“In our defense,” Gavin grated. “We had just lost you. The treasure wasn’t at the forefront of our minds. We got sloppy.”
“Still,” I grumbled. “It took us a whole year to find, and then to lose it like that.” I snapped my fingers.
“Yeah. Don’t remind me.” Gavin raked a hand through his hair, his fingers threading roughly through the dark strands. “Anyway, Argus’s father made Bowen pay for the loss. He tortured him and left him with the scars on his face and his back. It broke him. He wasn’t the same after that. None of us were.”
I swallowed hard. “I’m sorry.”
Gavin shook his head. “It wasn’t your fault. We were dealt a fatal hand. But Bowen’s better now. He’s moved past all that pain.”
“Bowen deserves to be happy.”
“He is. Disgustingly so. I almost had to move out.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but the air thinned in my throat. A sharp, invisible weight pressed against my ribs. My hand crept past my chest and up toward my neck, my fingers digging in as my lungs spasmed. Panic clawed through my body.
The air was gone. It was just—gone.
“Mare?”
“I’m fine.” I wheezed out a breath, then struggled for another. My vision blurred for half a second before snapping back into focus.
“You’re not fine.” Gavin’s boots squelched in the mud as he stepped toward me. “You can barely walk.”
Gesturing to his feet, I blinked furiously as the ground beneath us pitched. “You’re not much better. It’s the mud. It’s sticking to my—”
I yelped as Gavin hooked his arm under my legs, and in one fluid motion, he lifted me off the ground.”
“Put me down.” Everything was still spinning, and I forced myself to focus.
“Not happening.”
I growled under my breath, squirming against him. “Gavin—”
“No.” He crushed me in his grip until I went still. “You told me back at the inn you expected me to carry you. You’re getting your wish.”
“I was being a wise-ass, and you know it.”
“I do know.” His lips twitched despite his frustration. “And it’s one of my favorite things about you.”
I scowled, slinging my arms across my chest. “You can’t carry me all the way to the castle!”
Gavin glanced down at me, his jaw tight, eyes glinting with challenge. “Try me.”
His tone left no room for argument. I squeezed my eyes shut and internally screamed. Gavin jostled me in his arms until my eyes snapped back open.
“Since you have nothing better to do, tell me what’s wrongwith you. And do not lie, or Iwillcarry you all the way to the castle, and then tie you up outside of the gate.”
My head fell against his shoulder, and I shot eye-daggers at his chin. “The shackles were my plan. You do not get to use them.”
“Funny. They’re in my bag, and I have the key.”
“Only because you forced me to hand it over in some overtly masculine power play,” I muttered darkly. “And now I’m stuck in your domineering second act. But fine. You want the truth?” I paused to suck in a gasping breath that made Gavin’s jaw clench so hard I worried for his molars. “It’s because of the curse the sea queen placed on me. I only have three weeks to find the shard.”
“I know. Cass told me. But why are you sick?”
I hesitated, my fingers fiddling with the collar of his shirt. “After three weeks, if I don’t return to the sea, with the shard or without, I won’t be able to breathe on land… and it’s kind of already starting.” I let out a brittle laugh. “I guess curses with a death clock aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Shoulda read the fine print.”
“Dammit, Mare.” Gavin stopped so abruptly that I might have nosedived into the murky water if his grip wasn’t so tight. “You should have told me sooner.”
