Page 24 (1/2)

Her touch didn’t hurt him

With wonder in her voice, she asked, "Akiva… how?"

His hand covered hers and held it against him, and she felt the heat in her ha sensation, but Akiva didn’t flinch or recoil or tremble He sth of his ar toward her, bowing his head and twisting as he whispered, "Magic," and showed her what he had done

On the back of his neck was a mark that Karou knew had not been there before It was low, half-hidden by his collar, but she could see what it was: an eye A closed eye His own o like a hamsa; it wasn’t a tattoo, but a scar "When did you do this?" she asked

"Tonight"

She traced the fine raised lines of flesh with her fingertip "It’s already healed"

He nodded, settling back and raising his head again And though Karou had begun to get an inkling of what Akiva ht be capable of, it still astonished her The fact that he had scarred and healed himself in anext to the ated the chimaera’s most powerful weapon--after resurrection, that is, if that could be counted a weapon Maybe it should have terrified her, but right now, terror wasn’t what Karou was feeling

"I can touch you," she e to further prove it by sliding her palm over the hot-smooth terrain of his chest until she felt as if she were holding his heartbeat in her hand

"Asin him, but it wasn’t from pain

Skin and forever made for a potent coic was as good as forgotten, and so was everything else outside the pulse of their two heartbeats--

--until it turned up at the door

An unlikelier sight could scarcely have been i through passages with silent purpose and crossing froht shot across the o and Liraz, dragging the corpse of Ten behind them

Every voice ceased Mik had set down his violin so with his head in Zuzana’s lap until her gasp served to lurch hih on her coil and looked oddess from some ancient te or half rising, alert and ready to fight should they be called upon But they weren’t The pair riuard at the far door without a pause or a word of explanation

Finding Akiva’s door still closed, Liraz gave a chuff of derision and didn’t knock but only crashed it open and glared at the sight that greeted the each other on a stone slab and touching, hands to hearts

Sooddess of assassins and secret lovers--had been afoot this night, gliding through the passages, busy at mischief and narrow salvation A few ht be dead, or Karou and Akiva caught in a deeper coue with their hands to each other’s hearts Another ht have kissed

But Ellai was a fickle patroness and had failed theods anymore, and when the door crashed open, there were only Liraz and the Wolf to blame for it

"Well," Liraz said, her voice as dry as the rest of her was not "At least you still have your clothes on"

And thank god for that, thought Karou, snatching her hand out of Akiva’s shirt Instantly she felt the chill of the chamber How quickly her body adjusted to Akiva’s te else seem cold by contrast It took a few blinks for her daze to clear, to register the details of wet clothing plastered to skin and the plink of drips, not to mention the waft of sulfur

Ziri had taken Liraz to bathe at the thermal pools? Well, that eird Fully clothed? Okay, that was less weird than the alternative, but it was all just too weird, and then the Wolf hefted so came into focus

A corpse "The oath-breaker," said the Wolf

Ten Haxaya

What?

Karou unfurled froe to drop down beside the body At once she saw the scorched handprint on the she-wolf’s chest and looked up at Liraz, who greeted her with a deader-even-than-usual stare

Akiva joined her beside the body, and in a matter of seconds the corridor was filled with seraphiressed the boundary to see as happening It was almost funny, that an act of violence like this should in so Al, a lit match poised to fall on it The next few moments were a scramble of questions and answers The Wolf told the the deception in every detail Ten had done this And Ten had died As for Haxaya, Karou tried to process the fact of her part in it She had known her well As Madrigal, she had fought beside her, and trusted her She ild but not unpredictable Not stupid Inher part of the deception, Karou had trusted all their lives to her "Why would she do it?" she asked, and she didn’t expect an answer She was asking the air, but it was Liraz who answered

"It was personal," said the angel She faced Akiva, and soe in her in that instant, Karou thought, was like the change that Ziri brought to the Wolf’s face, though the reason could of course not be the sah Liraz’s eyes It was the irlish face that she revealed was herself She said, "Savvath," and Akiva, letting out a hard breath, nodded understanding

Karou knew the nae on the western shores of the Bay of Beasts, or it had been, once It was before her tiled toward him but her eyes downcast, Liraz said, "What you do with her soul is your affair, but you should know, I don’t blao made some reply, but Karou heard it in a state of distraction So from Ten’s body to Liraz, from the scorched black handprint on the she-wolf’s chest to the angel’s tally, all but concealed by her sleeves, pulled down over the heels of her hands

Our hands are eneels all went quietly home and no one died The end

Her heart started to pound An idea was taking shape She didn’t give voice to it, but let its traceries unfurl, following theuainst it Could it be this simple? The voices around her hts It could and should be this simple The plan as it stood orse than coathered faces: Akiva, Liraz, and the Wolf in the roo figures behind them visible only as a shuffle of fire feathers and furred haunches, black arh, side by side

All ready to fly into battle, to enact for huhtmares

Or maybe not