4

I pointed at Marina inside. “You’re up.”

Silas pressed his lips together, and in the end said nothing. He went inside.

I followed him in and watched Marina examine him.

She really was one of the merfolk. She didn’t need any instruments at all. One touch, and she knew exactly what was wrong.

I couldn’t help being impressed. “That’s incredible.”

Marina glanced at me and smiled. “It’s nothing. There are plenty in my people far better than me. The best of all is…”

Something flickered in her eyes, a trace of sorrow, and she didn’t go on.

“There’s something missing inside him. That’s why he seems so much weaker than other beastkin. And it’s going to shorten his life.”

Silas’s hands, hanging at his sides, clenched into fists, and his voice went tight. “Please. Help me.”

Then he turned and looked to me for help.

I understood. “Money’s not a problem.”

But Marina shook her head with a wry smile. “It’s something he was born with. My skill only goes so far. I can’t repair it.”

Silas’s face fell, so plainly you could see it, and his voice dropped.

“Thank you.”

He turned to go, but Marina looked at me.

“Ms. Crane, if you happen to know Lucas Lancaster, you might still have a chance.”

I was a little surprised.

Not just because Marina had recognized me—but because of the name Lucas Lancaster.

Lucas was the most gifted, and the most unmanageable, grandson of the Lancaster family’s main line. People called him the Lancasters’ little prince.

We’d gone to the same school once and knew each other reasonably well. But he was sickly, and in the end he’d dropped out.

We hadn’t been in touch in years.

Could it be…

“Lucas has someone gifted with him?”

Marina nodded. “All merfolk can heal—it’s just that some of us are more gifted than others. The least gifted can only heal themselves. But the most gifted can use their song to heal. You could almost say they can bring back the dead.”

I stared at her. “That’s amazing. I’ve never heard of anything like it.”

“That’s not surprising. There hasn’t been a merfolk with that kind of gift among us in hundreds of years.”

Then she shifted. “But in the last twenty years, one was born with it.”

A thought flashed through my head. I had a feeling I knew.

Silas asked urgently, “What’s her name?”

“Thea Moore.”

I knew it.

“I understand. Thank you for telling me, Ms. Moore.”

I took out a card and laid it on the table.

Out in the street, Silas couldn’t wait. “Are we going to find Thea?”

There was something eager in his eyes now. All his calm and composure was gone.

I pressed my lips together. “If I can, I’ll take you.”

In my last life, I’d heard the name Thea.

The merfolk had given her to the Lancaster family to protect themselves. With her extraordinary gift, Lucas had never suffered from illness again.

I’d heard she loved Lucas, but Lucas loved someone else, so he treated her badly.

I didn’t know what happened after that.

Because by then, I was already dead.

With a personality as difficult as Lucas’s, if I just showed up and asked, there was no way he’d let Thea treat Silas.

Silas could see I was worried, and he’d calmed down a little. “Don’t worry, Master. I’ll be all right.”

That one word—Master—made passersby turn and stare.

My face went hot. I cleared my throat awkwardly. “From now on, don’t call me that in front of other people. Just use my name.”

Silas went along easily. “Okay, Ivy.”

When I got home, I anonymously told Daisy’s father how much she’d paid for Reynard.

I didn’t want Daisy to turn into the girl I’d been.

Sure enough, within two days, I heard Daisy had been grounded.

But the money was already spent, and Mr. Tanner wasn’t going to send Reynard back to the black market. He’d find some way to earn it back out of Reynard.

The Tanner house was another kind of hell.

Just then, a maid came running. “Miss Ivy, it’s terrible—Silas and Kane are fighting!”

Kane. Celia’s beastkin.

I shot to my feet and followed her out to the garden behind the house.

A little way off, Kane had Silas pinned under the apple tree, his fists, big as sandbags, slamming into him again and again.

“Miss Ivy, please, save Silas, he’s going to be killed!” the maid begged.

I raised a hand to quiet her, my eyes locked on Silas.

After these last few days of rest, Silas was mostly healed.

In my last life, he’d survived the fighting pit in a body far weaker than this. How could Kane possibly be pinning him down now?

He was hiding what he could do.

Because he didn’t trust me.

If that was how it was, I didn’t need to save him.

I didn’t need a beastkin who might stab me in the back at any moment.

The first step toward trust had to come from him.

Silas still didn’t fight back. He kept his arms over his head. The sound of bone cracking was horrible to hear.

He turned his head and spat out blood—and saw me.

There was surprise in his eyes, and hurt, silently asking me why I wouldn’t help him.

My hands clenched at my sides. My lips pressed into a flat line.

Kane drove fist after fist into Silas’s soft stomach. Silas curled up, and his sharp, cold eyes watched me through a gap in the flowers.

Kane had drawn blood, and the beast in him wouldn’t stay down. A wild light of excitement came into his eyes.

Beast ears sprang up from his head. He was clearly on the edge of a frenzy.

I held my breath. My whole body was so tense it trembled. I clenched my teeth and stared at Silas.

Silas, take this one step. If you do, I’ll protect you from now on, I swear!

Slowly, Silas’s pupils narrowed into a serpent’s slits. It made my blood run cold.

Just as Kane lowered his head to tear out his throat, Silas moved.

His legs turned into his serpent’s tail and coiled around Kane’s body. At the same time, his fangs came out, and without a flicker of hesitation he sank them into Kane’s neck.

Kane bucked in pain, every muscle bulging and shaking.

Silas’s tail tightened, crushing him.

I watched Kane’s face visibly turn purple, and in a flash I understood. Silas’s fangs were venomous!

So he was a viper, too.

Only then did Celia finally show up. Seeing how things stood, she shouted harshly, “Silas, kill him and see what happens to you!”

I stepped out at once, chin up. “And what if he does?”