Love Me Not

-

 REMIXED

By: Calleigh Elizzabeth

 Surviving in a home filled with hate is hard. Breaking free of it is virtually impossible. Getting out unscathed is impossible. In the two-story Victorian house in which I live, the only love that exists is the love of torture. My housemates, in fact, thrive on it. Yes, I did say housemates. I have no family, no mother, no father, no siblings, no relatives. This arrogant mistake of a clan consisted of what I used to call dad, Kohan, and what were once my younger brothers, Laroh and Samce. Laroh was a boy of eleven years, Samce was four, and I was a girl of sixteen. Bring the elder by five and twelve years, you would think I would have some seniority over the males of innocence but no. I was a female adolescent but still had no authority over a male of any age. However, I had an advantage over all who resided here: intelligence and wit. I could undoubtedly fool their ignorant selves by simply twisting my words into such a manner that only scholars could comprehend. I used this trick rarely though, for if Kohan believed what I had spoken to be an insult to his masculinity, punishment would be swift and harsh. These creatures loved me not for my brain or heart but for my presence in their domain and ability to work. Cooking, cleaning, washing, if it required any physical labor, I was usually the one doing it. All the while pondering on whether I was a daughter or servant.

“Namaya!” Kohan called, interrupting my thoughts. It must almost be time for dinner.

“Sir,” I said, standing with my hands at my sides and an emotionless expression planted firmly on my face.

“Where is our dinner?” he accused, knowing fully that I hadn’t gotten started yet but still wanting me to say it anyway.

“Well, I do believe that it’s in the refrigerator,” I stated, twisting my words as not to give him the satisfaction of this delay.

“And what is it doing in the refrigerator?” he inquired, his eyes all but tiny slits on his long, scowled face.

“I don’t think it’s doing anything, sir.” I tried hard not to smile at the look of desperation he was giving me because I wouldn’t say that I hadn’t started cooking. With nothing else to say and Kohan speechless and defeated, I simply strode past him and into the kitchen. That was a little too easy, I thought, wondering why he had given up so easily.

“Namaya!” Laroh shouted. Great, yet another male questioning me about dinner.“Laroh. Samce,” the eleven-year-old walked proudly into the kitchen and up to me, Samce trailing behind him, holding his favorite sea green blanket, which was covered in patches where I had sewn it up. “Father tells me that you’ve not finished supper.”

“The chicken is just about finished, the vegetables are done and on the table along with the rolls and salad. So yes, dinner isn’t finished but I can assure that you will be fed on time.” I had to look down for I was at least a foot taller than him.

Laroh huffed, annoyed at his defeat, turned on his heel, and stalked off. “Come on, Samce. Let’s leave Namaya to her chores,” he said, grabbing the four-year-old by the arm and yanking him in the direction of the door, “and drop that stupid rag for Pete’s sake! You’re four now so you don’t need a silly little blanket.” Laroh snatched the cloth from Samce’s hands and threw it to the floor, proceeding to trample it. Samce’s face scrunched up and tears filled his eyes at the sight of his beloved blanket on the floor and covered in shoeprints. Sobs wracked his frail body as he tried to hold them in.

“You, you, you hurt Tree!” he cried. (Tree was what he called the thing, just because it was green.)

“Oh get over it,” Laroh scoffed and stomped out of the room. My eyes burned with disgust.

“It’s alright, Samce,” I said, my maternal instincts kicking in. I swiped the battered rag off the floor, searching for any tares. When I found none, I returned it to my brother. (Samce was the only one I would call ‘brother’ or ‘family’ for he was the only one to treat me with some respect.)

“Thanks, Namaya,” he sniffed, wiping the tears from his face. I rolled my eyes and smiled at his obsession with that grungy cover as he shuffled out, blanket held tightly to his chest. He was so cute with his shaggy, black hair, giant hazel eyes, and dark tan skin. Now that I think about it, he did look a lot like me. The only difference was that I had deep green eyes. We got our looks from our mother. Laroh looked much like Kohan with crimson hair, slightly tanned skin, and navy blue eyes. Mama, I thought, conjuring up some bitter, old memories I dared not speak of.

Just then Kohan stalked in with an pleased expression on his face. This can’t be good, I thought uneasily.

“Where is my dinner girl?” he barked, shoving me into the counter.

“The chicken is still cooking, sir,” I responded sternly, trying not to show any sign of weakness.

“It should be on a plate in front of me!”

