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“NO, I’M NOT!” I SNAPPED defensively, glaring furiously between Sloan and Aspen to cover up fear and embarrassment.
“Is that true, Maer?”
Koen was standing a few feet away. I hadn’t heard him come in. Tears burned in my throat. Of course he had to walk in at that exact time. “Koen, I—”
“Is that your sickness? Is that what you wish you could have told me?”
His voice was hurt, and it made me angry. Not at him but at myself. Why was he hurt? Why did he care about me? I didn’t lie to him—not really. I just withheld the truth. I did say that I wanted to confess the truth, but I realized it made me what I told him I didn’t care for: a secret keeper.
“How far along are you?” Sloan repeated Aspen’s question with much less innocent curiosity. “Don’t you dare lie to a Medic.”
I gritted my teeth. “I don’t respond well to crudity.”
I had to admit that Sloan Blackwood was very pretty. It was clear that she was Koen’s sister with the same light brown skin, curly dark blond hair and eyes alive with life and determination, except her hair fell just past her shoulders, and her irises were as green as a garden in summer sunlight. But it was also clear that she wasn’t one to smirk and joke around. She didn’t take no for an answer.
I wondered if she saw Galen and the blue light, too.
Sloan looked ready to argue, but then she sighed. Her expression and voice softened. “Fine. Let’s go to the other room. I want to take a look at you.”
I didn’t like the sound of that, but Aspen nodded in encouragement as if he cared for my well-being. Despite him being a half-blood with unknown ties to Bloodfrost, there was something trustworthy about him. I never knew a vampire, even half, could have eyes so open and kind.
I glanced up at Koen as he came closer. His cheeks were red and ruddy from the sun. He looked exhausted—old, almost. Weary. What happened to the cheery boy—what happened to the vengeful monster with inhuman strength?
“It’s a good idea, Maer. We only want to help.”
I chewed my lower lip, debating. But then I remembered everything that he’d done—for me. It was all for me.
And I was also very, very tired, and in very much pain. I had to stop being stubborn and accept help for once in my life.
“Okay.” I sighed, holding out my arms for them to help me to my feet. Even that was a painful experience. Using Sloan, who was slender but taller, as a crutch through one of the two empty doorways. “Are you just going to strip me down?”
“It’s a miracle that you can still quip.” Sloan steadied me near the far wall. There was no malice in her tone, even when she said, “You smell horrific. Are you okay taking off your coat and lifting your shirt a little?”
“Coat yes, shirt no.”
“Fine.”
She helped me ease my overcoat off. I breathed a sigh of relief; I hadn’t realized how heavy it was, and my shoulders thanked her for the relieved weight. But my spine tensed when Sloan braced her one hand on my lower back while the other rested on my swollen stomach. I stared ahead, refusing to look down at the future thing that could potentially end my life in a couple of months.
“Five months,” I told Sloan in a mutter.
“Hm.” She gently poked and felt around my stomach. “Well, it feels like it’s in the right position. Though everything you’ve gone through is taking a strain on you both.”
“And you know only half of what happened.”
Sloan retracted her arms to cross them over her chest. “Do tell. What started this whole thing?”
Your brother’s “crush” on me, I wanted to snap but refrained because it wasn’t the truth—or at least the main reason. I met Sloan’s defiant gaze with my own. “It’s better every one hears it.”
“Fine,” she said again, picking up and draping my overcoat on her arm. “But after that, you’re getting rest. We’re going to have to lop off your feet if you’re standing on them.”
I couldn’t complain about that. I hobbled beside her back into the main room where Aspen was helping Koen slip out of his manacles the same way I’d escaped mine: sweat.
Koen gasped a sigh of relief as Aspen yanked the irons off. His wrists were raw and smeared with blood. He winced as the cuts stung with sweat and sand. I glanced at my own and hated myself for actually wanting vampire blood to heal them.
I didn’t realize I was looking at Aspen until he smiled knowingly at me. “Something on your mind, Whisler?”
“Any blood to spare?” I asked shamelessly.
“Half-blood blood doesn’t work as good as pureblood blood, but—”
“Anything’s better than nothing.”
Aspen’s smile faded, and he looked to Sloan. “You think that’s okay, Medic?”
Sloan hesitated, as if she didn’t like the idea of subjecting me or her brother to inadequate medicine, but then nodded, helping me into a sitting position. “Try your wrists first. Koen, you could put a dab on your cheeks to heal the burns. Drinking it, Maer... If you’re hoping it will ease swelling or upset stomach, I’m afraid you’re out of luck.”
I already knew that, but it still brought my mood down. Aspen bared his fangs—half as long as a pureblood’s—and pierced the flesh of his thumb to draw a few beads of blood into his palm before the wound sealed itself.
I reached to dab a forefinger in it, but Sloan cut me off. “Let me help.”
“Why are you suddenly being nice to me?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“How many times do I need to mention that I’m a healer who cares for her patients? Personal feelings don’t matter.” Sloan tended to my wounds as if Aspen and Koen weren’t there. The blood was hot and sticky, and her fingertips were rough as she skimmed them over my wrists. Before long, blood was all that was there. “No luck on finding water?”
