Page 40 of The Dark Sea Calls

I needed sleep badly, but the morning was only a blink away.

Rainn rolled to my side, still tangled in my arms. Just as exhausted.

As my eyes drifted closed, a nagging thought caught like a fisherman’s hook.

I tried to find the closest silver. The mirrored gateway that had led to the Kraken's lair. The one that had allowed us to escape.

My stomach sank when I saw the marble wall looming over us.

Belisama’s gateway.

I told myself that there was no way. I told myself I was silly. We must have fallen through another silver.

Belisama’s gateway was of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and only the gods could use it.

Chapter 9

Rainn and I had fallen asleep in the chamber with the queen’s silvers. I woke wrapped in my enchanted blanket, warm but very much alone.

As I rushed back to my room to bathe and prepare for the day, I tried not to think about the night before. My efforts were futile when I was reminded of Rainn every time my thighs rubbed together.

I lied to myself, telling my aching heart that waking up alone didn’t bother me.

Moira cornered me in the dining hall long after the others had finished their breakfast. Rainn, along with Arden and the other recruits, was nowhere to be seen.

“You didn’t come back to our room last night. Rainn didn’t go back to his either.” Moira noted, her bowl empty, as she tapped her spoon against its wooden side. “The view of the night sky from the edge of the cradle is unrivaled. Which you must have seen. While on your back,” she snickered.

My spoon fell from my grip, flinging porridge across the table. My mouth was full, and it took a few moments to swallow—though the threat of choking in indignation was genuine. “Moira!”

“What?” Her eyelashes fluttered innocently. “I’ve seen the way you watch the Selkie. Blood feuds aside, I wish a male looked at me that way.”

My cheeks flushed pink, and my face heated. I looked down, the haze of embarrassment clouding my sight. “We’refriends,” I said, emphasizing the word.

“Where were you and yourfriendlast night?” She pressed.

I looked down at my porridge, no longer feeling hungry; I pushed the bowl away. I searched for the words to explain what I hadn’t wanted to admit out loud or to myself. But I owed it to Moira. The idea of the Kraken’s eye had been a signal of hope for her, and it had failed. I had not reached my magical majority. “We went to the dark sea,” I told her, stripping all emotion from my voice. “I touched the Kraken’s eye, and nothing happened.” I resisted the urge to say,there, happy now? It wasn’t Moira’s fault that the gods hated me. She was in the same boat I was in.

Neither of us had reached our magical majority. With the war in the lake, it was uncertain if we could complete the migration—if there ever was another one.

“Nothing happened?” Moira tilted her head, her voice low and incredulous. “Just… nothing?”

“We saw the Kraken.” I shrugged. “It tried to eat us.”

“Well, it would,” She laughed somewhat hysterically. “It’s abloody Kraken.”

“Rainn came with me. That’s why we weren’t at the gathering.”

Moira eyed me shrewdly. “Is that all? Because there is a pining look in your eye, you seemed most unhappy when I was the one to walk through the door and not your Selkie.”

“He isn’t my Selkie—”

“Yes, yes,” Moira waved her hand dismissively. “TheSelkie then.”

“I wasn’t disappointed,” I picked up my spoon and ate another mouthful of porridge, if only for an excuse not to speak for a moment. “Rainn and I slept together,” I murmured, the words rushing so quickly that I hoped Moira would miss them.

She slapped both hands on the table. “No,” she gasped in disbelief. “Tell. Me. Everything.”

“It was nice,” I mumbled, pushing my plate away, refusing to meet her eyes. I hadn’t exactly been honest about my past trysts with Rainn or the other princelings.

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