Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 242728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1214(@200wpm)___ 971(@250wpm)___ 809(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 242728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1214(@200wpm)___ 971(@250wpm)___ 809(@300wpm)
“I-I don’t expect you to do that.”
“I know. But it’s fun.” She grinned. “I love designing new things.”
I hated that my heart was full from her kindness but also hollow with worry over the stranger. Two parts of me were split with different loyalties.
Swallowing back images of the stranger’s black blood, I stroked the skin again, relieved when I no longer felt the snap and sting of past life. “This is very beautiful. I’m honoured by your gift.”
“It’s my first attempt.” Hyath shrugged. “I’ll get better.”
“I’ve already said her next attempt is mine.” Niya ran her fingers over the finely worked calf skin, tracing the supple softness where sinew had been threaded around the top and sides, dangling down ready to tie.
“Here, let me.” Taking it from me, Hyath moved behind me and waited until I let my arms go loose. Wrapping the top around my bare chest, she made a swift knot by my spine, before repeating with another knot at my nape.
My eyes widened at the extra fastening, surprised at how much tighter and secure the clothing felt. It was wider than the coarse bison fur, covering my breasts and most of my belly with velvety protection.
Moving to stand in front of me, Hyath studied her design critically. The subtle tan was so much kinder to my earthen colouring than the dense dark brown of before. It covered me but didn’t overwhelm me.
“Now the skirt,” Niya said, holding out her hand.
I placed the second and final piece of clothing into her grip. “Skirt?”
“That’s what I’m calling it,” Hyath said, taking the skin from Niya and holding up a scraped, cured, and perfectly finished swath of hide. Just like the chest covering, this one was golden brown with tan splodges and darker veining. The top had been threaded with another length of sinew, along with a string of small wooden beads on the hip.
My mouth fell open at the workmanship. “Hyath...I don’t know what to say.”
Last night, I’d come face to face with the worst of the Nhil—staring into the eyes of distrust, lust, and anger. This morning, I was healed by their tenderness, heart, and generosity.
“You wear it like ceremonial furs. Like this.” Wrapping the skin around my hips, she folded it over itself, layering the sides so only a narrow split appeared by my left thigh before threading the sinew through a small hole and tying another knot.
A flash of Aktor spreading his furs to slip between my thighs came and went. I steeled myself against those memories, refusing to let them ruin this moment. Awe parted my lips as I stroked the softness covering me, hiding my shallow gasp as the faintest tingle of life kissed my fingertips again. The lifeforce of the unfortunate bison calf who no longer wore this skin, asking to be remembered.
My eyes suddenly snapped closed as a jolt worked through me, the fading aliveness of the calf sharing their final memory with me: wafting the scent of tart green grass up my nose, the heat of blazing sunlight across my cheeks, and the overwhelming joy of running with its herd in my heart.
Jerking my hands away, I swallowed the thick lump in my throat. I wanted to untie the knots and slip out of the skin’s embrace. It didn’t belong to me. It belonged to another who’d died far too young.
But I forced a smile at my friend and accepted that my oddness was best hidden. “I love it. Thank you so much, Hyath.”
“You’re welcome.” She smiled and clasped her hands. “Just in time for the trance. You look as grand as any Fire Reader’s acolyte.”
“Acolyte?” My eyes widened. “I-I don’t know that word.”
Niya frowned at Hyath. “We don’t know if that’s what Solin is thinking, Hyath. Don’t say such things.”
“It’s fairly obvious if you pay attention.” Hyath crossed her arms.
“What is?” I looked between the two. “What’s obvious?”
“Nothing,” Niya said. At the same time, Hyath muttered, “She’s different.”
My heart fisted, hating that Solin had said the same.
I didn’t want to be different.
Being different had made me tread the world alone without a friend or a past.
Being different made Aktor and Kivva try to hurt me.
Being different made my heart wing after a stranger I knew nothing about but grieved so strongly for.
“I-I want to be like you,” I whispered. “Not different.”
“You are like us.” Hyath straightened a fold of my skirt. “But you have to face the facts, Girl. You’ve lived with our Fire Reader when no one else ever has. You’re about to share a trance with him, when he explicitly said he’d never do another after he almost died before I was born. And the fire reacts to you.”
Niya sniffed. “She’s right. When you sit next to us at the fire, it crackles louder. The flames always seem to reach for you. Just like they do for Solin.”