The cold felt sharper as soon as they left Blackthorn Manor.
The manor stood deep in the woods, with only a gravel road beyond its iron gates.
Tall trees crowded both sides of the road, their branches stirring in the wind with a soft rustle.
Thalia followed Ivan down the stone steps.
Her right leg no longer hurt, but it still felt weak when she walked, so she took the steps much more slowly than usual.
Ivan kept an eye on her.
At the last few steps, he turned back.
“Are you sure you don’t need a hand?”
“I’m sure.” Thalia stepped off the last stair and walked a few paces to prove it.
“See?
I’m fine.”
Ivan watched her uneven stride.
“You walk like you’ve only just learned what legs are for.”
“It’s not that bad.”
He didn’t argue.
Instead, he took the bag from her shoulder.
The old letters, the basement plan and the black metal plaque were all inside, and it was rather heavy, so Thalia let him carry it.
They continued towards the car.
Thalia had assumed Acheron would stay inside, but as they neared it, she heard footsteps behind them.
She turned and saw him come out of the manor and stop beneath the portico.
Light from the entrance fell across the steps and caught the edge of his shoulder.
Thalia slowed without meaning to.
Ivan noticed but said nothing.
He went ahead and opened the passenger door for her.
“Get in.”
She was about to sit down when Acheron called her name.
“Thalia.”
She looked back.
“What is it?”
“Remember what I told you.”
She knew he meant the ring.
If the Gravekeepers came near her again, it would warn her.
Then she only had to call him.
“I will.” She nodded.
Acheron said nothing more.
But those few seconds of looking at him across the dark brought back everything that had happened in the sitting room.
The night air had only just cooled her face, and now it felt warm again.
She quickly looked away and got into the car.
Ivan closed the door for her.
Before going round to the driver’s side, he glanced at Acheron.
The two men regarded each other from a distance.
Neither spoke, and Ivan finally got into the car.
They drove slowly down the gravel road.
Thalia had decided she wouldn’t look back.
Just before the first bend, she caught sight of the manor in the side mirror anyway.
Acheron was still standing beneath the portico.
The trees hid him from view only when the car turned.
She looked away and soon noticed how quiet the car was.
Ivan hadn’t said a word since getting in.
He kept his eyes on the road ahead.
With him, that silence was more worrying than a direct question.
Thalia thought for a moment and decided to speak first.
“Ivan, are you angry?”
“No.”
His voice was calm.
Thalia didn’t believe him.
“What happened earlier was so sudden.
I didn’t know Acheron was going to send you back to the museum.”
“I know.”
“He did it because of the mark on my leg—”
“I know that too.”
That put an end to the explanation she’d prepared.
She studied him for a moment before asking, “Then what are you angry about?”
Ivan didn’t answer immediately.
The headlights lit a narrow stretch of road as he steered through a bend.
“I’m not angry about that,” he said at last.
Thalia had a bad feeling.
“How long were you alone with Acheron at the manor?” he asked.
“Not long.”
“How long, exactly?”
“How would I know?”
“There’s a clock on your phone.”
Thalia took it out and checked.
“A little over an hour.
He was mostly treating the mark on my leg.
It came back once, and he said the usual way wouldn’t remove it.
That’s why it took so long.”
Everything she had said was true.
She even thought she had explained it well.
Then Ivan asked, “What was the second method?”
Thalia immediately regretted saying so much.
“He used a different method.”
“What method?”
“His power.”
“How?”
She fell silent.
Ivan didn’t press her.
He just kept driving and waited.
Somehow, that made it harder to answer.
She could hardly tell her brother that Acheron had held her while he removed the mark, kept his arm around her afterwards, and then kissed her.
And it had gone well beyond a single kiss.
The memories returned.
Thalia turned towards the window.
“The mark’s gone now.
That’s what matters.”
Ivan glanced at her.
“Thalia, you’re blushing.”
“The car’s too warm.”
Ivan looked down at the dashboard.
Thalia followed his gaze and realized the heater wasn’t on.
