Page 77

He groaned.

Zeke ripped Cyn’s shirt the rest of the way, examining his wounds. “He’s healing, but it’ll take a while.”

Ash had explained that even with their ability to heal, if an injury was severe enough or took longer to heal for any reason, scar tissue would form. That was why he had a physical memento of his parents’ death along his lower back.

“Get her out of here,” Cyn muttered, wincing when he tried to move.

“Don’t worry about me.” I stood and grabbed my dress at the knee along the slit. “Can I borrow your claw?”

Zeke looked up at me with wide eyes. “What?”

“Just cut right here.” I pinched the fabric where I wanted him to slice. “I can’t walk around in this, anyway.”

Zeke dragged his claw along the path I indicated, and when he reached around to the other side, I was left with a knee-length dress. Easier to move, and I could use the rest of it to protect Cyn’s wounds until they healed.

“Lift him up,” I said, dropping to my knees again.

“What are you doing?” Cyn hissed when Zeke got behind him and propped him up. “I don’t need—”

“Shut up and stay still.”

“You’re such a brat.” He flinched. “Ow. What the fuck?”

I glared at him. “I said stay still, didn’t I?”

Once I finished securing the makeshift bandage around his torso, I looked up at Zeke and paused, taken aback by his appearance. With Cyn on the mend, I had time to really study him

He grinned at me, clearly happy that I’d taken care of Cyn.

Unlike the others, his face changed in his alternate form. His lips stretched too far into a wild, manic smile, showing every tooth and fang. Paired with his strange eyes, he’d look dangerous and unhinged to anyone who didn’t know him.

“Rae?” His smile dropped, and I caught a whiff of burnt honey as he turned away from me. “This is why I haven’t let you see my alternate form,” he whispered.

“What? What’s wrong?”

He held on to Cyn’s shoulders a little tighter.

“Because he’s a Vithrelas and a seer, people are wary of him—like they are of Ezra,” Cyn said, voice strained with pain. “Only seers have split eyes and unique markings. His ears and mouth look that way because he’s Vithrelas.”

I looked at Zeke’s ears; they were longer and pointier than Cyn’s, but not by much. His feral grin and ears supported my initial impression of him as an impish trickster.

“I’m not afraid of him either.”

Zeke’s attention snapped to mine. “You’re not?”

“No? You look cool. A little feral, but cool.”

I looked from the two black symbols on the side of his neck to the top of his head.

Black horns swept upward from disheveled platinum-white hair, curving gracefully with deep ridges spiraling along their length before tapering into fine points. A set of smaller tines curved outward from the base, giving his horns a crown-like appearance.

“Can I touch them?”

Zeke blinked. “What?”

“Your horns.”

“I…”