Page 96 of The Flame and the Forsaken

Destin settled on the third and took a moment to warm his hands on the fire they’d built before he’d arrived.

“Aye, so what’s this about then, Des? And why the secrecy?” Alessia blurted. When she leaned forward, Magnur put a hand on her back. A recent development. Or an old one Destin had failed to notice in his thrall to the drink.

“Did something happen to Mariel?” Remy asked. “Shedidcome back, right?”

“She’s fine.” Destin’s throat was as dry as sand. He wished he’d had the forethought to bring something without spirits to drink. He’d left his waterskin at the Spires. “A little worse for wear. Nothing the steward’s healers couldn’t resolve.”

“The steward’s healers.” Alessia snorted and looked toward the sky. “That acclimated is she?”

“Auggie said the whisper in the Spires is they were on anisland?Just the two of them?” Remy seemed like a man tryingnotto put a story together, like he was hoping Destin was there to disavow him of whatever his imagination had stitched into a tapestry of despair.

Destin nodded, bent over his knees. Mariel might have been unhappy with everything he was about to say, but it wouldn’t matter for long. “If they hadn’t been together, neither would have survived as long as they did.”

“But how... I donnae ken how they got there.” Alessia looked incredulous.

“After she split from Remy and Auggie in Sandycove, she rode for Devon, where theMistwitchwas anchored. The guards pursued her all the way there and she... jumped from the cliffs and swam to her ship. She didn’t know Erran had followed her.”

Remy shook his head, frazzled. “And he jumped in after her?”

“Aye.”

“And we’re expected to believe that the... the silk-stockingprincelingwould risk his own neck for her?”

“I ken the truth doesnae require belief,” Magnur muttered. He stared at the fire, expressionless.

Remy tapped his hand in the air, glancing to the side with a distrustful wince. “Did theymeanto end up on the island? Why did Mariel think... Nay, this isn’t adding up.”

“She wasn’t expecting to run, and she followed her instinct,” Destin said carefully. He took a moment to read his friends, see where they were at with things. Magnur was simply listening, unruffled as always. Alessia was enraged, though there had to have been more to it than Mariel and Erran. Remy was in denial, and Augustine was unusually quiet. “But they got pushed off course in the Eastern Shelf and crashed. They’re both lucky to be alive.”

“I’ll never celebrate the survival of a subjugator,” Alessia quipped. “But aye, happy about Mariel.”

“And they were there forweeks? The whole time, just the two of them?” Remy was still catching up. His inability to do so was a matter of will.

“We really thought she was dead,” Augustine said softly. She wiped her eyes. “We...”

“Aye, weeks. Erran’s mates were the ones who put it together. They—” Destin abruptly cut himself off. They had every right to know, but they’d inevitably put it back on him. They’d never believe Sam and Hamish had known just enough to prompt Destin’s memory.

It didn’t matter. Or wouldn’t, after the night was ended.

“They what?” Alessia’s tone verged on hostile. She’d never liked him.

“They knew Mariel was the Flame.” Destin wished again for something to wet his throat. “They knew she was there to stop the auction. And they said?—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Alessia leaped from the log. “You cannae just drop that on us! What do ye mean theyknew? How, Des? How, ’cos ye told ’em? Ye did, aye?”

Magnur tugged her back down.

Destin lowered his eyes. “Mariel told Banner’s men, and Erran and his mate heard.”

“Well, I donnae believe ye. Why the feck would she do such a thing?”

“Auggie and I were there,” Remy said faintly. “She was trying to... to pull the guards off of us.”

“And why are we only just now hearing about it?”

“There seemed no point.” Remy buried his face in his hands.

“It was more than what she said that tipped them off,” Destin said. “No one else knew about Banner, just the steward and Erran. And... Mariel. There was no other reason for her to be there that morning.”

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