Terror flooded his veins, but there was no escape.The hand landed on his chest, and the next thing Bastion knew was sweet sleep.
Chapter 19
He drifted in a sea of stars.
Water lapped gently around him, a mirror reflecting a sky that went on forever, cast in perpetual twilight.There was no heat or cold, no up or down.
Only blessed oblivion.
He didn’t even remember his own name.
But something ached inside his chest, like a hook lodged there that someone was trying to reel in.Part of him wanted to see where the line led, but another part–a tired and lazy part–wanted to stay right here.He closed his eyes, willing the feeling away unsuccessfully.
When he opened them, the sky looked back.
A face smiled at him.He didn’t know how he hadn’t seen her before.She was darkness herself, adorned by the heavens, but her eyes were gentle.
She reached out a hand and touched his forehead with a finger that sparkled like a diamond.
Follow your heart home.
The hook jerked, dragging him beneath the surface in a hungry embrace.He tried to scream, but water poured down his throat.Gods, his chest hurt so badly.
Hedrowned.
And sat up with a gasp.
Morning light fell through the window over the desk.The room crackled with the warmth of a fire.He took a ragged breath, but it only intensified the pull in his ribcage.
“Bastion?”a small voice asked.
He turned and found a set of eyes framed by wispy, sand-colored hair staring at him.
“Rowan?”The word felt sticky in Bastion’s mouth.
The boy's expression screwed up, and the next moment, a waterfall of tears cascaded down his cheeks.He launched onto the bed, flattening Bastion.He returned Rowan's embrace, the tightness of his hold only tempered by the shadow of pain in his gut and arm.
“I thought you were dead!”the boy blubbered.“Again!”
Something between a groan and a chuckle escaped Bastion, but there was no mirth in it.“I told you I’m hard to kill.”
Rowan pressed his wet face into Bastion’s chest.“But now that Da’s gone–”
Bastion sat up with a grimace and took Rowan’s face in his hands.“Who told you about your da?”
“Ulla.”Rowan’s lip quivered.At her name, Bastion’s heart skipped a beat, as if trying to leap out of its cage.“She told me he’s a hero.”
“He is,” Bastion whispered.“He was so brave.And you’re just like him.”
More tears collected along Rowan’s lashes, and his chin scrunched up.Bastion swept the boy's hair back and, for the first time, saw the shadow of a bruise near Rowan’s temple.
“Who did this to you?”
“One of the pirates,” a new voice said.
Bastion’s hands scrabbled for a weapon while his eyes struggled to pinpoint a threat.At the door, he spotted Nesrin, and he relaxed.She was alone and dressed down, in only breeches and a loose shirt.She smiled and tilted her head towards the boy.“If not for him, Minato would probably be dead.”
Bastion shifted in the bed and winced.A vague recollection of cool, clawed hands on his abdomen flickered through his mind, accompanied by frenetic feelings mixing with blood.He touched the place where Buck had run him through and flexed the arm he’d broken.A question drummed against the back of his lips, but he forced himself to ask a different one.
