Rebel Born (Secondborn #3)(79)

“Hi! Welcome to Madam Goria’s Candy Emporium! My name is Grenadier. What can I getcha?” She runs her hand over the top of the glass case in an exaggerated “Behold!” gesture.

I stand dumbfounded before the array of elaborate sweets. “Do you have crellas?”

Grenadier looks crestfallen, and her bottom lip sticks out in an animated pouty face as she replies, “No.” She quickly brightens. “Buuut we have candy and ice cream! Would you like to try something?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve never had candy before.”

Her eyes widen again. “You’ve never had candy?” Her long blue-painted fingernails cover her O-shaped lips.

“I was told it’s poison,” I reply sheepishly.

She leans across the counter and whispers conspiratorially, “Well, it’s not great for you, but it’s delicious. Just dive in.” She straightens again and gives me an expectant look.

I stand awkwardly for a minute, hopelessly lost in the options.

“What looks good to you?” Grenadier prods with growing excitement, as if she’s trying candy for the first time, too.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, these here are Blobfish Jellies—they have a strawberry tang to them.” She points to pink, gelatinous masses that look like melting, fleshy heads adorned with gigantic noses and black eyes. “Or you could try our Glucose Atlanticus.” Grenadier indicates the blue dragon-sea-slug-shaped candies, next to the blobfish. “They have a lemony sour sting that’s a little painful if you’re not used to them. Or! You could try the Treacherous Tidal Waves! When you bite into one, an ocean of flavor gushes into your mouth.”

I see the confections in a way that I wouldn’t have before my implant. Before, I would have seen colors and shapes. Now, like Phoenix, I can see the molecular level. Which is interesting, but it doesn’t tell me how any of it will taste.

Grenadier quirks her eyebrow and points. “Or maybe Black Licorice Eels? Or Seahorse Sandies? Blowfish Gum?”

“What’s your favorite?” I ask with a grin.

“Me?” She lays one hand over her heart dramatically. “Oh, I love me some cherry bombs! They never ever let me down.”

I sigh, relieved. “I’ll try one!”

“Comin’ right up!” Grenadier uses a vacuum-like device to select a small red hard-candy ball from a tall glass jar. She levels it toward me, and the vacuum spits it into my hand. She waits with anticipation.

I put it to my lips and lick it, testing the flavor.

Grenadier giggles and says, “You don’t eat it like that. You put it in your mouth and suck on it.”

“Oh,” I say before popping the candy into my mouth. My eyes widen. “Ohhh!” A faint echo of a memory from Ransom surfaces. He’s had these before as a child. I try to suppress the memory, wondering how I purge it from my mind.

“Right?” She grins. “How many do you want?”

“Two?” I feel completely greedy.

She frowns. “Two? No one gets just two.” She fills a glass jar with cherry bombs before sealing it and handing it to me. “Here, would you like anything else?”

I shake my head, gazing at the crazy amount of candy in my hand. “No.” I reach my wrist communicator under the scanner and pay for the candy. “Thank you,” I murmur, still sucking on my cherry candy.

“Anytime,” Grenadier replies, patting her cotton-candy hair. “Come back soon!”

It’s still raining outside. I exit the shop and stand beneath the striped awning. A hum tingles under my skin, a low trill, like a thrill of desire. I recognize its source. Reykin. Looking around, I find him leaning up against the building across the street, his hands shoved in his trouser pockets. His white dress shirt clings to his broad chest. He’s been watching me.

The firstborn pushes away from the wall and crosses the street. Water drips from his sharp jaw as he stops in front of me. I straighten, ready for another verbal assault for threatening his brother. Instead he says softly, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For treating you the way I did tonight. I was wrong. Ransom explained some things to me that I didn’t know.”

“What things?” I ask, still shocked that he’s apologizing.

“Things that he’s done to you—allowed to be done to you. You tried to explain it to me, but I wouldn’t listen. I don’t know if I can forgive Ransom after what he’s told me. I love my brother, but forgiveness is . . .” His jaw tenses. “He said he’s been expecting you to enter his mind since you woke up. It’s something you had to do to unlock secrets he hid inside you. He thought when you did, you’d destroy him, but you didn’t.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Why not? I don’t know if I’d have had that kind of restraint.”

“I know why he did it,” I admit. “I would’ve taken the deal had he asked my permission, in that moment, before he implanted the device. It was desperation, survival, and revenge—things I understand. If he hadn’t done it, I’d be killing for Crow now. Forgive him, Reykin, for your sake and his.”

“But he didn’t ask your permission. Are you saying the end justifies the means?”