My mind didn’t believe him, but my body did, or at least it was so weary that it was already giving in to his promise. My head lowered to my folded arms. I dreamed, before I fell into true sleep, that I was still talking with Sid, but couldn’t hear what we were saying even as we said it.

12

I WOKE SUCKING IN AIR, choking on it. I sat up from the stone floor in terror.

“Nirrim?”

I heard a rustle from Sid’s cell and his steps as he approached his bars. The footfalls were light. They sounded as if they could be mine. He was likely close in size to me. I didn’t know why, but that thought soothed me.

“Are you all right?” he said.

“Yes.”

“Bad dream?”

I said, “I must have turned onto my side in my sleep.”

I heard a soft, tapping sound: maybe his fingers rippling against the bars. “And that gives you nightmares, to sleep on your side?”

It had been that way ever since I had woken up next to Helin’s body. “I try not to. Sometimes it happens anyway.”

I thought he might press me to answer his question—he was pushy—but said only, “I was wondering whether to wake you.”

“Did I talk in my sleep?”

“You did mention how attractive I am. How very handsome.”

“Liar.” I felt myself flush. “I can’t even see you.”

“Ah, but you know. Intuitively.” Then there was a shifting, impatient sound, and he said, “Ignore me, please. Sometimes I can’t help but tease, and you are very teasable. You said nothing. But you were … sad. The sounds you made.”

I folded my arms around my knees. I couldn’t remember the nightmare, but could guess at what it had been. Her cold cheek. Rigid flesh.

“Are you embarrassed?” he said. “Don’t be. Think of me as the perfect stranger. You can say anything, do as you please. We are not likely to meet again outside this prison.”

“Because you live beyond the wall and I live behind it.”

“I suppose, yes, that is true. Also, I plan to leave this island before long.”

“Really?”

“Don’t get me wrong. I like it here. The city is beautiful. Glittery. As if a god skimmed a great hand over the bright sea to collect its colored reflections of the sun, then tossed it over Ethin. And the parties! So decadent. I especially love this silver-pink wine that makes you tell your true desires. I don’t know what I like better: watching people drink it or drinking it myself.”

I had never heard of such a wine. Was he making this up? Not wanting to reveal my ignorance about life beyond the wall, I said, “You don’t seem like someone who has a problem saying what’s on your mind.”

“Is that how I seem?”

“You talk a lot.”