Page 198 of Keldori By Daybreak

“I’m sorry, Wren.” Ciarán sat in the sand next to me.

“Don’t be. I made it home.” The words were cold in my heart and hollow in my mouth.

“There was no saving him. We were outnumbered. Even if we’d killed Caitria, her men would’ve followed us, and eventually Ferrin would’ve come too. Tiernan knew what he was doing when he brought the whole place down.”

“Ciarán?” I whispered through our tether.

“Yes, Wren?” he whispered back.

I closed my eyes, letting the morning light percolate across my eyelids. “Nothing. I just wanted to make sure the connection still works on this side of the Rift.”

“I’ve told you before. You will never be rid of me,” he said aloud.

“Right,” I sighed. “Because Tiernan destroyed Lyria’s doorway. You’re trapped here now.”

“Does that make you happy?”

“No.” I leaned my head against his shoulder and blinked at the surf.

“And why not, my Lady?”

“I want you to stay with me because you want to. Not because you’re forced to.”

“Then I guess it’ll come down to what side of the Rift I’m standing on when you reseal your grandmother.”

I dug my fingers into the sand.

He could still leave me. It was strangely reassuring. His role of Grimguard had left him with so little agency. I did not want to be a reason he had even less.

“You chose this location because you recognized the coastline in the stone, correct?” Ciarán asked. “Have you been here before?”

“Never.” As much as I wanted to stay in the sand, leaning against Ciarán as the sun rose behind us, we still had work to do. I stood and brushed sand from my pants, scanning the bluff. “But I know someone who works nearby.”

“Who?”

An unwilling grin tugged on my lips.

“You’ve met him before, actually.” I turned from the bluff to look into Ciarán’s glowing eyes. He’d have to mute them if he wanted to blend in here, but for now, the orange and dark sclera emboldened me. “Would you like to visit my father?”

Iseult, Orla, and Fana were to stay in the cave with Una and Jonquil. We’d draw less attention if just Ciarán and I ventured out, and while he only had twenty-four hours worth of memories in Keldori, it was better than nothing.

I tried to fix our looks the best I could with what we had. I gave him back his blue Von Leer hoodie—it was his after all—and managed to brush out the tangles the doorway water had left in his hair. If I ignored the leather trousers, boots, and the massive, patched-up hole in the hoodie, he passed as decently presentable.

I opted for my green dress from Willow’s Grave. It stood a better chance at being passed off as avant-garde fashion than my brown tunic, though both looked like they belonged at a fantasy festival. Liam’s old backpack slung over my back helped to ground the overall look.

“We’ll probably be a few hours,” I warned. “But I promise, when we come back, we’ll have food, fresh clothes, and a way north.”

“I’m very excited to see Keldori,” Orla insisted, but she was putting on a brave face for Fana, who still hadn’t been able to bring herself to speak.

“You’re going to love it.” I hugged her goodbye, and she stepped back.

Her hand brushed against Iseult’s, and then their fingers hooked together. I nodded at them, assured in the fact that they had each other, and then climbed back to the beach with Ciarán.

We walked along the shore in the opposite direction of the pier, though another one loomed miles ahead in this direction as well. Houses that I would never be able to afford stood at the top of sea cliffs, and Ciarán watched them with widening eyes.

With his eyes amber again, and wearing the Von Leer hoodie, he did look so much like Liam. Sure, he was paler, slightly shorter, and his hair dark in its bun, but other than that, he looked just as his Nightmare had.

We passed early-morning beach goers, and I sighed in relief when none of them looked too hard at us.