I had an itemized list of rude things Ryo had done, but this. This was uncultured.
I fell back on my heels and let out a breath. A tug of grief and loss tightened my throat, but my eyes refused to water.
No. No.
I was still panicking; I did not have time to grieve.
It was just a goodbye. I’d said those before. I didn’t even like him, so what did it matter?
But it mattered. I didn’t want to face this on my own. I wanted to face this with him.
I reattached my belt and dagger before I stepped into my lace slippers. Everything about me had gone cold, and a part of me wanted to sit on the ground and give up. Let Edvarg come back from the dead and rule our kingdom. Let the Savak wage their war.
The King’s Executioner might be able to do something, but I was only one girl.
I stood. Nothing had changed. I still needed to find my brother. I pulled a dusty leather bag from the top of a cupboard and opened a drawer. I needed supplies.
“Wait,” Ryo called.
I slammed backward into the cupboard.
The lantern light warmed the curve of his cheek. He sat up in the bed. “Are you leaving?”
I screamed. I pointed at him and screamed again.
Ryo chuckled.
“What was that?” I yelled when I found my voice.
He blinked. The man blinked. He blinked and he looked at me like I was the crazy one when he was dead.
“You were dead. You died.” He did die, right? I wasn’t losing all sense?
Ryo closed his eyes and pulled his legs over the side.
I brought the lantern closer. “I saw it.” He was dead. I’d touched his cold skin, his chest not breathing, and his lack of pulse. I knew it. I reached for his throat to check his heartbeat.
Ryo raised his chin and met my eyes.
I curled my fists and stepped away. “What are you? How is this even possible?”
He stood, the color returning to his face. He pulled the wrappings off his shoulder, wiping away the fresh blood. His skin wasn’t raised. There wasn’t even a scar on his cheek from when I’d nicked him. He smiled, but his eyes were a storm of emotion.
“Would you believe me if I said I didn’t know?”
“No!”
“Really? Girls usually believe whatever I say.” He glanced down at his chest. “Perhaps it’s all the blood. This is not my best look.”
As he crossed to the pump, I remembered my legs could move, so I moved. Away. From whatever that was that was scrubbing his blood off his skin as if he’d never been injured.
I shook out my hands. “Good luck to you, Prince Ryo. Undergod’s demon. Whatever you are. This is where our paths end. I need to find my brother.”
“Stop,” he commanded. I turned, and he offered me a forced smile. “I’m afraid my blood has dirtied your cheek.”
I scratched my nails down my cheek, and then I remembered I didn’t care. I didn’t care if Ryo never answered my questions. I didn’t care if he was the Undergod reborn. I tugged the bag up my shoulder and loaded whatever I could find that might be of use to find my brother, or to lie low until my father returned, or to stage a rebellion against the factions I’d made my enemies. Knives I’d need. Spyglass? Possibly. Bandages and oats. I shoved them in my bag.
Ryo stepped closer and I abandoned the cupboards, my hands flailing for the walls.
“Stop this ridiculous reaction. I need to find your brother too. I need him. You too.”
I shook my head and kept packing. “I don’t know where he is.”
I didn’t even know where to look. I’d already searched everywhere for my brother, and all I’d found was a pile of unpaid debt from the tables.
I glanced at my hands. “I haven’t seen him in twelve days.”
“He couldn’t go home.”
“What do you mean he couldn’t go home?” I drew my dagger. Prince Ryo had seen my brother last. And if Ryo ended up in the dungeon, then where would my foolish brother have ended up? I fought the image in my head of my sweet dumb brother’s body bobbing under the docks. If Ryo’s foolishness had hurt my brother, I would hate him until I died, and then I’d come back and haunt him until his healing finally stopped. I held the knife to his throat. “Home from where? Where was the last place you saw him?”