Witchy Sour(77)

“Then who did? Or what?”

When I didn’t respond, she glided toward the edge of the bed, her arms and legs moving in combined grace. Her eyes glinted with a shimmer of gold, as if the jaguar hadn’t fully left her body, as if a part of it had taken hold within Zin and stayed. Her new confidence, the way she moved, that watchful gleam in her eye—all of it was more pronounced than it had ever been before.

“Tell me what you know,” she said quietly. “This is important.”

“It doesn’t change anything,” I said. “You still deserve to become a Ranger.”

“Do I?” she asked icily. “Do I deserve it? Or is it a fluke that will eventually get someone killed? If they name me a Candidate and I’m not up for the job, it’s not just my life at stake, it’s everyone’s.”

“I know that,” I said quietly. “It doesn’t change my mind.”

“A few weeks ago, Ranger X pulled me aside.” Zin turned her back to me, staring out the window to where X and Poppy sat at a makeshift picnic table deep in conversation. “He told me what it meant to be a Ranger. Do you know what he said?”

I had a feeling I knew exactly what he’d said, but I felt uncomfortable repeating it, so I shook my head.

Zin looked over her shoulder at me. “He said he had nothing against a female joining the Ranger team. He thought with enough training, there was a chance I could even join the program.”

“Of course you could.”

“Then he told me he’d never appoint a Ranger who he didn’t trust a hundred percent to save the life of someone he loved. And that is the ultimate criteria.”

“Ranger X doesn’t love anyone,” I said hoarsely. “It’s against the rules.”

“That’s what I told him.” Zin turned the rest of the way to face me. “He just blinked. Then he said the times are changing. I don’t know what that means.”

“I’m sure he meant that he’d never seriously considered a woman becoming a part of the Ranger program before. You’re paving the way for women across The Isle.”

“I’m not so sure that’s what he was getting at,” she said. “I can tell when someone is lying. Call it...animal instincts.”

Her joke caught me off guard, and I gave an awkward laugh.

“When he talked about loving someone, he wasn’t exaggerating. He wasn’t lying, and he wasn’t stretching the truth. There’s only one person on this island he’s ever looked at through eyes not focused on work.”

“What does this conversation have to do with anything?”

“If I become a Ranger, and I can’t protect you because I’m not fit for the job…” she shook her head. “I couldn’t live with myself. Ranger X would probably kill me, and that’d be a welcome punishment. So I need you to tell me what happened.”

“Zin, it’s not like that.”

Finally slowing her pacing, she crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed. “I want to become a Ranger more than anything in this world, except one thing. I want the safety of my family and friends first. If I don’t deserve to be a Ranger, I need to know now. The next cycle is in three weeks, and the rumors are swirling loud and clear. I’d rather put them to rest before they grow legs and have me believing in something that’s not true.”

I sat up in bed, my neck muscles screaming with the effort. I ignored the pain and shifted against the pillows behind my back. “If I know one thing, it’s that you deserve this more than anyone in the world. You work the hardest. You care the most. Your morals are the strongest. If the rumors are swirling, I’ll be the one to put them to rest—with the facts. The fact is that you deserve to become a Candidate.”

“Not if this was a fluke,” she said, shifting her weight. The discomfort showed in her face as a pinkish-tinge lightened her cheeks. “Did you or did you not bring me there?”

Even after Turin had visited me in that lucid dream, I hadn’t believed that I could survive for longer than three breaths despite his promises. It was too late. Thomas had taken too much of my life away, and he would only squeeze harder once he saw me breathing again.

My pulse raced at the memories, and my hand caressed my neck where ghost fingers still pressed against my windpipe. I hadn’t used my wish to save myself. I’d wished that Zin would find the strength to become a Ranger. On the verge of death, it’d been the only thing to cross my mind, but now I struggled with how to explain that to her.

“I didn’t bring you there,” I said firmly. “Any actions you made were yours alone. I’ll be honest, Zin, I don’t entirely know what happened, and that’s the truth.” It was the truth. I had never expected she’d come racing to my rescue. “The only thing missing right now is confidence in yourself. Ranger X has appointed many men over the years into these positions. He knows what he’s looking for, and if he says he wants you on his team, nobody will argue with that. Anyone who says otherwise is speaking from jealousy or envy. If you’re the best for the job, then you deserve it.”