She pulls her handkerchief away from her mouth and there’s blood on the cloth. A lot of blood.
The flight attendant moves toward her and Rayana waves her off with automatic irritation — we’d gone from the helicopter to this jet in under an hour and she’d already snapped at the crew twice before we reached cruising altitude.
“How bad.” My voice comes out flatter than I intend. Or exactly as flat as I intend — I can’t tell anymore.
“It’s nothing. Turbulence irritates the—”
“Rayana. How bad.”
She looks at the blood on her hand and something in her face dulls, but she is fast enough that she keeps it away.
“Bad enough that you should be with Ember right now instead of flying me to a graveyard.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“And yet it’s the answer you need.” She wipes a part of her stain