Koen, who had help from Aspen, shook his head. “The well collapsed on itself. There wasn’t a bucket to be found—wasn’t anything to be found.”
“And that’s how we like to keep it.”
A shadow filled the doorway. Aspen and Koen were on their feet in an instant, Koen hefting his scythe, while Sloan forced me to stay seated while she stood in front of me. I gritted my teeth but kept quiet for once even though I couldn’t see past anyone’s legs to see who the female voice belonged to.
“Who are you and how did you get here?” asked the stranger with a familiar accent.
My companions exchanged glances, wondering the same thing: Do we tell the truth?
“You’re Bloodfrost,” she said, clearly to Aspen, who noted coolly.
“And you’re Elarian.”
I stifled a gasp. That’s why the accent sounded familiar.
The stranger hissed in fury. “Not anymore.”
“Me neither. We fled Sanlow.”
Suddenly the stranger’s tone wasn’t malicious. “Well, I’ll be. You all made it this far without losing a limb and—minimal? No serious injuries? Impressive. Who’s down there?”
Instead of moving aside, Aspen and Koen stepped shoulder to shoulder, blocking the stranger’s view from seeking me out. I scowled. I could barely see her legs between my shields.
“My name is Leysa. I lead the Kairos.”
“The what?” all four of us asked.
Leysa laughed. “The Kairos. The underground resistance of outcast half-bloods who shunned their homes and families—those who shunned us first.”
It seemed Aspen was the first one to be trusting of Leysa. His voice was bright. “We’re not the first to escape Sanlow! There are more like—”
“Like you?” she mused, grasping the situation easily. “Yes. Reaching freedom beyond that iron wall, fleeing across the unyielding Endless Sands and finding Ophir. No one leaves that hellscape unless they dream of a far better life. Come with me. You’re all in need of food and water.”
Koen and Aspen turned toward Sloan and me as Leysa padded outside to pet the horses, who must have sensed no ill will from her because they hadn’t made a sound.
“Do we trust her?” Sloan asked.
“I didn’t get the impression of anything but the truth,” Aspen said, clearly excited that he had someone to relate to, which made me feel an unexpected pang of sympathy. What loneliness drove him to be so hopeful of a connection? “What’s the harm if we have no other prospects?”
Koen’s smile had returned, even if it was small and tired. “We’d be fools to deny the only hospitality we’ve ever been given.”
I snorted. “What do you mean? We’re in perfect shape. Someone help me up—oh, seriously?”
All three of them reached for me and then looked at each other in surprise. A delirious laugh came out from my lips. “None of you hate me?”
“Why would we hate you?” Aspen asked hurtfully. I got the sense that he felt a little guilty for revealing my secret and was giving me doe eyes in hopes that I would forgive him.
Vampires ruined my life from the moment I was born. I had very few quarrels with half-bloods; in fact, I was neutral toward them. But I still never trusted any of them.
My gaze drifted to Koen, who was still holding out his hand. I knew he was remembering our conversation in the barracks. “Nothing’s going to make me like you less,” he had said.
“What if I’ve done terrible things?” I had breathed, half in fear, half in disbelief.
“Even then. I’ve done things, too.”
“You don’t...” I croaked, then cleared my throat. “You don’t care who—”
Koen’s hand clasped around mine and gently pulled. “You have your reasons to keep it secret. I told you, there’s nothing you can do to—”
“What’s going on in here—oh, there’s the little hider—” Leysa came back inside as I finally got to my feet. Wearing a flowy white outfit with a hood she pushed back, she was stunningly beautiful with pale skin, choppy copper hair, and auburn eyes—all the marks of an Elarian coven vampire—but with gray sclera that marked her as half-blood. She reeled back in surprise when she saw my stomach. I tensed for a smart remark but instead received a sternly worried look. “If I didn’t offer assistance then, I offer it now. You’re one of us, too.”
After Aspen led the horses into the dwelling and Leysa promised to find them water and Koen retrieved the second scythe from the carriage, we followed Leysa back into the sweltering heat. It was early evening, and I felt the other three’s spike of fear of the upcoming night. What if the covens came after us when the sun disappeared?
Leysa’s voice carried an authoritative tone as she gave us a rundown and led us down the barren street. “The Cardinal Four covens—Elarian, who founded Sanlow, Moros, Rhidian, and Bloodfrost—were originally five. Ophir’s founding coven leader, Farren Andraste, was the one to suggest a third migration—”
“She was real,” Aspen breathed. We all stared at him. “What? Okay.” He relented after a moment, making us all stop just inside the empty dwelling Leysa led us into. “I know so much because I’m a historian. Bloodfrost keeps extensive records of all covens and their histories.” Aspen’s voice dropped to a guilty mutter. “I may have snuck into the other covens’ libraries, too.”
Leysa and Koen both broke into joyous laughter. “Impressive and admirable.” Leysa beamed as she led us through a back door and out into the empty stretch of desert. I winced but continued on.
But it seemed she would finish her story later. Leysa stopped in front of a large boulder amidst at least a dozen others scattered around. Winking at all of our confused faces, she braced her palms on it and slid it aside as if it weighed nothing. Sand and stone grated against each other dissonantly until the boulder stopped and—
And revealed a hole in the ground.
Aspen sucked in a breath. “A secret entrance!”
