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Shit, Aiden thought. She was coming this way. It wasn’t too late to turn around, start running. Sure, he would look like a coward, but there were worse things.

Skye clapped a hand on his shoulder, as if he could sense the urge to run. And Aiden stood there, heart pounding as Mina pushed through the last of the crowd.

She stopped a foot in front of them, pulling back her hood so that he could see her fully. She looked beautiful. Her black hair was woven with jewels. Beneath a dark cloak, she wore a traditional festival gown in rich colors.

“Hi,” she said softly.

“Hi,” Aiden echoed a bit lamely.

“Wow, this is awkward,” Skye observed. Aiden shot him a glare, but Skye only grinned, his devil’s smile a match to the one on Taly’s face. “Would you like us to leave?”

“I don’t want to leave,” Taly said. “This looks like it has the potential to be fun.” Aiden cast a scathing glance at his cousin. “Not for you. For me.” She popped another piece of sugar floss in her mouth, human gray eyes wide and sparkling with mischief.

“Get out of here,” Aiden said. The last thing he needed were witnesses to his shame.

Thankfully, Skye had never craved blood the way that Taly did. He showed mercy. “Alright, Taly, come on. How about you show me up at the archery range?”

“You two kids have fun!” she shouted, grinning as he hauled her off. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Which is actually not a lot, so maybe ignore that advice.”

The crowd swallowed them as they disappeared around the corner.

Aiden looked at Mina. She stared back, a long moment passing between them. “Look, I—” he began just as she said, “I’m glad—”

They both laughed before lapsing into another long moment of silence.

“Me first?” she asked. He nodded, relieved. “I guess I should say… that is, I’ve been wanting to apologize.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

She huffed a soft laugh, murmuring, “If only that were true.”

Aiden had known about the Curse long before any of the other healers. His hands were tied, though—he couldn’t say a word until his uncle informed the public. Day in, day out, he watched his colleagues, his fellow soldiers in the trenches, grieve for the patients they couldn’t save, unable to tell them the truth: that their efforts had been doomed from the start.

Mina had known something was off. When she finally cornered him, he was already on edge.

The lanterns’ glow gilded her skin in soft golds and reds. It caught in her hair, glinting like molten bronze against the inky strands as she lifted her eyes to his. “I pushed you for information, even when it became clear that you weren’t going to give it to me. And I’m sorry. Once I stopped being angry and made myself think about it, I… I get it. You were under orders.”

It was a nice sentiment. He wanted it to be true, except— “Mina, you lost two patients the week leading up to the town hall. If you’d known it was a Curse—”

“I still would’ve lost them,” she said, and he knew it was true. “Let’s be honest, Aiden, this”—she spread her arms wide, waving at the festival around them—“is a lie. Shades are still attacking, people are dying, and our only hope is a Gate that still has months to open. Everyone here, on some level, is expecting to die, and your uncle has the unfortunate task of making sure we don’t rip each other apart in the meantime. So, yeah—I get it, and I’m sorry. I can’t imagine that information was easy to hold on to, especially considering what we do every day.”

A tightness in his chest eased, and for the first time in weeks, Aiden felt like he could breathe. “Thank you. I—” Someone ran squarely into his shoulder, and he barely suppressed a growl.

They were standing in the middle of the aisle, people streaming by on either side.

“I’ve never been to anything like this before,” Mina said. They were both being jostled now. “I saw some food stalls one street over. Or maybe we could play a game?”

“They’re—” He was going to say rigged, but stopped himself, glancing over his shoulder to where Taly and Skye had disappeared. Pains in the ass—both of them. But maybe they had a point. He could afford to remove the stick. Occasionally.

So, turning back to Mina, Aiden said, “Sure,” gesturing for her to follow. “C’mon. I know a trick to this one.”

Taly found the archery range, and for all Skye’s complaining, he didn’t put up much of a fight when she went to buy tokens. Even started collecting bets and hyping her up when a crowd began to gather.

“Alright, everyone, listen up!” he announced. “The Savior of Ebondrift herself is about to show you how it’s done. I’m calling out to anyone here who thinks they can outshoot her. Place your bets and prove your worth, if you dare.”

An hour later, Taly had a bag full of prizes, a pocket full of coin, and a smug smile on her face.

They found the bar cart, and with beers in hand, they started at one end of the food block and worked their way down. That had always been one advantage of attending festivals with shadow mages—they were bottomless pits, so even if she wanted to try one of everything, there was never any risk of food going to waste. But that appetite was a double-edged sword. With those quick fingers and even quicker reflexes, if she wanted more than a few bites of any one dish, she had to keep a heavy guard.