Page 52 of House of Marionne

He agrees. “If you’ll remove your scarf, Miss.”

I do. And it’s only then I notice how much shorter than me he is. He tiptoes to get above my head to take a closer look at my diadem.

He hands me a thin flat branch. “Bite down on this and be still.” He winds his hands in a smooth circular motion.

“What do—” My head throbs, and I shove the bark between my teeth a beat too late. “Ah!!!”

“Shh!”

I bite down, regretting not listening immediately. But the world blurs from the pain. I sway, stumbling sideways.

“Don’t move!”

I hurt, all over. Bark is a wall at my back, holding me up, thankfully, as my senses weaken. I’m not in a forest. I’m not a person or body at all. I’m a head swimming in an inferno. I bite down harder, swallowing every utterance that grazes my lips.

“Almost,” he says between his teeth.

I stagger as a surge of sharpness rips at the inside of my head like the world’s worst migraine. My eyes feel like they’re being sucked into my skull, and my brain is being squished. Then a rush of calm breaks over me. The feeling of the world being ripped apart comes to a halt.

“There.” He stumbles back, panting for breath. Sweat beads on his face. He sits down on a stump and takes a long swig from the water at his waist.

I blink, confused by the absence of pain, and reach for my head, only to realize I should have brought a mirror.

“Here.” He pulls himself up, despite his exhaustion, and digs out a shard of mirror from a bag hidden beside a tree. He holds it up. I gasp at coils of what was just black metal now shining in rose gold above my head, dotted with almond-shaped gems the color of happiness, pinkish crimson. It sparkles with every twist of my head, and it steals my next breath like an endless field of spring’s first bloom. I try to speak, but my hand is cupped over my mouth.

“How long will this last?”

“As long as you keep that rotted magic you’re carrying under control, forever.”

Forever. “It’s so . . . beautiful.”

“Always was. It’s just gold now.”

“Thank you.” I roll my neck, unwinding the frazzled mess that I am. “A-And I apologize if things were tense there for a moment. I just—”

“No explanation needed.” He gulps down a deliberate breath, his chest still rising and falling loudly.

“Are you going to be okay?”

“I’ll be fine.” He gathers his coat and the dagger, which I realize, in the chaos of everything, I dropped.

“You’re quite talented. It’s a shame your House didn’t let you finish.”

His eyes meet mine.

Octos has saved my life. The words hang on my lips, but I hesitate to show my full hand. He rolls his jaw as if there’s something he wants to say.

“Yes?”

“Most wouldn’t give me the time of day.” He turns the dagger in his hands.

“Before I came here, me either.”

We shake. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

I offer a tight smile and watch him go. When he reaches the edge of the forest, I go back inside and tuck the scarf away.

* * *