It hurt, thinking about Aaru.

He’d been present for every meeting in the parlor over the last few days, but if he’d spoken aloud again, it wasn’t within my hearing. Still, he’d been there, tapping in the quiet code like before; I’d interpreted, but a couple of times, Ilina had responded before I finished; she was starting to catch on to his language.

All three nights, I’d drifted into the parlor, hoping to find him alone once everyone else had gone to sleep. But the first night, after he spoke, after he screamed, I’d perched on the sofa and waited for hours, only to awaken to Ilina poking my nose, LaLa snuggled in the curve of my shoulder, and dawn glowing beyond the curtains.

The second night, after shopping, planning, and having our papers adjusted, I’d slumped onto the sofa and hoped, but the only thing that happened was a fight with a blanket that wouldn’t lie properly. And I lost.

The third night was the last night before the memorial, and I’d thought he might want to talk. But he hadn’t come out of his room.

I’d gone back into mine.

And then Altan was missing.

Aaru didn’t owe me any kind of explanation—aside from what happened with Altan—or a doorway into his feelings. But we were in love, weren’t we? Even if he didn’t want to discuss his voice—its absence or its return—shouldn’t he want to be with me? We didn’t have to talk at all, but wasn’t this supposed to be the part of our relationship where we tried to be together all the time?

He was grieving, yes, but this was something different.

He wasn’t pulling away from anyone else. It was only after he spoke those five words—only after his anguished scream into his pillow—that he’d pulled away from me specifically, and I couldn’t help but wonder if I had done something wrong.

With a shiver, I rose from the water and wrapped myself in a soft, cream-colored robe. I closed my eyes and exhaled, long and slow.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

When my whirling thoughts began to settle, I took myself into the parlor. Ilina and Chenda were already there, waiting with their supplies, while LaLa and Crystal perched on the back of a chair, clucking and squawking at each other.

The door to the boys’ room was closed, and I couldn’t hear anything beyond it. If Aaru was up and moving around, he wasn’t making any noise. Of course, he never was.

Until the other day.

The pain in my chest shifted again. Had Aaru talked to Altan? Had he shared his voice with Altan? Altan, who’d taken it two months ago?

My head swam. My heart hurt.

Chenda beckoned me toward the chair they’d placed near the window, giving them plenty of light to work by. “Come on. We’re not growing hours over here.”

I lurched into motion. “Where’s Zara?”

“I sent her out to buy the last part of your disguise.” Chenda glanced at Ilina and grinned. “We have grand plans. Now sit.”