She lifted her eyebrows. “Really? Let’s see.... You worry about your people, and it’s a deep worry, more than the responsibility of wearing the chain. Like taking care of other people is something you need to do. If I had to guess, I’d say protection and safety are things you never knew yourself.”

Perry forced himself not to break eye contact with her. He couldn’t blame her for knowing what she did. She was like him. It was the way they took in people. Down to the core of their emotions. Down to their deepest truths.

“You have a strong bond with Marron and Reef,” she continued, “but your relationship with one is harder on you than the other.”

True again. Marron was a mentor, and a peer. But sometimes Reef seemed more like a father—a connection that had never felt easy.

“Then there’s Cinder,” she said. “You’re not rendered to him, as far as I can tell, but there’s something powerful between you.” She paused, waiting for him to comment, and continued when he didn’t. “What’s really interesting is your temper around women. You’re obviously—”

Perry gave a choked laugh. “All right, that’s enough. You can stop now. What about you, Kirra?”

“What about me?” She sounded calm, but a vibrant green scent reached him, shimmering with anxiety.

“For two days you’ve been trying to draw me in, but today you’re not.”

“I’d still try to draw you in if I thought I stood a chance.” She said it plainly, no apology. “Anyway, I’m sorry about what you’re going through.”

He knew he was being baited, but he couldn’t help himself. “What I’m going through?”

She shrugged. “Being betrayed by your best friend.”

Perry stared at her. She thought Aria and Roar were together? He shook his head. “No. You heard wrong. They’re just friends, Kirra. They both had to go north.”

“Oh … I guess I just assumed, since they’re both Auds, and they left without telling you. Sorry. Forget I said anything.” She looked up at the sky. “That’s looking bad.” She stood, brushing off sand from her hands. “Come on. We should head out.”

As they rode back to the compound, Perry couldn’t block out the images.

Roar lifting Aria into a hug that first day, at his house.

Roar standing at the top of the beach, joking after Perry had been kissing Aria. That was killing me too, Per.

A joke. It had to have been a joke.

Aria and Roar singing in the cookhouse the night of the Aether storm. Singing perfectly, like they’d done it a thousand times before.

Perry shook his head. He knew how Aria felt toward him—and how she felt toward Roar. When they were together, he scented the difference.