Page 105 of Cathmoir's Sons

Caileán’s beatific smile, the last thing I see before I close my eyes and let myself drift, says she’s very content with that.

An insistent ringingpulls me out of the best sleep I’ve ever had.

“Rho, that’s yours,” Luca says sleepily.

I fumble my way out of bed and through the piles of discarded clothes until I find my jeans. My phone tells me it’s six-twenty local time, twelve-twenty in the US, when I wrangle it out of my back pocket. The caller ID says Coach.

I thumb the screen to answer the call. “Coach?”

“Sorry to call so at this hour, Rhodes. I wanted you to hear it from me first and I didn’t want you to try to open the pool in the morning.”

No chance of that, but I don’t tell him about my waning dedication.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“There’s been an incident at the pool. It’ll be closed for today at the very least.”

“An incident?” The instincts honed by my training for the White Cloaks begin to twitch.

“I don’t have all the details, but it looks like a student drowned. I’ll know more in the morning and I’ll keep you updated?—”

“Coach,” I croak. “Who?”

There’s a long silence before Coach finally says, “Yan.”

Chapter 29

Homage to the Shark God

LUCA

Icurl next to Caileán and watch Rho pace. His hair’s standing up on end from running his hands through it.

“Yan didn’t drown. He’s a fucking Water mage. He’s a damn god in the water. There’s no fucking way he drowned.”

Caileán tips her head onto my shoulder. I slide my arm around her back, gathering the quilt she’s wrapped in around her bare shoulders. She offers me her steaming cup. I take a sip of the lemon tea.

We’re sitting together on a small balcony Law discovered when he opened the bedroom’s big windows to give Rho some air after he passed out, still gripping his phone. I’ve never seen someone faint before. Caileán managed to blow a cushion of Air under Rho as he fell so he didn’t whack his head. He came to quickly and has been pacing ever since.

Law, who is sprawled across Caileán’s feet, wearing just his boxers despite the cold night, snags the cup before I pass it back to Caileán and takes a sip.

“Who’s Yan?” he whispers to me.

Rhodes whirls on him. “Who is Yan? You ass. I’ve mentioned him often enough.”

I try not to listen to him, you know, Law says into my mind.

I’m glad he didn’t say that aloud. Rho was Yan’s team captain, even if they weren’t close personal friends. I understand why Rho would be ripped up over Yan’s death.

“When was the last time you talked to Yan?” I ask. “I know you were trying to reach him over the break.”

Rho nods. “I saw him at practice the other day, but I didn’t really get to talk to him other than to say I was glad he was back on the team. He looked a lot better, like he’d really gotten a chance to rest over the holidays. I don’t understand this. He couldn’t have drowned. He couldn’t.”

“We believe you, Rho,” I say. Caileán nods. “We’ll find out what happened to him.”

“I should go back to Bevvy. Baby, I’m sorry?—”

“It’s okay,” Caileán says before Rhodes has even finished his apology. “The Straits will be here when you get back. Law, will you go with him? Keep watch over him and bring him back through the Fae Ways when he’s ready?”

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