I stole a quick glance at the clock above the window. 5:52. Only eight minutes before supper was scheduled to begin. He’s stalling, I realized, he wants me to be late getting dinner on the table, just so he can torture me for not having it done on time. But I was not going to let him get the better of me. I looked past him at the timer on the stove. Only ten seconds left before it went off. All I needed to do was stall long enough for him to hear it and then I’d be home free.

“Sir, dinner is just about done,” I said quickly, my eyes darting between him and the timer, “If you would be so kind as to let me go I could-“

3…2…1. At the sound of the buzzer going off, he turned, and I took this distraction to my advantage. I swept past him, heading for the oven. Unfortunately, I was a split second too slow.

“Not so fast,” Kohan grumbled, grabbing me by the base of my ponytail, and bringing me back towards him.

“Sir, if you want to eat on time, then I suggest you let me go,” I winced, holding my head in place so it wouldn’t pull.

“If dinner is ever this late again, I will make you’ll wish you were never born,” he hissed, releasing my hair and walking into the dining room.

I waited for the sound of his chair scraping across the wood floor before muttering, “Too late for that.” I sighed, then remembered that the chicken was still in the oven and rushed towards it, pulling it out just before it started to burn.

With the men eating and not having anymore chores for that day, I decided to try and sneak out of the house. I’d never done this before, for fear of being caught or being late to clear the table, but today I was feeling bold and rebellious. Although I was tired and my head was fuzzy from all the extra work I’d been doing lately, I could easily slip out the side door unnoticed. Once out, I sprinted across the freshly cut lawn in an attempt to free myself from the glare of the house. Even though this was my first time being outside the house since I was ten, I knew exactly where I could go. The family had a ranch. And not just some silly old horse and cow ranch, a dragon ranch! I had been here several times when I was still part of the family, but that was over six years ago so my memories of the place were blurred.

Quietly, I made my way to the barn. Once there, I tried seem as casual as possible. Inside there was only the sound of hatchlings chirping. They were cute little things with their tiny wings perpetually flapping and uncoordinated struts. One in particular caught my eye. Her scales were lavender in color and her eyes were sparkling sapphires. She spotted me and her chirping became louder. I smiled and walked over to her. Curious, I reached down and offered her my hand. She sniffed it warily. Apparently deciding that I wasn’t a threat, she rubbed her head on my arm and hummed softly. Her scales felt cool and smooth to my skin. It was like running my hand across marble.

“She really seems to have taken to you,” came a voice from behind me. I spun around to find a boy of about sixteen or seventeen staring at me. He was tall, probably around about six foot, and his finely toned muscles ripped under his sun tanned skin. He wore a black t-shirt, cut off at the shoulders, and dirt stained blue jeans. His shaggy, jet black hair tumbled from the roots down a little ways past his ears and his sky blue eyes twinkled in the dim light. Basically, he was gorgeous and when he smiled, it gave me the feeling of a hummingbird on six cups of coffee. This feeling, it was foreign to both my heart and mind. I realized that I was staring and quickly lowered my gaze, not wanting him to know that I was interested.

“Um, yeah, I g-guess she has,” I stammered, smiling because I couldn’t help it.

The guy just laughed and said, “M’ name’s River. And you are?”

I was hesitant to give him my name for fear that he’d recognize it and tell Kohan. It took just one more look into those eyes for me to decide otherwise.

“Namaya,” I said sweetly.

“Kohan’s daughter?” he asked, looking a bit astonished.

“You could say that,” I responded, resentment coating my voice.

“But that can’t be possible!” River exclaimed, “Kohan… he said you were dead!”

I gasped. Dead? I knew that Kohan hated me but… Dead? Wow!

“Are you sure he said I was-“ there was a sudden downdraft and I looked up just in time to see an ice blue blur land in the clear space in the middle of the dragon barn, diving in from the gigantic hole in the roof. The majestic dragoness (I assumed) stretched her neck and yawned. When she did so, a few sparks played out. Once she'd opened her eyes again, she looked straight at me, her eyes a startling pale blue. A very refined feminine voice sang out over the dragon's ear horns as it's rider climbed down.

“Hey River! Alu feels great! Must be nice to stretch her wings! You've got to-” then this girl with the black braided hair stopped, catching my eyes. I gasped and very nearly fell over.

They were the exact same color as the dragoness's.

“Who on earth are you.” It was a statement, no question about it. I was about to answer when she cut me off.

“That’s not important. My name's-” this time River cut her off.

