Page 14 of The Midnight Arrow

“There’s your secret,” Lorik told me. “No more this night.”

“You can’t just tell me that and say nothing else,” I argued. “How do you know this?”

“Like I said, my father was good friends with Merec.Is.”

“So, he’s…he’s alive?”

“As far as I know,” he murmured, closing his eyes again briefly.

“But it’s the Below,” I said, standing from the chair, my legs suddenly restless. Lorik’s grip fell away from my wrist. He watched me as I paced, and I noticed that Peek was curled up near the door of my bedroom. Keeping an eye on our guest? “No one survives in the Below except Severs. It’s impossible.”

A flash of something crossed his expression. Annoyance? Disappointment?

“You know nothing about what is possible and what is not, Marion. Village folk shouldn’t speak of something they know nothing about.”

The sudden change in his mood had me quieting. His tone was stern. I felt like I was being scolded.

An uncomfortable silence dropped like a heavy stone between us.

Then he said, “I want to ask you something.”

I studied him. Even lying back in the bed, half-poisoned, it felt like he still took up the majority of the room.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Are you the kind of person who believes what somethingseemsthat somethingis?”

“I don’t understand,” I admitted quietly.

He continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “Or are you the kind of person who understands there are things that cannot be understood in this world, things that are not what they seem, and that if you understood them in their entirety, you would see that you understood nothing at all?”

“Do you often speak in riddles?” I wondered.

“There are two types of beings on Allavar,” he murmured, his blue eyes glittering. Were theyglowing? “Those who welcome change and those who don’t, who resist it. Which one are you, little witch?”

“You tell me,” I replied, stepping forward toward the bed. His eyes never left mine. “I left the safety of my home in the middle of the night to help a stranger, who is now sleeping in my bed. That’s certainly a change.”

“One might call that bravery,” he said. “Or foolishness.”

I jolted, annoyance beginning to build in my breast. I shot back, “Or duty.”

Lorik’s lips quirked tiredly, and he huffed out a sharp breath through his nostrils.

“From what I can see and from what I know, you’ve lived here a long time, since your sister’s death, yes? All alone in the Black Veil, where most wouldn’t even step foot. You tend to your glowflies and you keep yourbraydus, who you are certain never came from the Below. You go to the market every moon cycle to sell your potions and healing salves. You collect your money, and then you come back. To your cottage in the Black Veil. Alone. Where you tend to your glowflies and keep yourbraydus, who does in fact protect you more than you know.”

I stood, frozen, looking down at him. My heart was pounding in my chest. Out of anger? Defensiveness? Or sadness? Loneliness?

“You don’t know me at all” was all I could utter. And in the quiet of my room, it felt as pathetic as it sounded.

“Most would say you don’t like change. You live a comfortable life. A peaceful one. But is it content? Are you happy?”

I didn’t like to be criticized. And this? It felt like one big criticism ofmylife.

“Why do you even care?” I whispered harshly, glaring down at him. He wasn’t fazed by my ire, however.

“Because I want to know everything about you, Marion.”

My breath whooshed out of my lungs. Shock momentarily dispelled any displeasure I felt.