Passed out? It was a wonder she was still alive. After she washed her hands and counted all her body parts to make sure they were still intact, Gem walked unsteadily back into the room and veered right, intending to sit by the corner fireplace.
“Please, take the bed,” he insisted. “I want to move around and build up my strength. Would you like fresh sheets or a lighter blanket?”
“No, please don’t put yourself out.” She managed to make it to the bed without collapsing. Never had she felt so physically drained in all her life, as if she could sleep for decades.
Niko guided her to sit and then helped lift her legs onto the bed. Someone had taken off her sneakers and socks, so she slipped her bare feet beneath the sheets while Niko pulled a warm blanket up to her knees. Suddenly her floral dress seemed wildly inappropriate under the circumstances, and all she wanted was her pajamas. What a silly thought.
Gem yawned and noticed he’d moved the pole to a position beside his armoire. She stared at the half-open door of it. The shirts she’d tossed about while searching his room still lay on the floor. No one had bothered to clean it. Disgusted by the mess they’d left behind, she rolled onto her side.
“I’m sorry about your shirts I threw on the floor and never picked up,” Gem said. “And I’m sorry that I moved your things around while you were asleep.”
The firelight behind Niko created a soft silhouette. “If you mean the shirts you placed in my wardrobe, I rather enjoy those.”
She blinked in surprise. “You knew about them?”
“Of course. I wasn’t sure what they were at first, but everyone seemed to enjoy when I wore the Pink Panther one.”
She wanted to bury her face in the pillow. “Why did you wear it if it made everyone laugh at you?”
He slowly turned away and crossed the room, heading toward the armoire. “Because, Gem, I don’t care about such inconsequential matters.”
“How did you even know which one it was?”
“I cut the tags in a special way. I first knew about them because when you left them with the others, they didn’t smell like our detergent, and your perfume was on them.”
She stared at the fire, lost in the flames that reminded her of those final moments. “Did they find the book?”
“It’s destroyed. Christian only found the stone. It’s on the table beside you.”
Gem rolled over. On the bedside table, beside a glass of water, was the opal. She picked up the stone and felt residual warmth and energy as she closed her fingers around it. Afraid it would steal more of her light, she quickly put it back on the table.
When Gem turned back to the fire, she nearly split in half with laughter. Niko had on the infamous unicorn shirt. The white T-shirt had a giant rainbow-colored unicorn on the front.
“Nothing you did was spiteful,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “I don’t need people tiptoeing around what they perceive is a disability. Everyone in this house has been the victim of a prank, and many were extreme. This one I’ve enjoyed immensely because the joke was on you.”
She touched the sleeve. “You look good in white. And pink. And purple.”
“And green? What sparked the idea?”
She brushed her hair back. “I just thought your wardrobe was rather dull.”
He chuckled softly. “Dull but practical. I wear black so I’m not troubled with things like matching colors. This is obviously not how all blind people live, but I’ve chosen to do what’s easiest, given my line of work. I can’t exactly go on a stakeout wearing a shamrock shirt. The objective is to blend in and be forgettable.”
She moved her hand close to his but didn’t touch him. “You could never be forgettable.”
With a pensive look, he tilted his head and cast his eyes toward her. “Do people stare at me because I’m different?”
“Because you’re blind? How would they know? You don’t exactly carry a cane around.”
“No, because my eyes are pale blue.”
“I’m barely over five feet tall, and I have purple hair. I doubt anyone notices your eyes when we go out.”
He put his hands in his lap and rubbed his right palm as if it were sore. “I’ve always speculated that I’m mixed. I can’t see what others do, so it matters little to me. But I wonder how much it matters to them.”
Gem eased up on one elbow. “You didn’t know your parents?”
“I knew my mother and sister but not my real father. My mother never spoke of him. Whether my conception was forced or consensual, she had brought shame to her family by having a child with no man to claim it. Marriage existed back then, but not as it does today with certificates.”
“What made you think you were mixed if your mother didn’t talk about him? Your eye color could be a genetic flaw.”
“It wasn’t just eye color. Some thought my pale eyes were related to my blindness. I was much taller than the other men, and that offended them. When in public, I kept my head down.”
“Why?”
“Subservient behavior was the only way to protect my mother’s honor. Cyrus always called me a mongrel. He said no other Asian in any part of the world has my eyes. He was wrong. I’ve heard that some now have blue eyes in parts of Japan, but I wonder whether that’s because of a natural occurrence or a traveler in their ancestry. Regardless, Cyrus never treated me as an equal. When you are two halves of a whole, there are people on both sides who will never accept you. I can’t see the differences, so it’s something I’ll never understand. People in my village made me feel different because I looked different, but I have been and always will be Japanese. That is my culture, and I have little desire to learn about a man who had no interest in learning about me.”
“He’s dead, you know. Cyrus.”
“Viktor informed me.” Relief filled Niko’s voice. “You cannot imagine the gratitude I feel. To never have to look over my shoulder again is the greatest gift that anyone could have given me. Well, besides my life.” He turned his gaze to the fire.
Gem felt the desire to open up to Niko about her own past. “I didn’t know my parents. You’re lucky that you have a culture you’re connected to. I can’t even take one of those mail-in DNA tests since Breed aren’t allowed. But you know what? I don’t care anymore. How would knowing if I’m Danish or Scottish change anything about who I am? I was raised by books.” She fluffed her pillow and rested her head on it. “You shouldn’t care how others see you. People are more accepting nowadays but barely. Narrow-minded individuals will always find fault in others so they can feel superior. If the world were blind, men like Cyrus would discriminate based on voices. He was a monster. Not everyone is like him.”
“Yes. I have known many good men and women from all over the world. Cyrus was a disgrace to his culture, but now you understand how the beginning of my life shaped me. Even now, as old as I am, I still dwell on things I cannot see.”
Her gaze went adrift, and something occurred to her. “Why am I in your bedroom? Where’s Viktor?”
“Kallisto escaped.”
Kallisto! How could she have forgotten? “I didn’t think of him. Why didn’t I think of him before I did this?”