Page 31 of What Lies Beyond the Veil

“I did,” I argued, glancing back toward the water.

“And you are no longer human,” he said pointedly, touching a freezing hand to the Mark on my neck as we crested the hill, above the high tide line, and he settled us down flat against the dirt as he watched the cliff for any sign of movement. He laid his body atop mine, pressing me into the ground at my back with his weight as he spoke the words. They resonated with the part of me that had clung to my hope. Brann had always been stronger, more agile than I was, but even he wouldn’t have been skilled enough to climb down, especially not after being stabbed in the stomach. My body went lax beneath Caelum’s; all the fight draining out of me as reality settled over me.

My brother was gone. He’d never annoy me with his overprotectiveness again. He’d never smile at me when he thought I was being foolish but he loved me anyway.

He’d neverlive.

My bottom lip trembled as I shook my head, staring up into Caelum’s dark eyes as he dropped his forehead to mine. “I’m sorry, Little One,” he whispered, watching as I let my eyes drift closed. The urge to follow Brann into death like I’d promised plucked at the edges of my consciousness as the cold settled into my bones. “I need to get you warm.”

Caelum lifted himself off me, hauling me into his grip until my legs draped over one arm and he wrapped the other around my back. He carried me over the ledge at the base of the cliff, poking it with his toe every step he took.

My teeth chattered as I glanced down at the pea-green fabric of my dress, wincing when I realized how it clung to my skin. Caelum didn’t allow himself to be distracted by it, searching along the ground for something until he breathed a sigh of relief.

A cave just large enough for the two of us and high enough that we should be safe from the rising tide stared back at me when I turned my head to look at what he’d seen. He stepped inside it quickly, glancing up at the top of the cliff as he did, to make sure we weren’t spotted.

Once we were tucked as far back as the cave would allow, he gently lowered me to the ground and stripped off his cloak. Draping it around my shoulders and drawing the hood up to cover my wet hair, he didn’t so much as shiver as he gathered what wood and moss he could find from the cave entrance.

He pulled flint from his pocket, striking his dagger against it until sparks lit up the cave. He got a fire going with efficiency I’d never seen, stepping away as it touched the wood and started to emit heat. He came back to me, arranging himself behind me and pulling me against his chest.

I stared at the flames, watching them dance over the dirt walls of the cave that had offered us shelter. Caelum laid us down, curling his body into the back of mine. Indifferently, outside the numbness in my body and the numbness in my heart, I realized I’d never been held this way.

I’d never lain down with a man and just...been. In another time, another world, it might have been nice to fit together with someone so perfectly—to feel complete in another person’s arms—but in this one, it felt like a betrayal of everything Brann had warned me about.

I wept, watching the fire dance until my eyes drifted closed to the rhythmic sound of Caelum’s breath behind me, his heart beating in tandem with mine.

14

The smell of food cooking tickled my senses, pulling me from the depths of a dream clouded in nothing but darkness all around me. The threat of the Fae, the loss of my brother: all of it had led me to the darkest place I could ever imagine being.

My eyes fluttered open, landing on where Caelum squatted between me and the fire. He clutched a stick in each hand, a fish speared onto the end of it and roasting over the flames. I covered my mouth as I yawned, wincing at the metallic taste and wishing for a way to brush my teeth.

I shifted, lifting my head off the arm I’d used as a pillow and wiggling my stiff body to test the soreness in my limbs. Caelum turned, sensing my movement and giving me a cursory glance before he turned back to the fire and inspected the fish.

“It will be ready in just a few more minutes,” he said, his voice louder than the rumbling in my stomach.

I sat up, my brow furrowing when my body didn’t hurt. There was a distinct tightness to it, a reminder of all the places I’d been injured in my attempted escape from the Wild Hunt, but my shoulder no longer throbbed with pain. My ribs didn’t feel like they would crush my guts at any moment. The fabric of my dress was still damp from digging through the water for Brann’s body, lending a distinctive chill to my skin that even the fire couldn’t seem to chase away.

“How are you feeling?” Caelum asked, maneuvering himself back away from the fire. He took a seat next to me, his legs touching mine as his body heat spread through my thighs.

“Cold, but okay otherwise,” I said, evading the hidden question. We both knew the physical trauma of the night before would never compare to the loss of my brother and the scars I’d wear for the rest of my life, knowing I’d been the cause of his death.

Caelum nodded, allowing me privacy for the moment. I swallowed past the tears burning my throat, watching as Caelum set the fish down on an enormous leaf he must have gathered while I slept. Using a freshly cleaned dagger that showed no signs of the fight the night before, he removed the head and tail and then cut from the backbone to the cavity so that he could peel off a filet. He moved with sure hands, with a muscle memory that spoke to his experience with fish. “Is it safe?” I asked, watching as he picked up a chunk of the flaked meat between two fingers and held it out near my mouth.

“Why wouldn’t it be safe?” he asked, the words grumbled like he couldn’t quite believe the question.

“We weren’t allowed to eat fish in Mistfell,” I explained. “The Mist Guard said there was too great a risk the magic of Faerie would touch us if we consumed it.”

Caelum smiled, touching the fish to my lips. His smile shifted into something darker the moment my stomach rumbled in response. “I hardly think it matters now,” he said, his eyes dropping to the Mark that seemed to pulse in response to the attention of another like me. “Eat, Estrella,” he growled, the command clenching something low in my belly.

I opened my mouth, letting him set the chunk of fish on my tongue, and his fingers brushed against it before he withdrew them, letting me chew while he gathered another bite for me. I wrinkled my nose as the unusual flavor touched my tongue. “It probably takes some getting used to,” Caelum said with a chuckle.

I paused my chewing when he lifted another bite to my mouth, swallowing the fish down and holding up a hand. “You need to eat too.”

“I will after I feed you. The faster you eat, the sooner I will,” he said, smiling as he stared down at my mouth. Choosing the path of least resistance, I opened again, even though I wasn’t sure I liked it, having trained my entire life for eating meals however they came. In the back of my mind, part of me wanted to protest that I could feed myself, but a quick glance down at the mud and filth covering my hands compared to his sparkling clean ones made that impossible.

Beneath the mud was the clear tinge of red staining my skin, blood from the Huntsman I’d stabbed. Caelum’s gaze followed mine, landing on the gore with an amused smirk. “I suspect not many humans can claim they’ve stabbed a member of the Wild Hunt, Little One,” he said, feeding more bites of the fish until the last of mine was gone. It was the only food I’d had aside from the bread Brann had brought the night before and a handful of berries we’d picked as we walked.

I’d never fished, and hunting was forbidden for a woman. I had absolutely no skills that would keep food in my belly. Nothing that could help with my survival. What value did my skills as a harvester have when I had no crops to tend to? The wild plants through the kingdom were vastly different from the those grown in the gardens at Mistfell, and every step further from my home meant exposure to plants I didn’t know.

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