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Thorn gritted her teeth. Yes, every point at which her legs and hands came into contact with Noro’s coat smarted like needles were pricking her skin. All this time with Noro, and his bond with Brier still didn’t like Thorn being so near.

But Thorn pressed her palms and legs closer to Noro and let the pain smart and sting.

She was growing tired of Noro’s constant worried questions. Would he worry so much about Brier? No, he would know Brier could handle herself. He would trust her to let him know if she needed help.

“Stop asking me that,” Thorn snapped. “I told you I’m fine, and I mean it.”

They walked in silence.

Then Noro said, “I couldn’t sleep because I keep thinking about Brier.”

The sudden ache in Thorn’s chest felt like trying to breathe through ice.

“Miss her, do you?” she managed, her voice brambly. “Wish she was here instead of boring old sniveling me?”

Noro stopped in his tracks and peered back at her. “That’s an awful thing to say about yourself.”

Thorn looked away to the diamond sea. Her eyes filled with tears. Ofcoursethey did. She hated Noro for making her cry, and she hated herself for allowing it, like she always did. She was a hundred knots of hate, shaped into a torso and a belly and a skull.

“Isn’t it true, though?” she snapped. “Wouldn’t you rather Brier was here instead?”

“I do miss her,” said Noro, “but I don’t wish she was here instead. I rather like spending time with you, which we’ve not done much before now, just the two of us. That’s what I was going to say.”

Noro resumed walking.

Thorn’s cheeks flushed, but she set her jaw. What was there to apologize for, anyway? She’d spoken her mind, that was all,like normal people did. People whodidn’tcry at everything and mumble through their lives. Usually she swallowed her complaints and kept her head low to the ground, swept from dawn till dusk, and came home reeking of the gutters.

I will never do any of those things again,vowed Thorn.Not a single one of them.

The fist in her belly squeezed with pleasure.

She scratched her forearm so hard it hurt.

“May I tell you something honestly?” Noro asked. “It might make you angry.”

The fist inside her fractured, stretched, became a web. From belly wall to belly wall, it elongated. It climbed up her throat and clung to the back of her tongue, dark and sticky.

Thorn swallowed, smiling to herself. Whatever the web was, she didn’t mind it. It had been silly, to be afraid of this new feeling and worry about that dead unicorn. This fist-turned-web was reinforcing her insides, rebuilding her. Why should she be afraid of a thing that made her so much stronger than she had been before?

“Fine,” she muttered to Noro. “What is it?”

“You’ve been acting strangely since we arrived in the Star Lands.”

Thorn’s heartbeat thudded in her ears.

The web in her belly stretched taut. Had the unicorn detected the truth?

Was he sniffing it out?

Thorn made sure to sound bored. Her heart thumped in her ears. She rubbed the dip of her left palm. “Strangely how?”

“Sharper. Snappish.” Noro hesitated. “Unkind, on occasion.”

“Am I not allowed to be unkind?”

“I only meant that the Thorn I know doesn’t often have such storms brewing behind her eyes.”

“Yes, well,” replied Thorn, her voice dripping with venom. “The Thorn you know is—”