Page 44 of The Dark Sea Calls

Rainn stepped closer, forcing me to tilt my head to meet his eyes. “Is that what you think of me?” His voice was low, husky with emotion I couldn’t identify.

“What was I meant to think?” I scoffed. “Rainn, my entire life has been spent around the Undine courtiers. Everything is backstabbing and unspoken. Looks between two courtiers could mean life and death. Conspiring. Nothing is overt. It’s a difficult way to live, and I don’t know any other way. It’s as if everyone inherently understands this silent language and forgot to give me a dictionary. I want to understand what you want from me.” I felt my eyes welling with tears. “I don’t just understand what all this means.”

He cupped my face, using his thumb to brush away a tear from my cheek. “I had to leave the stronghold. Tormalugh was waiting in the forest above the cradle.”

I stepped back, and his hand dropped. I felt the loss of his touch like a punch to the gut. “Tormalugh?” I hissed incredulously. “Prince of the Kelpies. Ruler of the Reeds? That Tormalugh?”

Rainn smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “He gave me a fortnight to bring you home before he promised to come after me.”

“How did he even know where you were? How didyouknow where I was?” My voice hitched as the questions tumbled out.

Rainn shifted uncomfortably. “The blanket,” he said. “It belongs to me, so I can find it.”

I thought back to Arden’s tracking lesson in the canyon and nodded to let Rainn know I understood.

“So, that’s it then?” I barked a laugh. “I will return to Cruinn through the silvers tomorrow, or you and Tor will drag me back to Cormac. Will you grant me a head start to get to the hall of silvers?” I asked. “As a boon, after you took me to bed?”

Horror flashed across his features, and his eyes darkened. “I have no intention of taking you back to Cormac Illfin.”

My brow furrowed. “He's your friend. He’s your ally.”

“Cormac wants to kill you.” Rainn pushed his hand through his hair, closing his eyes as if in pain. “He wants your blood. For the death of his mother.”

“He killed—”

Rainn interrupted me. “He killed nearly a hundred younglings on the Frosted Sands. I know.”

“It wasn’t just him,” I spat.

Rainn turned away as if he couldn’t bear to look at me. “I know,” he echoed.

“Tormalugh is here?” I asked, drawing his attention back to the issue at hand. “In the forest?”

Rainn made a face.

I gritted my teeth. “What did youdo?”

Chapter 10

I hadn’t thought much about where Rainn had been sleeping for the past week, but he had a room all to himself on one of the upper floors of the stronghold.

I wasn’t sure if whoever had assigned his room was trying to punish Rainn or afford him privacy. After traipsing up and down more winding staircases and shadowy corners, we came to a door that was almost invisible unless you looked at it at the exact right angle. Cast in darkness, too far away from the only faelight in the hall.

Rainn knocked once as we both waited outside, and though no sound came from the other side of the marked wooden door, Rainn seemed to sense that entering was okay.

He ushered me inside first, following soon after. My shins immediately collided with the end of a tiny wooden bed with a scant collection of raggedy blankets.

I felt a twinge of guilt.

Since arriving at the Siren stronghold, I had been treated as an ally. A friend. Moira and I shared a room that wouldn’t have been out of place in Cruinn Castle. Perhaps not a royal chamber, but one of the rooms I was used to. Functional and clean.

Rainn’s bed was too large for the space though the furniture was small. Sand collected in the corners of the room, forming piles that had started to climb the wall, mixing with other grime.

An archway led through to an abundance of canvas packages and wooden crates, solidifying my first thought of his room once being storage. The various cargo was afforded more space than Rainn had been, and something about the shadowy alcove of boxes made my eyes skip over and refuse to focus. I felt a twinge behind my eyes, a feeling I associated with Tor’s magic ever since he had enchanted me to forget our first meeting.

I crossed my arms over my chest and forced myself to stare at the one spot in the room that told me to look away.

A long moment passed before a man stepped out of the shadows as if he had been formed from them. His eyes were black, from pupil to sclera. Endless. His hair was longer than I remembered, licking his shoulders. Wild, windswept, and raven-wing black, with an oil slick of color as the light hit it in just the right place.

---