Page 53 of From Frost to Flame

Silas

Once they were allrested, they followed the compass through the sparse, spindly, skeletal trees toward the center of the island. What lay ahead was cloaked in mystery thanks to the dense fog that hung between the crooked tree trunks. Paired with the oppressive dark of the night, it obscured anything more than a few feet in front of them. They stayed close together, not wanting to stumble onto danger or lose one another in the fog. Lex and Silas were in the back due to Lex’s slow pace. Gray clouds above emitted a constant drizzle that soaked them all to the bone.

Despite the dreary journey, Silas's heart was lighter as they crossed the flat terrain of slick sand. Lex had come back to him, for now, and that was all that mattered.

After the intimacy they shared, his werewolf instincts flared to the point of fixation and all he wanted was to take care of Lex. The rest of the world was muffled as his ears locked onto his fragile mate. Every third breath Lex took was shallower than the rest, his voice strained at the end of every sentence, and his eyes could barely stay open. More than once, Lex walked ahead with his eyes closed as if asleep. Silas grabbed the hood of Lex’s cloak and tugged it up over his head.

“Hey!” he said with a small laugh. “I don’t like wearing hoods, they make me feel too closed in.”

Silas held the hood in place as a gust of salty wind nearly blew it off. “Your hair is drenched and you’re shivering.”

“Fine, fine.” Lex sneezed into the crook of his arm and wiped his eyes. “I’ll leave it, but only because your puppy eyes are breaking my heart.”

Silas smiled to himself. Over the centuries, Silas was called many things. Terrifying. Cold. A killer. But from the night they met, Lex called him cute and compared him to a puppy. Being seen as soft by his mate warmed his heart. He draped an arm around Lex and placed a light kiss on the top of his wet hood. “Thank you for humoring me.”

“Of course.” He leaned into Silas's side to avoid a large puddle in the sand. “It’s so cold and soggy here, I almost miss the muggy garden.”

“You were going to tell us where we are, Lex,” Castor reminded from the front of the group.

“Oh, right.” He brightened. “I’m pretty certain we’re on the Island of Mist and Memories. It’s a mythical place that functions as a punishment for sailors who dare challenge the seas during the stormy season. They wash up on these damp shores and are forced to face demons of their past. I thought it was a sailor’s tale to impress locals, but I guess it’s real.”

“I sailed the world almost my entire human life,” Julian said, wiping rain off his face. “If this island was easy to get to, I would’ve found it. We’re definitely somewhere hidden in the sea.”

“Like the garden,” Lex agreed, shaking sand off the edges of his cloak. “We’re in another one of The Ravenous One’s collected locations. I don’t see why she’d keep it, though. It’s not meaningful to anyone.”

“She feeds on pain and suffering, right?” Mora asked. “This would be a wondrous food source in the middle of a war if unsuspecting sailors are washing up.”

“Mora, you’re brilliant!” A fit of coughing stopped Lex’s words for a minute before he finished. “I bet that’s what it is. A place that haunts its prey with regrets would sustain her for ages. Shows how powerful Tartarus is as a prison. You’d think this would keep her strong enough to escape.”

“Yes, Mora is brilliant, but please take it easy,” Silas scolded. “The compass has drained you multiple times now. It’s time to conserve energy.”

“I’m just excited.” Lex sneezed again, then groaned as Silas pet his head.

“What do regrets look like anyway?” Julian asked as he took off his own cloak and layered it over Mora’s shivering frame. “I’ve never even seen a ghost.”

Silas watched the way Julian smiled at Mora. As much as Julian irritated him, it was hard to dismiss how sweet he was with those he loved—Lex included, for better or worse.

“Depends on the version of myth you’ve been told,” Lex said, yawning. “Some say you see those you wronged in the fog. Some say you hear the voices of old lovers calling in the thunder. Others say it’s a combination of the two. The point is, it messes with your emotions as you get lost.”

Castor nodded as he looked around. “How are you so sure it’s this mythical place and not the Harpy Hills or a small island in the Siren Seas? Their waters are known for their fog and forest.”

“Harpy Hills have—” Lex paused as another wave of dry coughs hit him. “They have pine trees. Not these knobby ones. I don’t actually know what these trees are. Maybe I should take a branch home.”

“I’m not letting you carry a branch. I don’t care if it’s in the name of research,” Silas huffed, gripping Lex’s wrist as he tried to walk toward a tree. “Your cold is getting worse. We have to move faster so I can get you out of this freezing rain.”

“A cold?” Julian exclaimed, furrowing his brows. “You really are turning human. I can’t even remember what a cold is like.”

“It’s pretty terrible,” Lex groaned. “I have a fever and chills. Maybe I have the flu. My brain is foggy and I'm not well-versed in human ailments anymore. I just need to get more blood and it’ll go away.”

“Should we stop for you to feed?” Mora asked, concerned.

“That’s what I said,” Silas muttered. He would have drained himself dry if it was needed, but Lex rejected the idea.

“Silas offered already, but I’m good for now. I don’t want to slow everyone down. I can power through.”

“Can I pick you up?” Silas blurted. “You don’t need to be walking if you’re sick.”

“I know you’re worried and I appreciate that, but I enjoy doing some things on my own. If I feel like I’m reaching my limit, I’ll climb into your arms myself.”

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