She pretended not to notice and kept looking out the window.
“Did something happen between you two?” Ivan asked.
“No.”
She answered so quickly that even she wouldn’t have believed it.
“I haven’t said what I mean.”
“Nothing happened.”
“Then why won’t you look at me?”
“I’m watching the road.”
“You’re not driving.”
“I like looking at the scenery.”
Ivan glanced at the pitch-black woods outside.
“The scenery?”
“Can’t I enjoy the night view?”
The car was quiet for a few seconds.
Then Ivan gave a short laugh, as though her string of excuses had finally got to him.
Thalia turned towards him.
“What are you trying to ask?”
“Did Acheron kiss you?”
She froze.
She ought to have denied it at once, but her first thought was: How did he know?
“How could you tell?”
Thalia shut her mouth.
Ivan’s hands tightened slightly on the steering wheel.
She knew she had just given him his answer.
“So he did.” His voice grew low.
“Ivan…”
“When?”
“Stop questioning me like a criminal.”
“I’m showing a great deal of restraint.”
Thalia stole a look at him.
That much was true.
At least he was still driving home instead of turning straight back towards the manor.
Since she had already let it slip, she said quietly, “After he finished treating my leg.”
“Did the treatment require a kiss?”
“No.”
“Then why did he kiss you?”
Thalia had no answer.
Acheron had been perfectly direct about it: because he wanted to.
She could not repeat that to Ivan.
“It just… happened.”
Ivan’s expression darkened.
“It just happened?”
“Don’t repeat it.”
“I’m checking that I heard you correctly.”
Thalia covered her face with one hand.
“I’m an adult.”
“I know.” Ivan was quiet for a moment.
When he spoke again, his voice had lost some of its edge.
“I’m not trying to decide who you can like.”
“We’re not together.”
“Then I have even more reason to ask.”
Thalia paused.
She couldn’t argue with that.
Until tonight, she had known very little about Acheron.
She didn’t know what the Obsidian Throne truly was, why he avoided explaining the ring’s origins, or why it had chosen her.
There was still so much about him she didn’t understand.
Yet they had kissed, and more than once.
When she fell quiet, Ivan’s voice softened further.
“Thalia, I won’t decide who you should be with.
I just think there’s something you need to work out first.”
“What?”
“Do you like him?”
Thalia parted her lips, but no answer came.
If she felt nothing for Acheron, she would have pushed him away the first time he kissed her.
She hadn’t.
Later, when he stopped and waited, she had caught hold of his lapel.
After that, she had even asked him if he was going to kiss her or not.
Thalia turned towards the window.
She didn’t want to remember the way she had acted, but she couldn’t deny that she liked having him close.
When they left the manor, she hadn’t been able to resist looking back at him.
Whether that meant she liked him, she didn’t yet know.
Ivan didn’t force an answer out of her.
“Take your time,” he said.
After a moment, Thalia asked, “What if I do like him?”
Ivan’s hands paused on the steering wheel.
It took him a little while to reply.
“Then that’s your choice.”
She turned to him in surprise.
“I don’t like him.
That doesn’t mean you can’t,” Ivan said, keeping his eyes on the road.
“But you should know what you want.
And you should know who he really is.”
“Why don’t you like him?”
“He took you away in front of me and sent me back to the museum.
Do you expect me to like him?”
Thalia couldn’t help smiling.
“I suppose that would be difficult.”
“More than a little difficult.”
“But he saved me.”
“Which is why I didn’t pick a fight with him.”
Thalia looked at her brother’s perfectly serious expression.
“Could you beat him?”
Ivan said nothing.
She burst out laughing.
“Thalia.”
“All right, I’ll stop.”
She said it, but she couldn’t quite keep the smile off her face.
Ivan gave her a resigned glance and didn’t bring up Acheron again.
The car emerged from the woods, and the road opened up ahead of them.
The tension between them began to ease.
Thalia settled back in her seat, but Ivan’s question stayed with her.
Did she like Acheron?
Tonight, at least, she couldn’t answer.