Before we head down the slope, I pull the Reef Cloaked Cape from Oliver hands and hold it out to Rhayne.
"Yours."
She stares at it. Then at me. Then at it again.
Her hands reach out but stop halfway, hovering over the fabric like she's afraid it'll bite. The chromatophore cells in the cape shift color under the firelight—dark grey bleeding into charcoal, then into something almost invisible against the night air.
"I... this is..." She swallows. Her fingers brush the surface. The material ripples under her touch, responding to her body heat, adjusting its shade to match the tone of her skin. "This is too much."
"It's a tactical assignment, not a gift."
She pulls it around her shoulders. The cape settles against her frame like it was grown for her—the chromatophore cells dimming, softening, blending her silhouette into the ambient shadow. Her storm-cloud eyes peer out from beneath the hood, wide and wet, her mouth working on words that won't form.
