what she was doing. She didn’t understand. But she let Winter in. She believed Winter’s lies. And it destroyed us all.”
I can’t breathe. I can’t.
“How can you know? H-how?” Tears rattle in my throat, catch in the corners of my eyes.
“I can’t know for certain. Not until you send Winter on her way. But I believe, Miss Quine. And I’ve done my due diligence. I’ve sought out answers. I’ve spoken to Shyne.”
My damp eyes flick to his.
“Yes, Miss Quine. I’ve had dealings with the Shiv before—with Shyne—but I did not offer you and Kyn up to his people in the pass. I hope you can believe me.” When I don’t reply, he hurries on. “This sylver river beneath our feet? Somewhere along it, the Desolation shook and a fissure formed in the ice.”
“Seventeen Rymes ago.”
“Shyne told you, then.”
“He said a lot of things,” I say, my hand finding the pendant beneath my parka.
“It wasn’t far from here that he found you,” Mars says.
I laugh, a mirthless, irrational outburst.
“No, Miss Quine. This part of the story is not to be disputed. There were witnesses. Shyne came to investigate the sylver flow beneath the ice and what he found was you. He thought to take you home with him, to raise you with his own children. But you opened your eyes and he saw . . .”
“The kol.”
“Yes, Miss Quine. He knew then that you were Kerce and that the Shiv would not accept you. So he took you inland, to the closest Majority dwelling he could find, and he left you there. Wrapped in his own furs, on the doorstep of a woman he knew nothing about. Shyne and I have many philosophical differences, but in this I am grateful.”
Abandoned then. I should be surprised, but I’m not. Not really. I’ve no love for Mistress Quine. But tears rush toward my lashes, hanging there like the frozen wings of Crane Falls.
“It’s possible some of these interwoven truths are nothing but chance. Certainly possible you were a misbegotten child left to die in the cold. You wouldn’t be the first.”
I pinch my eyes shut, force the tears to fall.
“But I’ve watched Winter, listened to her. And she is afraid of you. Show her that she is right to be afraid.”
THE ONLY THING I’M AFRAID OF, Winter purrs, her breath curling the hairs on my neck, IS LOSING YOU.
There’s a lie there somewhere. I hear it in the tremor of her voice. And still, I can’t parse out what it means. But somewhere far above us a boy is dying, and regardless of what tomorrow holds, I’m not willing to lose him.
“Tell me about Kyn,” I say, my throat tight.
Mars nods, swallows, keeps his gaze on mine. “As the distance between the two of you grows, so do the wounds that had so obediently closed. He has to stay near you or the healing you’ve completed in him will reverse itself.”
“You believe.”
“Proximity matters,” he says. “Presence matters. It can’t all be intentions and happy thoughts. You must be there for him or he will die.”
“I’m better at leaving.”
“How do you know?” he says, dropping next to me, his knees wet with the Desolation. “You’ve not tried to stay. Perhaps you have a gift you’ve never unwrapped.”
I can’t handle the empathy in his voice, on his face. I can’t handle the desperation.
“Does Kyn know?”
“He’s Shiv. He suspects. Or he did before the wounds opened so fully. There is little time, Miss Quine.”
He stands and extends his hand to me. I notice now how very different we are. Mars in black head to toe—his eyes darker still. Me, clad in trousers and a parka—all pale whites and soft brown leathers. His hair kol black and mine as colorless as the snow.
“Please,” he says, stepping forward, his hand closer. “I want to lose Kyn as little as you want to lose Miss Trestman. He is like my brother and if it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t be involved in all this.”
The truth of it flashes in his eyes, and then trickles down his cheek—a tear clear as the ice beneath us.
“I thought your tears would be black,” I say.
“I’m just a man, Miss Quine. Warped by Winter like everything else on this island, but the kol in my eyes is no different than the kol in yours.”
I try to stand, but the ice is slick and my legs aren’t quite strong enough. I feel Winter swoop in, trying to push me upright, trying to help. But