Chapter 5

Five

Lorik hid his infection well. Better than most…until it reared its head the following night.

And it was ugly. The ugliest I'd ever seen.

"You stupid fool," I whispered without malice, stroking a cloth I intermittently dipped in cold water across his face and down his chest.

Earlier this afternoon, he'd been burning up, his flesh nearly scorching to the touch. The only ray of hope had been the night nettle weeping out from his skin, a blue cast staining the washcloth, and requiring me to use gloves to touch him.

But there was no evidence of the poison now as he lay in my bed, thrashing restlessly in his deep sleep, his chest heaving. His long, dark hair was tangled around his sharp horns, and I'd nearly gouged my wrist trying to untangle it, so I left it be.

My back was beginning to ache from the chair I'd been situated in for nearly the entire day. I thought of how lucid and present he'd been last night, sitting in the back garden with me for seemingly hours until the chill had turned bitter.

I sang as I wiped his brow. Old Allavari songs, coupled with some human ones, ancient tales of our home planet, of Earth.

I had a few wax candles lit, infused with lovery leaves, the gentle smoke filling the air to help him breathe more easily. Shadows flickered over his sharp features, and I studied every dip and line and angle, trying to separate the Allavari from the Kylorr and failing.

There was something incredibly…other about him. I couldn't place why.

"What is that song?" he murmured quietly without opening his eyes.

I kept my hand steady, pressing the cold cloth to his neck, though relief flowed heavy in my veins.

"A human song," I murmured, watching his eyes flicker open.

Not a trick of the light,I thought, studying his eyes. They were glittering blue, the colors shifting in his irises, and my heart began to pick up pace in my chest.

"You know their old language? Your old language?" he corrected, his voice paper thin but no less pleasing.

"No," I admitted, swallowing, averting my eyes from his to focus on the cloth. "I'm sure I'm jumbling the words, but I memorized how they sounded. When I was…when I was at the orphanage, Correl had an old Halo orb. I found it in the cellar and repaired it so we could access the Quadrants' databases. And we would play music at night, from all over the universe. The children always wanted to hear Allavari lullabies or Ernitian ballads. I was one of the only humans there, so I listened to my ancestors' songs after they fell asleep."

Lorik listened to me speak, his chest heaving with his labored breaths.

"It sounds beautiful," he told me. "It sounds like you know the words, that you truly feel them when you sing."

"Sometimes I wonder if we instinctively know our ancient languages. Like the words still speak to some part of me," I told him, my lips curling in a small smile.

"It's a nice sentiment."

I nodded, chancing a peek back up at his glittering eyes, wondering if I should be afraid of them.

"Very few races now live on their home planets. Language is forever changed because of it," I said. "Especially the universal language…that's the only one I know. It's evolved and changed over centuries. And though it's universal, it's different everywhere but similar enough to communicate at the travel ports. Our language on Allavar? It's the universal tongue, yes, but it's also littered with old Allavari and even Kylorr languages. Ernitians have a difficult time with it, I know, when they first come here."

"Were you born in the village?" he wondered. "In Rolara?"

"Yes," I told him. "It's the only place I've known. Were you?"

He closed his eyes briefly. "No. Not in the village."

"But on Allavar?" I prompted.

"Yes."

"So secretive," I teased gently, watching his eyelids lift and a familiar expression take over his features, though it was tired. I studied the ever-changing blue of his eyes. "Keep your secrets, Lorik. I'm not sure I want to know them."

"And what secrets do you have, I wonder?" Lorik asked, his voice a soft rasp, drifting over my skin.

That I'm afraid,I thought immediately. So very afraid. Of dying alone in the Black Veil, of never knowing true love, of never having a family of my own, of having crushing regrets as I take my last breath.

"I have nothing to hide," I told him. "I live a quiet life, and there's no reason to keep secrets."

"Everyone has secrets," he told me. "One of yours for one of mine."

I let out a gentle laugh.

"It can be anything," he added, sounding tired.

"Don't you think I deserve all your secrets after tending to you all day?" I asked. "I've seen you at your worst. What else can you be hiding?"

Something flashed over his face, a surprisingly intense expression, especially when he still looked like he was on the threshold of death's door.

"But I'll play along," I told him, if only to keep talking to him. I didn't want to admit how worried I'd been today. He hadn't woken once. This was the first time since last night.

"I'm waiting," he prompted after a lengthy silence.

"I'm thinking."

"It takes you that long to think up a secret?"

One that I can tell you, yes,I thought silently. It was actually strangely difficult.

"Have you ever stolen anything?" he asked, trying to help.

