Page 244 of Keldori By Daybreak

“I have to be honest, Blue. I’m only kissing you because you called me perfect.”

“Shut up.” I grinned, and silenced him with my lips against his.

When we broke apart a second time, he wrapped his arms around the small of my back to hold me close and bury his face in my hair.

“Thank you, Wren, for seeing me.”

We were broken and shaken, but entwined there with him, I thought that maybe there was a chance we might be whole again.

50. Move-In Day

One Year Later

The nice weather made it all the more bittersweet to be leaving Keel Watch Harbor. Sunshine beat against the marina dock, but the rolling morning breeze kept me cool in my new Von Leer University hoodie.

I anxiously played with the strings, keeping my hands busy so they’d spare my eyelashes. My stomach ached from lack of sleep. I’d been awake late into the night, staring at the ceiling of the room I shared upstairs with Orla.

My feet and ankles hung in the crisp water, and I inhaled. I would be okay. I’d already done the hard part. I’d gotten into Von Leer and would be entering as a sophomore after spending a year taking basic course requirements at the nearby community college, just as I’d planned.

Sitting on the dock helped to calm my raging nerves. Maybe it was because this was where we’d poured her ashes into the harbor a year ago, but this was where I felt the closest to Gams.

She’d call me silly for being nervous, but then she’d pull me into a hug and assure me I’d be wonderful anyway. Ever patient. Ever proud.

“The usual?” Ciarán’s voice crooned in my head, and I smiled at the water.

“Salmon lox today, actually. Special occasion.”

“And if I already cut the avocado?”

Una splashed out in the harbor, and I watched her green fur flash in the sun. I’d miss her, though I had a sneaking worry that in a week’s time, I’d catch her playing in the river that ran through campus.

“Then my usual will do fine.”

A sea star crept along the harbor floor beneath me, and Ciarán must’ve been watching the harbor through my eyes.

“Starfish,” he said. “That’s one to zero.”

“It doesn’t count if you aren’t here to see it yourself.”

“You don’t get to make up new rules just because you’re losing,” he scoffed.

“Then what’s the point of being a Saergrim?”

“No one likes a sore loser, especially when that sore loser is a god.” He laughed in my head. “You packed, right? Would you like me to come get you at the dock?”

“I packed, and no, that’s okay. I’ll meet you at the shop like we planned.”

“Of course, my Lady. I’ll see you in a minute. I’m headed there as soon as breakfast is done.”

I stood up, allowed myself to bask in the morning sun just a moment longer, thinking about Gams, and then slipped my sandals on to walk back down the dock and up the wooden steps to the shop.

Davyn stood at the back window, sipping a coffee from the shop down the street. I still thought it strange to see tunics, leather pants, and boots more fit for Skalterra here in Keel Watch Harbor, but it had become the norm in the past year. Skalterran tourists didn’t have anything else to wear, and Keldorian tourists from neighboring towns thought Keel Watch was leaning into a new, fantasy aesthetic. Some of them had even taken to wearing their own costumes when they visited the town, unaware that the people here weren’t actors.

There hadn’t been too many visitors from Skalterra, of course. Word of the new, invincible Saergrim and her terrible wrath had spread fast. Unable to be killed by Skal, make her too angry and she might set her pet rotsbane loose on you.

The wicked rumors that had surrounded Gams had once protected Keldori, but wicked rumors were an effective tool, so I didn’t mind.

Besides, Skalterra was brimming with magick now. The people there had no need to visit Keldori anymore. Davyn was more than happy to help ferry the curious and brave few across the Bay of Teeth to the island cave where the Rift connected our worlds.