“This little demon is Liluye. We call her Li, and if you give her half a chance she'll tell you what any name means in here.” The tall tanned girl punched him on the shoulder, rather hard I could tell from his grimace.

“My name means Sings While Flying. My beautiful girl here, Alu Istas, means Beautiful Snow.” At the sound of her name, the dragon butted Li from behind. Li just continued on like nothing had happened, picking herself up off the dirt floor and dusting herself off like it was nothing. She'd probably had worse falls than that. “She's four and just finishing her training. Do you want to come see my others?”

I followed her like a little dog after it's master. I turned back to see River, just standing there shaking his head.

“This is Eitali. She's three. Her name means Star.” I'm staring up the snout of an immense midnight blue dragoness with whitish-yellow eyes. “She's just starting her training, I can show you later.” Once again I'm following that bouncing waist-length braid. “Here is Aquene, my two year old. Her name means Peace.” This time it's a smaller, dark green dragon with dark brown eyes. “She won't be in training for another year. Now this,” she says, pointing with a long, skinny finger at a smallish silver one that's sleeping, “Is Catori.” This feisty little one was obviously feigning sleep as her eyelids jerked up at the sound of her name, revealing bright gold eyes. “Her name means Spirit and she's just a yearling.”

The dragoness snorts and smoke swirls out her nostrils.

“But this here is my baby.” We're in another hatchling pen and she points to an itsy bitsy shimmering black dragon, with eyes the blue-black color of a raven's wing. “Her name is Ayasha Fala. It means Little Crow.” The color of a crow's wing then. Tentatively, I ask,

“Why do you have so many dragons?”

“I work here.” The probably 16-year-old answers. “I help out with the hatchings because the females don't like males, or men, near their eggs when they're hatching. I’m just around to keep the females from decapitating the other workers. I muck out the stalls and stuff the rest of the year. In exchange, I get one hatchling every year and free room and board for my dragons as long as I work here.”

She finally notices me eyeing her long hair.

“You like? It's my heritage, that and the names. I'm Native American and Irish.”

That's most of my questions answered my this hyperactive teen.

“River!” a bald man shouted from the entrance.

“Rodbi, what is it?” River inquired, running over to the guy. Curious, I followed.

“Three of the eggs are hatching!”

“Alright, I’ll meet you there,” the bald man disappeared from the doorway and hurried off around the corner, “Would you like to witness the hatching of a dragon?” asked River.

“Sure,” I half shouted, not even bothering to hide my excitement.

“Okay then, follow me.” With that we took off across the ranch. I could hear the lavender dragon screeching for me to come back to her but still kept to River and Li.

We approached a small red hut. Quiet cheeping sounded from inside. Pushing the oak door open, the three of us entered silently. Rows of white basins crowded the room. Fifteen or so people gathered around three of them, and Liluye rushed over to one of them. She was noticeably the only girl among them.

“Hey River,” Liluye said in a hushed tone, “We’re just in time. It’s almost out.”

A tiny dragon with dark gray scales was desperately trying to push its way out of a silver, black-speckled egg. It was about the size of a housecat but ten times cuter. Its breathing was labored as it struggled to break free of its container.

“How long has he been at it?” River questioned, his eyes never leaving the baby.

“About ten minutes, according to these guys.” Li responded blankly.

With a sudden burst of adrenaline powered energy, the egg became a dragon hatchling. The small crowd cheered. I smiled and gazed lovingly at the gray miracle that laid in the straw that covered the bottom of the tub, exhausted from the massive amount of work it had done. One of the men gently lifted it, examining it for a second then cried, “It’s a boy!” making the crowd cheer again.

“Good job, little one,” I smiled.

A roar erupted from the other side of the room as another dragon came out of its shell. Seconds later ‘It’s a boy!’ rang out again as the sex was identified. Everyone grew silent, waiting for the third to hatch. The last was a girl. After the congratulations were exchanged and people started to file out, River, Liluye, and I stumbled out of the room.

“Damn! Three hatchlings in one day!” Li exclaimed in that regal voice of hers as we walked toward the first barn.

“I know! It’s a new record!” River yelled in response. I walked beside him in silence, letting the day’s events sink in.

“I’m Namaya, by the way.” I said, realizing Li still had no idea who I was.

“Shit! I thought you looked familiar!” Liluye shouted, “You’re Kohan’s daughter, right?”

“Sort of,” I answered.

“River, didn’t he say she died in that fire with Mareily?”

