Read Online Nameless: A Tale of Beauty and Madness by Lili St. Crow - Free Book Online

scarred wooden dresser, kicked it skittering across the room.
Why shouldn’t I ruin things?
he’d said, bitterly, once.
None of it matters. It’s just stuff.
    It m-matters
, she’d replied.
It’s b-b-beautiful
.
    Not to me
. And there they had left it.
    When he had enough candles lit to suit him, he crouched in front of the chair, watching her, mossy eyes dark. They played the game, holding eye contact for as long as possible, until their breathing melted together. When he shifted his weight she shifted too, and in a little bit he let out a long sigh and settled down on his knees. He leaned into the chair, and Cami stroked his hair, pushing her fingers through the dark waves. The candleflames danced like charmer’s foxfire, and when she shivered he did too.
    “Book.” His tone was soft, thoughtful.
    “B-book.”
    “Candle.”
    “C-c-candle.”
    “Nico.”
    “Nico.”
    “See? All better.”
    Even if it wasn’t a real charm, it worked. “You’re so angry.”
    “Born that way.”
    Maybe you were.
“We l-love you.”
    “
You
do. Them? I’m just another piece to shove into the Seven.”
    “They may not. If you . . . ” Her throat refused to fill with the words. She couldn’t imagine what they would do to him, but it would be dire. The “punishments” administered when he incurred Papa’s displeasure were bad enough.
    “So what? They fire me from the Seven. From being the Heir. We go to the Island.”
    Another childhood game. So he wanted to be kids again tonight. She gave him the next line, gently. “And h-how will w-we eat?”
    “You’ll pick fruit. I’ll hunt. At night we’ll share, and you’ll be Family.”
    I can’t be Family. I wasn’t born in.
But she still smiled. “How?”
    “I’ll find a Waste-witch to make you. Or we’ll get my heartstone and make you into a leman; I’ll hunt for you, and you can Borrow from me. Then we’ll live until the Kiss comes, and we’ll be Elders together on our very own island. Move it.” He clambered up, and they squeezed together in the chair. Rain poured down the windows. His breath was hot on her neck, and she closed her eyes. This was part of the game too, relaxing until they were one heartbeat, and the flutter inside her skull was the silent brush of his strange dark fiery thoughts. He shifted so she wasn’t hitting anything sensitive in his lap, and she fought back a hot blush.
    “Where will we l-live?” she whispered.
    “We’ll build a hut from palm stuff. Like in
Crusoe the Man-eater
. We won’t need it, though. It’s warm on the Island.”
    She could almost pretend to be nine again, small and safe. “Trop-pical r-rains.”
    “The jungle’s thick. We’ll be okay.” He paused. “You really are upset.”
    Now she could tell him. He wasn’t likely to go flying out to find the wooden man and do something awful. “The w-wooden m-man. At L-l-lou’s.”
    “Wooden . . . oh,
that
? He was probably just a drunk jack. I was there, right?”
    Do you think I would go there alone?
“His eyes. B-blue.”
    “Lots of people have blue eyes, babygirl.”
    “
R-r-really
b-blue. L-l-like m-m-m-m—”
    “You’re not a jack.
Or
a Twist. You’d be one by now, if you were going to.”
    That’s not what I mean. He recognized me from somewhere.
She made a helpless movement.
    But he just forged on ahead, as usual. “I don’t care where you came from. You’re with me. That’s all.”
    “S-something’s h-happening.”
It’s not just the wooden man. It was his eyes. And something else. Everything’s wrong.
She’d felt this when Papa first took to bed in the Red Room months ago, a strange shifting sensation like the ground crumbling beneath her.
    And it was getting worse.
    “It’s Papa.” For once, he didn’t sound bitter. “He’s really close. And you think without him . . . Christ, Cami. Don’t worry so much. Family doesn’t give up what’s theirs.”
    “I-i-if you k-keep d-doing things, they’ll maybe get a-another