Page 74 of Burning Crowns

‘I don’t know.’ He was further away now. ‘Not terrible, I suppose.’

Wren turned around, searching for him in the curling mist. She followed his voice, wading towards a ledge at the back of the cavern, until the bath got so deep she had to walk on her tiptoes. Alarik was sitting at the edge of the pool. The water was at his chest, his arms splayed out along the rock behind him. Silver crystals clustered around his head, like a crown. His hair was wet and slicked back from his face, revealing the exquisite lines of his bone structure.

‘Stop staring at me,’ he said.

‘I’m staringpastyou.’

‘Whatever you say, witch.’

Wren tried to stick her tongue out but she swallowed a mouthful of water. She spluttered, trying to balance on her toes,but the water was so close to her mouth it lapped at her bottom lip.

Alarik smirked as he watched her. ‘The primary objective is not to drown.’

‘I’m an incredible swimmer.’

‘Not from where I’m sitting.’ He patted the space beside him. ‘Come.’

Wren swam over to the ledge, not because he told her to but because her limbs were beginning to tire. The burst of euphoria she had felt upon entering the baths was fading and she was starting to ache. The water didn’t seem to be healing her; in fact she felt as if it was prodding at the curse inside her, waking it. Her head was beginning to spin.

She dragged herself on to the ledge.

It was hotter here, the water deeper. The steam between them thickened.

‘Why are you sitting all the way back here?’ she asked, as she wrung the water from her hair.

Alarik watched her through the mist, tracing the rivulets as they fell across her shoulders. ‘For privacy.’

‘Fromme?’

He shook his head. ‘For us.’

Wren’s hands stilled. She looked at Alarik and felt a strange calmness come over her. Perhaps it was the steam, but she could suddenly feel the steady thud of her heart in her chest. She exhaled, long and deep and slow. ‘What do you mean?’

He dropped his voice. ‘I was feeling light-headed just now. I thought you might be, too.’

Wren frowned. ‘I felt good at first. But then, I don’t know … I felt as if the water was making me feel worse.’

Alarik nodded. ‘And now?’

Wren ran her hands through her hair. ‘I’m doing better now. My wrist is stinging but not as much as before. And my head has stopped spinning.’

‘Mine, too.’

Wren looked around herself. The water was still clear. ‘Do you think it’s working?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Alarik. ‘Maybe. I don’t feel as wretched as I did a moment ago.’

Wren looked at him more closely. The shadows in his cheeks didn’t look as pronounced, and his eyes seemed brighter somehow. Almost silver, like the everlights above them.

‘Now you really are staring at me,’ he said. ‘Now I really am,’ she admitted. ‘You look better than before.’

‘I was just thinking the same thing about you.’

‘Was I really that bad?’

‘Yes,’ he said, at once. ‘Your eyes … they had lost their …’ He frowned, searching for the right word. ‘Light.’

Wren snorted.

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