“Sure did, and don‘t mind Li‘s language, she‘s quite the little potty mouth. Sometimes she says things that have our toughest guys shaking in their boots.” River responded. Li just punched him again.

Mareily, that’s Mama’s name, I thought, surprised that they would mention her.

“Wait, my mother isn’t dead!” I interrupted, “How long ago was this fire?”

“I don’t know. About six years ago.” River shrugged.

“Then she isn’t dead,” I replied, “My mother came back four years ago with Samce.”

“Hold on! Are you trying to tell me that Mareily is Samce’s mother?” Liluye questioned with a doubtful yet surprised look.

“Duh! Who’d you think was his mother?”

“Kohan said-“ River started.

“Oh, this ought to be good,” I butted in.

“He said Mrs. Jaylees in Corvankoh was his mother,” he finished.

“Her? She’s never had a child in her life!” I exclaimed, remembering the thirty-seven-year-old blonde who we often visited when I was younger.

“Well we know that now,” Liluye stated. It was then that we realized that one of the hatchlings was screaming its head off inside the barn.

“What the hell is going on in there?” River hollered, the three of us rushing inside. It was the lavender dragon again. She must have heard us outside.

“Oh, sweetheart, it’s alright,” I cooed, lifting her out of her stall. She hummed softly, burying her small head in my baggy shirt.

“Wow! She’s hasn’t taken to anyone yet,” Li laughed.

“I know. Well, some dragons do only take to one person,” River reminded her.

“It’s alright now. Everything’s gonna be fine,” I smiled, rubbing her scaled head.

“Why don’t you give her a name?” River asked softly.

“Kayles,” I said, after thinking for a second. The dragon looked up in response.

“That was quick,” Liluye retorted, “She’s already learned her name.”

After spending some quality time with Kayles and chatting with River and Li for a bit, I realized how long I’d been out there.

“Oh God!” I jumped up, kissed Kayles goodbye, and hightailed it out of the barn.

“What’s wrong?” Liluye yelped.

“Kohan’s gonna kill me!” I said, more to myself than to anyone else.

“Excuse me?” River and Li said in unison.

“Kohan doesn’t exactly consider me his daughter anymore,” I explained.

“What do you mean?” Li questioned.

“I’m more of a servant, really.”

“What?” River stopped in his tracks, grabbing my arm to bring me to a halt as well.

“I’ll explain later. Right now I really have to go. So if you would be so kind as to let go of my arm,” I pleaded.

“Alright but be back here tomorrow. Same time, same place so we can start your lessons.” What River had said caught me by surprise. I looked at him puzzled. He just nodded.

“Oh, thank you!” I exclaimed, wrapping my arms around him, gratefully,” I’ll see you guys tomorrow!”

“See ya!” they shouted together. With that I went flying off towards the house.

Not wanting to be caught going through the back or side doors, I decided to go in through the cellar. I heaved the heavy wooden doors open with a groan and slipped inside. I fumbled around in the dark until I found the light switch. Once the lights flickered on, I went back and shut the doors. Then I stumbled up the metal steps and into the hall, grabbing a dust cloth on the way.

“And just what do think you’re doing down there?” Kohan’s voice commanded from behind. I froze, turning slowly to face him, and threw on an emotionless expression.

“I was just dusting, sir,” I said swiftly, holding up the rag.

“Haven’t you heard me calling you for the last five minutes?” he bellowed.

“Well, no, sir,” I said uneasily. With that Kohan’s heavy arm came crashing down on my head. I stumbled back into the wall, stars dancing in front of my face, and pain ricocheting inside my skull. Instinctively, I threw my scrawny arms out in front of me for protection. Blow after blow came into contact with my body. Each one getting harder to block. I felt a trail of warm blood start to cascade down my cheek and bruises start to form on my limbs and face. A final hit smacked into me and I tumbled to the floor. Satisfied, Kohan smiled and stormed away, leaving me on the floor, unconscious.

It was the next morning before I awoke. Stiff and sore from yesterday’s beatings, I lifted myself off the floor where I’d apparently slept last night. I looked around to see if anyone was there, dried blood flaking off my skin. Finding no one, I staggered into the downstairs bathroom.

It was a small room with white walls embroidered with gold trimmings. A cream colored toilet in the left corner, a paler shaded sink, and a round mirror were the only large items in the room. The only other things were a silver towel rack dressed with peach towels and the toilet paper roll next to the toilet.

