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I doubt sneaking in without telling them will soothe their bruised feelings, Creon eventually signed.
Yes. That, too.
‘Let’s go warn them, then.’ I got up, finding to my surprise that the sun hung just above the horizon. We had spent half a day here on nothing but magical experiments, and I’d barely noticed the time going by. ‘We can always decide to go together, but then at least they can’t complain we left them entirely in the dark.’
He gave a wry smile, holding out his hands to me as he rose. I grabbed his wrist to press a kiss to his palm, then stepped into his embrace and braced myself for flight.
Chapter 33
Welefttheapplecarnage behind – Alyra looked displeased but followed nonetheless – and soared back towards the black-sanded bay where we’d arrived.
In the light of the setting sun, the island seemed an entirely different place. The shadows of the valleys and ridges had shifted, so it seemed like the mountains had moved over the course of the afternoon; peering down, I noticed the hollows of caves I hadn't seen at all during our morning flight. The waterfalls looked almost golden in the dusk, as if molten metal was flowing across the rugged slopes.
Did the rocks or the water have any magical powers? The Crimson Court had the hounds and the Labyrinth, and the Golden Court had the pixies; surely Korok must have had a reason to claim this island for the third of his courts.
A question for later. Before us, the little bay enclosed by cliffs and high stone arches appeared, the water deep blue and threaded with coppery foam in the sunlight.
It was empty.
I almost asked if this was the right bay – Beyla would not be back from her explorations until the last moment, of course, but surely Lyn and Tared would have concluded their search by now? Then again, Creon was better at navigating than me, and as we descended, I recognised the peculiar forms of the rock formations – the one stretching deep into the sea, resembling a bulging fist planted between the waves, and the three sharp peaks that rose from the water around it.
Right bay. No Lyn and Tared.
We landed on the beach, which similarly reflected the light of the sinking sun – small, golden crystals flickering amidst the black sand whenever I moved my head. I opened my mouth to ask where Creon thought we’d find the others, then caught a glimpse of light in the corner of my eye and turned toward it.
The source was another cave, receding deep into the rocks farthest from the sea. There was no sign of Lyn and Tared, but the glow of fire clearly reflected off the smooth, dark stone.
Of course. They had finished their task of the day and made a start at preparing dinner. My belly produced a rumble of approval, and for a moment, I didn’t even care much about Tared’s disappointed glances. Everything would be easier to handle with a full stomach.
‘Ready?’ I muttered to Creon as we started walking.
He didn’t smile this time.
I was still figuring out an appropriate facial expression – content and innocent? But clearly I wasn’t that innocent after all, and maybe trying too hard would only make me look like I’d spent most of the afternoon fucking my brains out – when the first shred of conversation reached us.
Or rather, of a fight.
Lyn’s voice, high-pitched and agitated, was the first to cross the distance. ‘… making such a point of it! She wasscared, for fuck’s sake! What was I supposed to …’
I froze so abruptly Creon nearly bumped into me. Tared’s answer, in a lower tone, was impossible to make out.
‘Well, that’s pretty rich, isn’t it,’ Lyn snapped at whatever his defence had been, ‘coming from the person who didn’t dare to tell his own gods-damned bonded mate that he’d bonded to her?’
The silence could have cut through steel.
My heart stopped beating for a moment, then thudded wildly against my ribs. I stared at the cave entrance with unseeing eyes, only just feeling Creon’s hand around my shoulder, only just hearing Tared’s much louder reply – ‘We decided we werenotgoing to talk about—’
‘Yes, because we were the only ones involved! Do you want me to keep biting my tongue when you’re making this everyone else’s problem?’
Creon’s hand was pulling me back.
‘Lyn,’ Tared said, and it was the jagged sharpness in that one word that brought the memory soaring back with the intensity of hellfire – the plea that lay beneath the surface of it, a sensation of something slowly, agonisingly slowly tilting over an edge. I’dfeltthat plea with Zera’s bag in my arms. Felt that fierce, scalding need that bordered on insanity, a bond he could let go as easily as he could claw out his own heart. I knew what that one word was saying better than I’d ever wanted to know:Don’t go there. Don’t open that door. Don’t you know you might kill me – that you’ll undo me?
‘I know!’ Lyn’s cry was almost a sob. ‘Inika help me, I know! But you’re being an arse all the same, and I’m sick of excusing every—'
‘Lyn, pleasestop!’ There was a crack in his voice, in that imperturbable voice of the male who’d called himself my family.
I broke.
