Witch's Pyre (Worldwalker #3)(20)

Toshi and Lily stepped off the trolley and he led her into a scent bar. Lily figured if she was expected to wear perfume, she might as well pick out something she liked enough to wear every day. An elegant woman, dark skinned and dressed in a sari, stood behind the bar waiting to be of assistance but too refined to inject herself into their browsing.

“Do you have those a lot?” Toshi asked as he slid a glass rod out of a crystal bottle filled with a honey-colored liquid.

“A lot of what?” Lily asked.

“Strange dreams.” He dabbed one drop of the liquid onto a strip of paper, let it dry, and waved it under Lily’s nose. She breathed in bergamot and blood orange.

“All the time.” She shook her head at the scent. “Too sweet.” Toshi moved down the bar and lifted a glass rod from another jar.

“After what you’ve been through—” He broke off. “I can’t imagine it. To go out among the Woven, into the unknown. No map. No idea of what’s out there—mountains, deserts, uncrossable rivers.” He waved the strip under Lily’s nose. Lemon and verbena quickened her thoughts.

Ah, actually, we sort of knew how to get to California. I’m not exactly Sacajawea, she thought, suppressing a grin. But there was no one to tell that joke to. Tristan would have gotten it.

“You’re sad again,” Toshi noticed.

Lily didn’t reply and moved down the row. She lifted the next rod for herself. It was a powdery grandma smell. She dropped it immediately and decided to follow Toshi’s cues instead.

“Have you always been adventurous?” he asked, dabbing another strip of paper with scent.

“Not at all! In fact most of my life I couldn’t go anywhere. The most exciting thing that happened to me was a trip to the hospital.” Lily breathed in Christmas. Gingersnap and snow. “I like this one,” she said about the scent, “but it’s not for me.”

“What’s for you?” he said musingly. “You’re a woman who goes from happy to sad in a second. A woman who claims to be unadventurous, who’s just had the adventure of a lifetime. You’re a powerful woman who I could toss into the air with one hand.” He shifted closer, his face dipping toward hers. “What’s for you?”

Lily looked down and shook her head. “I’m not who you think I am, Toshi.”

“No one’s who we think they are,” he said, waving a dismissive hand in the air.

He drew a rod out of a tiny glass jar that had only a few drops of a dark and unctuous liquor. The sales woman stiffened, about to say something, but Toshi smiled and nodded at her.

He didn’t waste any of the precious liquid on a strip of paper, but waved the rod under Lily’s nose. Smoke and spice. Bruised-to-sweetness sap bled from a young tree. Salt. And something underneath it all—something animal and almost revolting that she couldn’t place and couldn’t stop smelling. She inhaled it over and over, unable to pull herself away.

“Now tell me why you’re sad.”

Lily opened her eyes and saw Toshi watching her with concern. She swallowed. “I lost someone.” The grief and guilt trembled right behind the words, which she spoke as plainly as possible to keep herself from bursting into tears. “He died to protect me.”

“Did you love him?” Toshi whispered.

“Of course.”

“Then lucky him.” He tore his gaze away from Lily and looked up at the saleswoman. “We’ll take a twenty-fourth of this,” he said crisply.

Lily cocked her head at him. “You do that a lot,” she remarked.

“Do what?”

“End the moment before it gets old. Or out of your control.”

Toshi nodded pensively. “I’ve learned not to wait for applause. For anything.”

“You’ve got a story,” Lily said, half smiling.

“Some other time,” he replied, his expression darkening.

“Oh, great. You’re soulful.” Lily said, rolling her eyes.

He looked hurt. “You don’t give anyone a break, do you?”

Lily made an effort to soften her tone. “No, I don’t,” she admitted. “But I actually like soulful. It was a compliment.”

He dropped his eyes so Lily couldn’t read him. The saleswoman came to his rescue, returning with a tiny vial that she placed carefully inside a tissue-paper-lined bag. She looked anxious.

“It’s okay,” Toshi reassured her again as he took the bag. “Thank you.”

Lily waited until they were outside to speak. “I’m guessing I picked the scent that costs a fortune?”

“Yes, but money’s not the issue,” Toshi said. “Only one other person in the entire city wears that scent.”

A chuff of a laugh escaped Lily. She knew who it had to be. “Grace.”

“Yup.”

“Interesting,” Lily said. “I know why I like it,” she added, thinking of the smoke, the tree sap, and the salty animal smell of her own sweat sizzling in the pyre—thinking of the power and the rush of pouring herself into another person. “But why would she if she doesn’t have mechanics?” Lily stopped and turned deliberately to Toshi. “Are you her claimed?”

“No,” Toshi said, genuinely shocked.

“Look, I’m not the smartest person in the world, but I know one thing.” She jabbed a finger at the little bag in his hand. “That scent is something a witch only becomes acquainted with by firewalking, and it’s a scent she learns to crave only by giving the Gift. You know, there’s been a lot of talk about how claiming is slavery, butI don’t buy it.” She smirked at him. “Don’t tell me the people of Bower City are so pure that they’re not tempted to claim.”