I closed and locked the door behind me, not wanting anyone (especially Kohan) to walk in there. I slammed against the sink, my balance a little off from having just woken up. Gazing into the mirror, I examined my injuries. I had a black eye, busted lip, bruises all over my face and arms, and my shoulder was swollen. I figured it was dislocated. After cleaning myself up as best I could, I exited the restroom and flicked off the light.

Once up and about I headed to the kitchen and began lunch. I was already running late (I‘d completely slept through breakfast), so there wouldn’t be anything left for me. Oh, well I’d probably get something at the ranch later. The ranch, I thought, and my beautiful Kayles, along with my new friends River and Li.

Once the food was on the table and the table set, I raced back out to the barn. As I approached, I heard what could only be a dragon’s roar. As the mushroom of fire faded and the roar slowly subsided, I could hear voices, including River’s, talking softly, trying to calm the great beast down. As I got closer and closer, I decided to stop and watch from behind the barn.

As soon as I peeked around the corner, I knew why both the dragoness and the men were mad as hell. The female had laid eggs in the night and the men had to get them to the hatchery. But Li was nowhere in sight. The dragon was pissed because these males were trying to take her eggs (at least one girl agreed with me), and the humans were pissed because their ‘Dragoness Tamer’ was nowhere to be found.

Just as the dragon was about to release another burst of flame, a dark blue blur raced by me so fast, I was nearly knocked over. The dragon in the air swerved sharply away from the much larger white one. But not before I had seen a dark shape fall through the air and land neatly on the mother’s back.

There was a sharp whistle and the blue one (I finally realized it was Eitali, the second oldest of Li’s dragons) dove straight into the barn. Once Li was on her back, the female was calmer and the men managed to get the eggs. With this, I gave up. Why, I don’t know, but I did. It felt like someone was telling me to.

Anyway, the moment I stepped into the barn, Kayles started up that unholy screeching, making me completely forget the weird feelings of two moments ago. As quickly as I could, I ran over to her and picked her up, but then she perched on my dislocated shoulder and I was the one screaming.

Both River and Li came running out of the hatchery, Li throwing furious looks around, looking to see who had almost made her drop the load of eggs she was carrying. But when they saw me, crumpled on the ground with Kayles next to me, they forgot everything else and rushed over.

As they got nearer, I saw River stop in his tracks and turn white. Li, with (much) practiced ease, grabbed my collar bone and wrist. She muttered,

“This is going to hurt like hell, so bite on this.” She momentarily let go of my wrist to hand me the belt she had just pulled from her jeans. I managed to mutter through the leather,

“What’s going to-” but I stopped, entirely focused on the pain in my shoulder. It had intensified ten-fold, because Li had just wrenched my poor arm up back into it’s socket. She was right, it did hurt, but it faded fast. Soon it was much less than it had been back at the house.

“Now let’s see those other bruises. River,” I finally realized he hadn’t moved an inch, a look of horror on his face. “Go get the herb kit.” He nodded once, then walked off. Then Li started muttering under her breath, more to herself than me. This was a side I figured hardly anyone had ever seen in this tomboy. She was acting like a worried mother hen!

“Comfrey paste for the bruises, horsetail to protect that cut from getting infected, or maybe some dock, that would be better…” She was apparently the barn’s nurse as well! Just then, River walked up, and Li snatched the kit from his hands and immediately started putting stuff all over my face and arms. River bent forward and asked, his voice shaking,

“Who did this to you?” I looked away, knowing that he already knew the answer. He hissed through his teeth and stood up, running his hand in his hair, making it go up on end in dark-brown sweat-slicked spikes. The dragon had taken more out of him than I’d realized. Li stood and brushed off her hands.

“That should do it. Now take that little dragon of yours and follow me. This is where I was headed before the bozos out there called me.” River snorted. “Well, if Kohan would hire more girls-”

“That’s not what I was snorting at.” He cut her off. “It’s the fact that you’re wearing the same clothes you were yesterday.” Li blushed to the roots of her hair.

“Am I missing something here?” I asked, completely befuddled. River looked like he was going to say something, but he stopped because Liluye was glaring daggers at him.

“Let’s just say that it’s not the first time this has happened.” That still earned him a punch on the arm from Li. I looked at her, eyebrows raised, until she answered. She sighed.

“I know this guy…” I held up my hand and stopped her.

“I think I know.” She just kept blushing as River kept snorting behind his hand.

