them all of my life and never truly paid attention—not until the day they’d come to arrest me.

Altan’s glance darted from me to Aaru and back, and a spear-sharp smile grew on his mouth.

“What’s happening?” I spoke the words, but I could hardly hear them under the rush of my pulse through my ears.

Behind me, Aaru pushed himself up and tapped questioningly at my arm, but I couldn’t bear to look at him.

“Your wish has come true,” Altan said as the white-clad guards marched forward. “The Luminary Council has sent for you, Hopebearer.”





CHAPTER TWENTY




::HOPEBEARER.:: AARU’S HAND SLID OFF MY ARM.

And oh, the mountains of hurt he conveyed in that one motion. My identity revealed. My betrayal complete. I’d had every opportunity to give him my whole name, but I’d kept that secret and now he heard it from the man who tortured him. My nemesis; his nemesis.

Cast adrift, I slipped off the edge of Aaru’s bed. The stone floor chilled my feet through my shredded slippers. “The Luminary Council has sent for me,” I repeated, numb.

Why, though? Perhaps they’d finally realized their mistake, but why did it have to be now, when I’d already resigned myself to the necessity of escape? What about my friends and my plans?

Altan strode through the infirmary, his mouth pulled back in a smile. By now, I knew him well enough to understand this particular smile was one not of triumph, but of concealment.

My release was a surprise to him as well.

Of course, if he’d known my summons was imminent, he wouldn’t have made me watch Aaru’s torture. He knew the risk of upsetting me right before I returned to the Luminary Council.

Because what if I told them he was a Drakon Warrior? What if I revealed his plans to them? With a word, I could ruin him. Within days, the Fallen Isles could know that Khulan’s holiest warriors had not obeyed the Mira Treaty.

The utter stillness at my back put a stop to that line of thought.

I could not move against Altan while Aaru remained in his custody. And Tirta. And Gerel. And Chenda. He could kill them faster than I could have them freed.

“When do I leave?” A million questions knotted inside that one: what did they want from me, who’d come for me, where were we going? And mostly: was this forever, or a mere furlough? But I kept curiosity buried tight so that Altan wouldn’t see all the weakness in me. Only the Hopebearer.

“Immediately.” He stopped directly in front of me, a dark tower of hatred. “Are you planning to resist?”

“Why would I resist?”

“Occasionally you manage to surprise me, Fancy.” He motioned toward the Luminary Guards, who’d stationed themselves in the center aisle. Now that my eyes were used to the brighter lights of the hall, the pair looked like white shadows in the dim infirmary. Out of place. Ghostly. “That girl will take you to the bathing chamber before you leave. You smell like sewage, and I don’t want anyone saying I don’t take care of my prisoners.”

I took a step toward the Luminary Guards, but paused and risked a glance over my shoulder to where Aaru sat, his feet wrapped in layers of gauze and linen.

Just minutes ago, I’d thought he was so much bigger than I’d realized before, but among the large warriors and Luminary Guards, and suddenly silent in presence as well as voice, he seemed to be shrinking.

He lifted his eyes to mine, his hurt evident for all to see.

I searched for something to say, something to make this better. But how could I reassure my ally—former ally now, probably—when I’d omitted important information, and now I was leaving? Without him. What could I say to someone I was abandoning to Altan and the Pit and the merciless darkness?

::I’m sorry.:: I tapped the words against my thigh, but if he noticed, he gave no response.