"Yes!" I said, more excitedly than I probably should've, and his unexpected laugh made his chest heave. "Sorry. Yes, I have."

"And? What did you steal, little witch?"

I dipped the cloth back into the water in the basin before wringing it out.

"A bracelet," I told him. "My sister, Aysia, always looked at this one bracelet at a shop in the village. It's not there anymore, but back then, they had beautiful jewelry. Expensive. The owner, Merec, was a talented jeweler who imported gems from the northern islands, and he'd always smile at us when he saw us looking in the window."

Guilt rose, as it always did. Though, I often thought of Merec fondly, I didn't like to think of why we'd met.

"I knew him," Lorik said. "He was a friend of my father's. Long ago."

I filed that information away and continued, "The Lunaer Celebration was coming up, and I had no gift for her. It was her tenth year, and I wanted the gift to be special. And all I could think of was the bracelet. So one day, I went into the shop and when Merec had his back turned, I took it."

Lorik looked at me steadily, and I couldn't help but give him a half smile.

"I think my sister wanted the bracelet enough to not ask too many questions. She liked pretty things. But I couldn't sleep at night. I felt so guilty, taking something from someone who had only ever shown us kindness. So two days later, I went back to Merec and confessed what I'd done."

"And?"

I smoothed the cloth down Lorik's chest and felt it rumble with the spoken word. I could feel his heart beating beneath my palm, heat radiating off him, though he'd cooled significantly from earlier that afternoon.

"He told me to keep the bracelet, to let my sister have it, but that I needed to work in his shop to repay him," I said. "For three months I worked there, sneaking away from the home when I could. But it was the favorite part of my day. I enjoyed the tidying, the stocking, hearing the little bell ring when the door opened. It was so bright in there, the sunlight came streaming in through the windows, so I made sure they were clean every day. I grew to love the sound of drills and the rotation of the polishing basket. I always imagined hundreds of jewels tumbling in there."

I met Lorik's eyes. His legs were too long for my bed, but at least I'd taken off his boots this time. I'd needed to strip him down to nothing to fight the fever and only kept a sheet across his groin for privacy. But the outline of him was…distracting, and I felt guilty thinking that when he was ill and in my care.

"Then one day…I came to the shop and Merec was just gone. His jewelry was packed up. His tools cleared out. He left a note for me, short but nice, saying he was leaving Rolara but nothing more. He said he was glad we were friends. He left me some money—more money than I'd ever seen—which I used when I left Correl's. Without his generosity, I don't know what would have happened. And that was it. I never saw or heard from him again. But I think about him every time I walk past that shop. It's still empty. At one point, I thought I might take it over someday."

"Why don't you?" Lorik asked, shifting slightly in the bed, wings repositioning. He winced—the muscles, no doubt, stiff.

"You need money for that," I told him. "Besides, I do well enough on my potions, but…I could never leave my glowflies. The Black Veil is my home."

"Aren't you frightened of it?"

"You're asking for a lot of my secrets when you've given me none of yours," I pointed out.

Lorik trapped my wrist under his palm, and my breathing went tight. His coloring was lighter than the average Kylorr's, his skin a silvery tone of gray, making him appear like he was glowing…like he was otherworldly. Allavari had elf-like features and lithe, graceful silhouettes. With Lorik, it made for an interesting and overwhelming mix with the brute, winged strength of a powerful Kylorr male.

He was…magnetic. Beautiful but dangerous. I'd felt his pull long before now.

His finger stroked down my wrist, over the bandage there, and my heart sped.

"A secret?" he asked. A small smile played over his lips, despite the strain around his glittering blue eyes as they fixated on where he touched me. "I've thought about you far more than I should've these last few months, little witch."

I jerked, my tongue twisting, uncertain how to respond to that.

"But I need to give you a better secret than that after what you shared," he told me, his gaze flashing back up to mine. "What do you want to know?"

Too many questions to count,I couldn't help but think, my mind racing with possibility.

"Or perhaps I will tell you another's secret—would you like that?"

"Another's?" I asked, frowning. "Whose?"

"Merec's."

I stiffened, but Lorik never stopped stroking my wrist, the rough, flat pads of his fingertips journeying beyond the edge of the bandage.

"Merec left Rolara because he, like you, was indebted to someone. He left because it was time to repay it," Lorik told me.

"To who?" I asked, thinking what debt could possibly be so important that he'd packed up his entire life in a single night and left without a trace. People only did that when they were in trouble. Or scared. "Where did he go?"

Lorik inhaled a deep breath, smoothing his fingers down the inside of my arm, making tingles race up my spine.

"To the Below," he answered. "His debt was to a Sever."