Page 94 of Silver in the Bone

“Oh, you must be Tamsin,” came a voice from behind me. It was Seren. Her golden-blond hair had been braided, but loose strands clung to the sweat on her face. Her dark brown eyes fixed on me as she shifted the basket of linens to her hip. “I was wondering when we’d meet.”

Emrys startled, the shell of his ears going bright pink as he looked up and found me watching.

“I’m like a bad penny,” I told her, “wait long enough and I’ll eventually turn up.”

Seren paused, processing those words.

Even in the gloomy daylight while they should have been at rest, the Children never stopped with their chittering and screeching. I wrapped my arms around my middle, trying to fight off the chill.

“Can I ask you something?” I began.

“Of course,” Seren said.

“If you all have magic, and at least some weapons,” I began, “why not try to kill the Children of the Night with fire while they’re exposed like this? Or at least attempt whatever spell Neve performed that first night?”

“We haven’t yet identified the spell she used, and as for the Children ...” Seren shifted the basket again, her mouth in a tight line. “They were once our friends and family. Somewhere inside them, they still are, and if we can destroy the darkness plaguing the isle, there is still some hope that they may return to us.”

“Do you actually believe that?” I asked her. “You’ve seen how thoroughly the magic, or whatever it is, has corrupted them. What exactly are they going to turn back into?”

Seren’s expression hardened, and I knew there’d be no answer for me. “As you missed the morning’s meal, I wanted to make sure you knew there was bread in the kitchen.”

And with that, she walked away.

“As determined as ever to make friends, I see,” Emrys said, standing. He wiped his hands on a rag, then tossed it back onto his shoulder as he came to the other side of the wall from me.

I held up the carved bird, letting my irritation shine.

“You got my message,” he said, grinning.

“Is this your idea of a joke?”

“Oh, it’s no joke,” he said. “The tree was a bird many lifetimes ago, so I set it free.”

I stared at him, trying to work out if he was actually serious. In the end, I didn’t want him to think I cared enough to ask.

Emrys braced a hip against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. His gray eye was as pale as the sky, his green one like the flecks of leaves still clinging to his shirtsleeves. He no longer seemed to feel the need to hide his scars. For a moment, all I could focus on was the way he smelled like mint. That must have been what he was replanting.

“Listen,” he said, his voice low. “I found something last night.”

“What?”

“I couldn’t sleep after ... well, after the whole thing with Nash and Cabell, and I decided to have a look around. I think you’re right, and there might be another way out of the tower. At least one that won’t put us in the direct path of the Children.”

I think you’re right. The most beautiful words of any language, and the very ones I’d been desperate to hear.

“Okay,” I said slowly. “What did you find?”

Emrys shook his head. “It’s better if you see it. Meet me in the great hall after the others have gone to bed. Oh, and bring your crusty friend, too. We may need him—that is a Hand of Glory, right? Your hobby isn’t making decorative wax sculptures of dismembered body parts?”

“No, it’s not,” I confirmed. “What are you doing, anyway?”

“This?” He looked over his shoulder at the garden. “How about we make a wager? If you guess—”

“If you make me guess, I’m walking away,” I told him.

“Well, that’s no fun.”

“Yeah, because that’s me, Tamsin Fun-and-Games Lark.”

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