I followed them out to a metal dome, kind of like those climbing igloos at parks, the ones that look like spider webs. The only difference was, this one was as big as a house. Inside was Li’s dark blue dragon Eitali, the same one she’d been riding when she landed on the white dragoness’s back. She was curled up like a cat, fast asleep. As Liluye entered, her head lifted about two inches off her paws, then plopped right back down again. Li just sighed. Then she started this weird series of whistles and clicks.

The dragon as big as a draft horse climbed to her feet, and Liluye ducked. I wondered why, but it was obvious in approximately 2.5 seconds. Eitali yawned, and a rush of fire came out. If Li hadn’t ducked, she would have been roasted alive. River saw my wide eyes and laughed out loud.

“Quite different from Alu, isn’t she?” It was all I could do to nod. As Li climbed on her dragoness bareback, I squeaked and hid behind River.

Kohan was coming out of the dragon barn leading a dun colored dragon by a rope tied around it’s horns. When River saw the source of my distress, he talked to me as if he were explaining the dragon training to a potential buyer. While he muttered nonsense, Kohan climbed into a weird looking saddle on the gold-eyed dragon’s back. They were the same, glittering, cold eyes as it’s rider, so I knew it must be his first.

As they took off, River and I visibly slouched in relief.

“That was Korism. His name means Falsehood.” I snorted. That fitted Kohan to a T. Then I asked him,

“Why does everyone but Li use a saddle?” For indeed, a bunch of riders were coming out of the barn, and every dragon being mounted had a saddle on. River sighed.

“She likes to feel the power between her legs.” I noticed he was staring at one guy in particular, with eyes narrowed. I followed his gaze and was met with the sight of a huge, ripped teen, no more than 19, but at least six feet tall. He had black hair and a dark tan, so I figured he was Hispanic. His dragon was large, probably five years old, and blood red. It’s eyes turned and stared into mine, and I gasped again. They were black, bottomless pits.

“The rider’s name is Jesse, and that’s his second dragon, Molimo. It means bloodshed.” I gave an involuntary shiver. “That’s Li’s boyfriend.” I stared at him in shock. He gave an unhappy smirk. “How’d you think she learned to treat all those kinds of bruises?” I looked back at the girl in the pen, now soaring in tight circles on her dragon. I started to notice that she had different shades of purple and green starting to flower on her arms.

Two hours later, Li jumped off of Eitali, sweat dripping from everywhere, even the tip of her braid. Her black tank-top was sticking to her sides as she heaved in deep breaths, hands on her knees. The dragoness just snorted and lumbered out of the gate River was holding open for her toward the barn. I stared back at Li, wondering why a girl like her had a boyfriend that did that to her, and I saw a glint of color on her back as she stood up straight.

“That little minx!” She yelled between raspy breaths. “It’s like she’s forgotten everything we’ve been working on for the last month and a half!” I was still curious about the color and asked her about it. She grimaced, still wheezing.

“That? It’s my tattoo. A rider gets one for each dragon they have. Most people wear them on their necks or chests, but I never go with the flow. I got a tramp stamp, as my uncles call it.” When she said chest, I finally realized why mama’d had a tattoo of a red dragon breathing a gold rose.

She had a dragon.

But Li was still talking. I had to focus…

“I still need to decide on what to get for Ayasha, but this is what I have.” Then she turned around and pulled up the back of her shirt and the waist of her jeans down slightly. In a bright, ice blue, there was Alu, breathing fire in the shape of Japanese words. There were three characters, and as if she were reading my mind, she said,

“The fire-words mean ‘Peace’. That’s for Aquene, and the dragon is, of course, Alu.” Right on either side of Alu’s outstretched neck, there was; on the right side; a gold Star of David, and on the left there was a silver one. On both sides of Alu’s coiled body, there was a dark blue rose with a tangle of vines narrowing to points and aiming at her hips. “The stars are for Catori, and the roses for Eitali.” I nodded. River interrupted.

“Now we just need to get you yours.” (Apparently, no one talked about Jesse to Li’s face). I went pale.

“Since when would Kohan let me have a tattoo!?” I screeched, startling Kayles, whom I’d almost forgotten was there.

“Since when do you ask Kohan for permission?” He asked right back.

“Since when do we talk to each other in questions?” Li butted in. I ignored her.

“Alright then. If I have to get one you have to show me yours.” River grimaced.

“Do I have to? Li designed it.” I smirked.

“That just wants to make me see it all the more.”